My first novel The Caretaker, was about a 64 yr old woman, who'd been in an abusive marriage, when her husband died she finished raising her children. Now she wants an adventure for herself. Goes to Mallorca Spain, meets the owner of the villa she is to care for. They fall in love, but now her children tell her to choose between him or them.

Yes, in the end she choice him and they live HEA. But it's also a story of resilience and living life on your terms, therefore women's fiction.

Do you agree with my assessment?

I enjoyed your article. Thank you!

Mershon, by adding Women's Fiction to your categories, you will likely reach a wider audience. All the best with your new book!

Thanks for your comment, B.A. I sure can relate! It's authors like you who have helped to expand and redefine what women are writing about women's lives, and I love that. I will say I have a lot of respect for the l-o-n-g journey Romance authors have found themselves undertaking. Back in the day, when the gate into publishing was far more narrow, they were smart in figuring out how to get their manuscripts sold. Maybe we could say they were working from the "inside" while author like you and like me were working from the "outside" to expand horizons for all of us.

Thank you, Rebecca! It's an ongoing evolution, and you've always been good at finding your audience with your awesome novels.

I think it's beautiful so see how what we write matures along with us. I write very different things now than I did in my 20's.

One thing I will say is that of all the writing groups I've hung out with, I've learned the most with my romance writing groups. I don't know if that's because their memberships were strong, and so they got better speakers. But definitely that is a group who has been very welcoming to me across many chapters and events. I don't write a lot of romance, but I sure hang out with a lot of romance writers. 🙂

Romance is definitely my book drug of choice. I don't write it as much as I read it.

To me, the romance novels are template based and get old real quick. I quit reading them in my 20s and when I started writing, I wanted something more than a basic romance. I threw in suspense, mystery, domestic issues, etc. And like you, I added some of what I went through in life.