Welcome to 2020: Romances Get It Right Again

My latest Donna Howard mystery, Apron, takes place in "real" time. Unlike the first two books--one takes place in 1995; the second in 2004--Apron is set in 2019, ending with New Year's Day 2020.

This real-time chronology meant that at one point I was editing the novel while my characters were driving to New York. I checked Webcams in Saratoga Springs for weather conditions. The Internet is a blessing for writers--and possibly a curse for those of us with OCD tendencies.

My biggest worry was that between the submission of my novel for publication and New Year's Day 2020, an event would occur of such awesome proportions that not referring to it in the book would appear very, very odd.

I'm not talking about the events that the news media treats as the WORST THING TO EVER HAPPEN IN THE HISTORY OF HISTORY! The constant hysteria that demands a Twitter storm while sneering at a desire to step back and reflect is not something I take seriously.

I'm talking about, oh, an asteroid hitting the Earth.

It's 12:01 a.m. January 1, 2020 in New England and so far we're still standing.

The connection to romances is this: what keeps the world trundling along is not the hysteria. It's the day to day desire/work to muddle through: get up, go to a job, feed the cats, read a good book, meet up with friends or family, get take-out, be civil to cashiers. Slice of life--and the latest volume of What Did You Eat Yesterday? arrives soon!--is the true circle of life. The moments of ordinary living--which may contain pain or pleasure, boredom or excitement, humor or seriousness or all those emotions at once--these moments are what comprise a life; they are what the human-animal brain and body experience, hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second. 

Romances supply these moments. And they treat them with the respect they deserve. Living abstractly is nice for sci-fi brains stuck in a globe. For those of us who address the physical experience honestly, living concretely--buying groceries, planning meals, meeting one's darling, spending time together--deserves cheerful consideration. (No angst, since angst is boring--rather, sincerity.)

As Bon Jovi would say, "Welcome to wherever you are. This your life. You made it this far."