Emotinal Scar Tissue

Life is full of scars and scar tissue. The only kicked is unlike most physical injuries emotional scar tissue can't really be seen by the human eye. So what do we do about emotional baggage? About those scars that no one can see, but what make us who we are today?

I will openly admit to having quite a bit of emotional scar tissue. It's hard for someone to not have it. It's even harder for people to open up and admit why they have that emotional scar tissue.

One thing that I love about Liza Palmer's books is that her heroines are flawed. They each have some major emotional scar tissue each for her own reasons and it's that scar tissue that makes them more human. How many books can a person read about a woman who is thin with perfect hair and a fun job, but with not enough money to buy designer shoes and no one on the boyfriend front?

That's why I'm a fan of smart chick lit, but not a fan of the term chick lit. It's sort of like the term romance. You say something is a romance and instantly people think it's bodice ripping trash, but it's not. I've read some romance novels where no sex took place. And I must admit that reading historical romance really makes your vocabulary grow. Don't believe me? Try it and you'll be running to your dictionary to look up words. I remember once trying to explain to my boss, an older man near retirement age who worked at an academic library, what chick lit actually was. I said that it was a genre of books that were for women about women dealing with women's issues. His response was "Oh, so soft core porn."

No, it's way more than that although sometimes I guess that could be true.

But I like my heroines to be a little damaged like I'm a little damaged. I like to see a little emotional scar tissue because it's real and want it or not we all have it. So Liza Palmer is one of my favorite authors because of that. Monica McInerney does a really good job of damaged heroines as well.

Who are some of your favorite damaged heroines? Favorite authors who write smart chick lit?

Didn't We Almost Have It All?

As I’ve been reading books lately especially the modern interpretations of Mrs. Radcliff which instead of gothic horror focuses on horror of horrors clothing, thinness, bad jobs and a lonely boyfriend free existence, I’ve noticed one thing: Chick Lit gives a woman everything.

Obviously we’re all looking for the happily ever after or HEA. It’s what we crave and it’s what we read these books for, but as I read about another woman who is a size six instead of a size four, lives in a big city and is trying to find her dream and somehow mysteriously meets that amazing man with a bank account that can buy her all the Prada she wants I think back to some of the classics where at the end of the book the heroine didn’t have it all, but almost had it all.

Can the modern day woman really relate to these women? Why are most of their dreams jobs in television or event planning or marketing and PR? Do modern day women yearn for Prada and Gucci and Versace? Do we want to read about these things because we want them or we know about them or because we are told that we should want them? What’s wrong with a story without all the flash and dash? Something like, well let’s face it, something like I would write. Great characters who have faults and even though most get the HEA let’s remember that not everything works out in the end.

Lizzie still has a vulgar mother and her sister Lydia is married to a wastrel. Anne gets Captain Wentworth after eight years of heart ache, but her family still looks at her as plain Anne. Emma gets Mr. Knightley, but instead of moving to Donwell Abbey she must stay with her father. Perfection doesn’t happen in an Austen novel. The hero and heroine don’t always get it all. They almost get it all.

And let’s face reality. That’s the way life goes. You don’t get it all, but if your really lucky a gem like Captain Wentworth comes along and well you almost get it all.