Please turn off my internal editor!

I'm afraid I'm exhausted. I really didn't feel like getting online tonight and the computer looked (looks) like my enemy instead of my normal best friend. After two nights of working late, I'm pooped, plain and simple. I know I need to write. I know I need to edit. I know I need to go to the gym and exercise. Instead I'm lying flat on my back with my laptop checking email just in case. I guess it's a good thing as I almost forgot to make my every Wednesday post at the Happy Endings blog and that I wasn't pre-scheduled here for once, either. I was reading a bit before I signed on line. Overall, I was enjoying the story, but I couldn't get over the fact that at the beginning of the romance the heroine was 17 and the hero 31. When I was a teen, maybe even a young adult, I found that romantic. Tonight, however, I keep wondering if she's young enough that he'd be charged with statutory rape if they did "it" and "it" became public knowledge. It's kinda killing the romance for me. What is the age limit for statutory rape? I think it's anything under 18 if the parties are more than five years apart in age? That's what someone told me awhile back. I haven't actually checked it out... Anyway, the point is, it's sort of creeping me out. The second thing that tore me out of the story is the fact that the heroine starts the book by saying she and her husband haven't slept in the same bed for a year. (the story went into back story to the 17-31 thing). But then the heroine's completely flabbergasted when her husband hands her divorce papers. Hello! Why should the heroine be so surprised if they haven't done "it" in a year or more. That sorta says something, ya know? It's hard to turn off my internal editor. Believe me, I desperately want to. I long to find a story so good I get sucked in so deep I don't ponder the flaws. I want to get lost in the magic. I don't want to be dragged out of my romantic haze by big flaws or things that make me shake my head or shudder. This story is published by a big, well-respected house, so I'm surprised the editors let this go through. Or maybe I'm just wrong. Otherwise, it's pretty enjoyable, or would be if I could get over the heroine starting out so young. That also means that present day the hero is over 60, and I'm not sure I'm finding that very romantic, either. Maybe hail and brimstone will rein on me now for saying that - I actually love older heroine books, but not that old. The heroine's now 49, my age, so that's cool. But the hero's just too old. The only over 60-year-olds that rev my engine are Harrison Ford... Um... I'm not sure if there are any others. Oh! "J" at my day job. Now he's gorgeous and oh so charming and oh so taken. (lucky woman). Oh! And "B" at the day job. But he's taken, too. He was snapped right up by one of our ladies. Okay, so maybe on second thought the hero's age isn't bothering me any more. I see a lot of flaws in movies and television shows, too. And all I can think when this happens is, "My editor would never let me get away with that. How'd their editors let that mistake pass?" Well, I really am tired. I'd only intended to write a sentence or two, post a cute picture, and run over to the Happy Endings blog and come up with something quick. Do you have trouble turning off your internal editor when you read? Don't forget..."Naughty Boys", my M/M Christmas story is available at: http://www.total-e-bound.com And on December 15th, my second Christmas story "Christmas Miracles" will also be released at: http://www.total-e-bound.com

You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)