Posted by Rosalyn Alsobrook on April 18, 2002 at 17:48:09:
In Reply to: Robin Lee Hatcher article posted by Posted for Nora Roberts by LLB on April 15, 2002 at 09:56:54:
I just lost a large measure of respect for Nora Roberts if she did indeed write the letter below.
I just hope this letter was a hoax and not something she really wrote for I'd hate to think ill of someone I've respected until now.
IF IT IS TRULY HER LETTER, it just proves she's moved herself to a different plane than the rest of us (romance writers) and no longer "knows" who her fellow writers are inside. Anyone who knows Robin personally knew from the moment she read that ridiculous article that it was a hatchet job done by a reporter who'd already set the angle of his story before he ever bothered to interview Robin.
As I've said elsewhere, we've almost all have had that done to us. I've never in my life been a "bored little housewife" nor have I ever stated I was, but that was the whole spin of a story done about me (at a time I worked full time and was in a lot of civic organizations) by a reporter for a major newspaper. Those who knew me, knew I'd never say I started writing romances because I was a bored little housewife. I started writing romances because of my love of the genre. Those that know Robin as a person knew immediately she'd been duped by a narrow minded reporter with an agenda. It saddens me that Nora Roberts fell such easy prey to this reporter's scheme--having had a few such hatchet jobs done on her by reporters in the not so distant past.
I truly choose to believe that Nora Roberts has not turned her back on the rest of us so readily. I choose to believe someone else wrote that letter.
: I found Robin's comments offensive and disturbing and disappointing on every level--as a reader, a writer, a woman, an RWA member. For a former president of RWA, and a writer who built her foundation in Romance to distill the genre
: down to sexual fantansies, and to compare readers to addicts is appalling to me. To compare writing love scenes with giving a drink to an alcoholic is beyond insulting. Alcoholism is a disease. With the illiteracy rate in this country, every book picked up and read for pleasure should be a celebration.
: On tour I often, still, have to deal with some media people who like to skewer the genre, or the (mostly) women who read it. I've just spend two
: weeks standing for Romance--I'm not looking for a medal, even a pat on the back. I'm not saying anything I don't believe strongly. But I wasn't looking for a knife in the back either, from a fellow writer.
: Romance isn't all about sex. It's all about relationships, and sex is a healthy part of a healthy, adult relationship. And we readers are not morons. We know the difference between fiction and reality. The books are our
: entertainment, our relaxation, our pleasure, and we're entitled. We are hardly sheep, as can be witnessed pretty much daily on sites like this one. We don't agree on what we like, what we dislike, what we want, what we don't want in the books or the genre. But, for the most part, we agree we enjoy reading Romance.
: It would have been smarter, and certainly more gracious, for Robin to have said she'd decided to persue another avenue of fiction because of her
: personal beliefs and creative needs. Period. Why smear the genre to make whatever point she sought to make?
: I have no doubt she'll regret the remarks, and kick herself for not being more careful in her answers and statements. Interviews are tough. I'd give her the benefit of the doubt on this one if she hadn't been so clear in her opinion, and so detailed.
: Nora Roberts
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