Lest We Forget

Today is a day when we sit back and remember all those who lost their lives serving their country so that we can live and enjoy the freedom and peace today. It is also a time for us to give thanks to all those people still risking their lives on a daily basis for their country.

I don't know about anyone else but it seems that, as I have grown older, I find the Remembrance services more emotional and moving with each year. It's not just sadness and regret at all the loss of lives, but the knowledge that man seems to be inbuilt with a Nietzschean desire to destroy all that he sees.

Yes, this probably sounds like an over-simplified look at life, and there will be many out there ready to castigate me for my views....and there I rest my case. For doesn't that just strengthen my argument?

If all these wonderful people have risked and lost their lives so that we can have freedom of thought and speech, why are there so many people out there waiting, just ready to denigrate and destroy you for that?

Of course, this brings me round to my weekly writing tie in....

Have you ever been reading anything and found someone looking at you, or down at you? Have you ever experienced some pithy, ill comment because of the wonderful book you are holding in your hand?

As a writer of romance and erotic fiction, I still encounter a great deal of snobbery when it comes to this genre, not least from people who think that you must have a brain the size of a pea for reading "such trash", as it has been called in my face.

I was once interviewed by a National newspaper that was doing an article on why romantic fiction is booming in a time when other genres are failing. My answer? I told them that many people, men and women alike, want a light, easy read that allows them to escape, if only for a short time. Compared with other genres Mills & Boon books, for example, are reasonably priced. I also indicated that, whilst easy to read, the books are no less easy to write.

Of course, the boom can also be attributed to the growing e-book revolution. Now women, and men, can sit on a train, or a bus, or anywhere and indulge in their paper romantic and erotic fantasies without anyone even having a clue what they are reading.

And if you do read romantic fiction...good on you. I love it! And my favourite book?  War And Peace... but don't tell the snobs. I wouldn't want to burst their opinionated bubble!

And so, if you have taken a few minutes to read my rambling above, please also take a few minutes to thank all those who have fought and died for their country. It is because of their sacrifice that you have had the freedom to read this blog today.