The Men of Romance part Deux

This morning I was reading my blog feeds and found a lovely post on Romancing the Blog called "Real Men Have Feelings Too". As I was reading it I thought it was really well written and it was exactly what I wanted to discuss when I did the giveaway for Jeff Rivera's book. Then I got to the end and discovered that Jeff was the author of the article. He had a lot of things to say that bring insight to what it's like being a guy that we don't really hear about. I think there is such societal pressure for men to be "manly" that it might be a bit of a challenge to be a male romance writer. In fact, one author I can think of uses a pseudonym (Jennifer Wilde) and another has a fairly gender neutral name (Leigh Greenwood).

Of course, men have feelings and I wish more of them wrote romance. I think it would add depth to a genre that at times can seem a little formulaic. It would be an interesting aspect for publisher's marketing plan as well. Something that would make one book stand out over another (and just think of what book signings would be like). So guys, don't let the woman hold you down. Write that romance novel, and who knows? You could be the next Nora Roberts, or should I say J.D. Robb.