It's no secret that there are quite a few romance writers in the Freewrite community! We sat down with a few to discuss the process of writing romance and to find out what makes romance & Freewrite such a great partnership.
Monica Corwin
Ohio author Monica Corwin is a data analyst by day, and a romance writer in her free time. Why romance? For one, because it makes people happy and soothes them in hard times. But also, from the author’s perspective, Monica says writing romance is the ultimate puzzle.
"I have to start in the exact same place (two separate people) and I have to end in the same place (they live happily ever after), and in between I can take any route as long as it’s satisfying. It’s a jigsaw puzzle turned on its face!"
And why does Monica choose to draft her novels on Freewrite devices? "Freewrite allows me to write anywhere with any amount of time. Waiting in my car for an appointment…before work when I arrive a bit too early. It just lets me grab chunks of time that otherwise would have passed unnoticed."
Monica owns the Freewrite trifecta: Traveler, Smart Typewriter, and “Hemingwrite.” She also collects vintage typewriters — that's what brought her to Freewrite in the first place!
Rocco Paone Jr.
Meet Rocco Paone Jr., horror movie enthusiast, avid long-distance runner, and romance writer. He’s written several romances featuring gay characters on his Gen 2 Smart Typewriter, but now primarily uses Traveler for its smaller footprint and portability. (Rocco has owned each Freewrite since the very beginning!)
Roccos says Freewrite devices help him push his writing process forward thanks to the sense of being disconnected from the world.
“The best thing for me when I was writing my first novel was going to a cafe with no computer, just my phone, my Freewrite, and a notebook/pen combo. I would spend 6-8 hours on my days off and generally churn out 8-10k words.” Talk about a writing marathon!
Before Freewrite, Rocco wrote everything out freehand. Not only has Freewrite made the drafting process easier, the editing process is easier, too, with his first drafts ready to go in the cloud.
Originally from upstate New York, Rocco has been living in New York City for more than 17 years and works in the fitness industry.
Kath Richards
Kath Richards is a romance writer in Orem, Utah, and the managing editor of Soft Union literary journal. Kath also works as a product manager, which means working on a computer all day — the E Ink screen on Freewrite helps her rest her eyes while writing in the evenings.
Kath has always been obsessed with romance. “The idea that we can look in on the lives of two (or more) characters and watch them fall in love is such a delight to me. I love writing characters who are flawed, messy, bad at life, sometimes self-loathing, and otherwise Going Through It, and then I want to watch them find love. It reminds me that nobody is beyond loving and being loved.”
Kath also thinks romance helps her explore all of her greatest fears and anxieties on paper — “I sometimes make my characters go through truly awful things, sorry to them” — but it's cathartic because no matter what they go through, there will be a Happily Ever After at the end.
What does Kath have to say to critics of the happily ever after? “There's nothing naive about having hope and wanting to have someone to call your person. I love that.”
Kath drafts her romance books on her Freewrite Traveler, which she calls “the most perfect drafting tool.” For a perfectionist, the red underlining grammar or spelling mistakes in other word processors can be distracting. “It takes away from the real purpose of a first draft, which is just to exist,” Kath says. “Creating something from nothing is often the hardest part, and the Freewrite helps me bring that first draft into existence without getting caught up on the little things so I can get on to the work of shaping and revising it into something better.”
Other things Kath loves: taking up the kitchen table with jigsaw puzzles, tomato sandwiches, binging TV shows, doing tricks in the pool, Taylor Swift, and cheering people on in their writing goals.
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What genre do you write in? Let us know, and we may feature your genre next!
