Guest post by Judith Works with an excerpt from The Measure of Life

PROS AND CONS OF WRITING WOMEN’S FICTION

 

 

My chosen genre is women’s fiction. But what exactly is it? Some readers turn up their noses at the mention of this genre because they think it is about bland, weak, or overly emotional woman who can’t cope with life and should be censured for their transgressions. Or, alternatively, to be read as a guide to how women should be, however unrealistic and misogynistic.

But I see it as a genre that allows for an expansive exploration of a female protagonist’s life without the restrictions that come with romance or mystery. Those genres offer great reads that I enjoy often, but when writing I prefer to take a close look at real life problems. Our lives are often messy with each of us on an emotional journey knotted with tangled relationships as we struggle to find a path leading forward to our goals. Some of us succeed, some don’t.

I didn’t want to write about a passive woman; I wanted to write about a woman who learns to take her own life in her hands. And I wanted to set it partly in Rome, often described as city of echoes, of illusions, and of yearning, where a naïve young woman could win or lose in the game of life.

My protagonist in The Measure of Life, Nicole, must deal with a mistake – that of marrying too soon. She thought she was escaping her unsatisfying life at home with her parents, but the marriage soon descends into one of frustration for reasons she doesn’t understand. When her husband is offered a job in Rome, Italy she sees it as a chance for a reset. It is a reset indeed, but one where instead of improving her marriage, whirls her into a doomed romance with her Italian tutor, an unplanned baby, and the reality she must make a choice to make the best of her life in Rome or slink back home to Seattle in defeat. She accepts the challenge however daunting it is.

This scenario gave me the opportunity to explore the themes of overcoming disappointment, the reality of expat living with all its pleasures and difficulties, the problems and joys of parenting, and courage to take a chance to reach a goal despite setbacks and unexpected turns of fate. And of course fill the story with Italian food!

 

THE MEASURE OF LIFE

Judith Works

GENRE:  Women’s Fiction

BLURB:

A story of love and loss, lies and truth, begins in Rome when Nicole shares a cappuccino and cornetto with her Italian tutor. The meeting sets off a chain of events that upends the course of her life. While Rome also brings deep friendships and immersion into a sumptuous food scene there is no escape from acknowledging the consequences of her actions. In search of forgiveness and healing, she moves to an island near her childhood home in Seattle only to find the way to reunite the remnants of her family and discover her true path is to return to Rome and face the past.

Excerpt:

A nearby rock invited me to perch to wait for the men to return. Tiny wild pink cyclamen flowers poked between the grasses and fallen pine needles carpeting the ground. With petals facing backward like the tail of a comet, I always saw cyclamens as shooting stars. I picked one but it had been partially eaten by some hungry insect. I let the flower fall not wanting to make a wish on an imperfect star. A local poet, another expatriate American, had recently published his latest work in a slim chapbook. I’d bought a copy when he did a reading at the bookstore Primrose formerly owned. I’d taken time from packing my things to attend and still had the chapbook in my shoulder bag. Uncertain what to do while I waited for the men, I read to pass the time. The first page I turned to held the perfect poem to suit my mood.

We could have shared a glass today but now you’re gone.

I wonder what the day will bring with its gray and lowering clouds.

On the opposite page was a woodcut of a wild cyclamen, the flower I’d picked moments ago. The words raised bittersweet memories.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

After I earned a law degree in midlife, I had the chance to leave the Forest Service in Oregon and run away to the Circus (Maximus). In reality my husband and I moved to Rome where I worked for the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization for four years as a legal advisor to the director of human resources. I could see the Circus that had hosted chariot races during the Roman Empire from my office window.

My husband and I reluctantly returned to the US after four years. But we pined for the land of pasta, vino, art, and sunny piazzas. Then the gods smiled and offered a chance to return to Rome with the UN World Food Program. Six more years or food and frolic in the Eternal City passed much too quickly. The indelible experiences living in Italy and working for the UN were the genesis of my memoir Coins in the Fountain.

Social Media Links

Website: https://judithworks.net

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/judith.works.5

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worksjudith

Threads: http://www.threads.com/WorksJudith

BlueSky: http://www.bluesky.com/WorksJudith

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-measure-of-life-judith-works/1146224295?ean=9781509257799

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-measure-of-life-1

Google: https://play.google.com/store/search?c=books%q=9781509257805

Itunes: https://apple.com/us/book/the-measure-of-life/id6673911691

Books a Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/9781509257799

 a Rafflecopter giveaway