Guest Post with Courtney King Walker & On The Fringe Giveaway!

I recently reviewed On The Fringe by Courtney King Walker, which was a fantastic book. I was so taken with the wonderful love story between Claire and Daniel, I asked Courtney to stop by for a guest post on writing love.
Please welcome Courtney King Walker!!


Confessions of a Middle-Aged Romantic

Writing about love seems like it should be easy. Haven’t we all been in love or at least “like” at some point in our lives? That fluttering heart and those sweaty palms are universal experiences, part of a web of emotions that make us human instead of just ‘mammal.’

Still, I was never so lucky as to have a gorgeous guy turn his head and nearly stop breathing at the sight of me (what was wrong with me?) Nor did I discover my one and only true love at the attendance office on my first day of school, secretly checking me out. No, my experience has been somewhat average. So, I can’t say I’m much of an expert at writing about love at first sight, or anything involving swoon-worthy glances or witty, sexy comebacks—unless you count the time I told a construction worker in downtown San Francisco to ‘bite me.’ Which is what makes me so qualified to write about regular, average-boy love.

If you’re like me, your (average) experience with love started somewhere in elementary school, like with Brian in Mrs. Ristad’s kindergarten class, who offered to let me use the fingerpaints first. He was such a gentleman.

Then there was Scott in fifth grade who broke my heart after moving across
the country to Atlanta, leaving me all alone to face middle school with a tender heart and newfound respect for the opposite sex. Which got me all ready and prepped for the dark haired, dreamy Sy, my crush from third through ninth grade—the epitome of unrequited love…the uber cool, Italian good-looking hottie whom every girl dreamt of, but only a lucky few ever got the chance to hold his hand, much less hear him speak their name out loud (FYI–he did say my name more than once).

Let’s just say my experience has been more like that of a realist, a romantic pragmatist whose adolescent experience with boys typically involved some sort of high-fiving themselves after a witty, chauvinistic remark at my expense, or worse—my having suffered through too many attempts at some dude trying to plant a kiss on me at some terribly awkward moment (for starters, asking me, ‘can I kiss you?’ has always been a romance-killer).

Sure, I’ve had moments where the stars collided and Mr. Right said and did the absolute perfect thing…which is why I am still a romantic at heart, and always will be, but, like regular life, those moments have been far and few between. Which is okay, because guys aren’t gods. They’re just guys…sometimes cute, sometimes annoying, sometimes terribly sweet but mostly just typical, lanky, awkward, and totally worth writing about in all their awkwardness so that regular, average, totally normal girls feel like love at first sight guys aren’t the norm. And that’s okay.


Because I enjoyed this book so much, I want to share the love! I'm giving away a copy of On The Fringe to one lucky winner! Enter below for the chance to fall in love with this book!

~open internationally!
~must be 13 or older to enter
~one entry per person please!
~contest closes December 13, 2011

Fill out the ENTRY FORM HERE!