Guest Post By Author Kathryn Biel

A big thank you Arlene for allowing me to drop in for a visit today as part of my blog tour for my newest novel, I'm StillHere.

When I started writing my first novel, Good Intentions, I knew I wanted to write a book that would be the literary equivalent of a chick flick movie. I didn't know much about genres in writing.Boy, was I in for an eye-opening education. I soon discovered that there is the literary equivalent of chick flicks, and it's called chick lit (in case you're wondering, all chick lit is women's fiction but not all women's fiction is chick lit). I also discovered that I don't write chick lit. I wish I did. I try to but always seem to end up with a bit more serious feel to my work. Even I'm Still Here, which has a large humor component, deals with some weighty family issues including mental illness and suicide.

Oddly, when I tell people that I write novels, they often ask if they are romances or even racier books, ala 50 Shades. I don't know why people assume that a woman writing has to write romance or erotica. It often leads to a large discussion about what women's fiction is (and is not), and how books can have a romantic element without being a romance story.

One such discussion one day got me to thinking about what it is that I write about. My tag line is "telling stories of resilient women." That's what's on my blog and my business cards. A review of my second novel, Hold Her Down, stated that I write romance. After careful thought and consideration, I realized that I do write romance. Not the Fabio-on-the-cover, bodice-ripping Harlequin kind, but rather I write about a woman's romance for herself. About the woman who has lost love and self-respect and learns to love herself again. Sometimes this is accompanied by the love of a man. Sometimes, she discovers this by losing the man in her life.

Many women that I know have travelled this road at different times. The road where everyone else's needs come first. Whether it is the job, the friends, the kids, or even the parents, there will always be that woman who is taking care of everyone else but herself. I don't know why women do this, but I see it repeatedly. I've lived it. I've also discovered that in order to best take care of everyone else, a woman has to first take care of herself. My stories tell how women come to realize that they have lost love for themselves, and what lengths in which they go to gain it back. It is a romance story of a different kind. So, while there will be no heaving bosoms or any sort of thrusting members in my novels, you can expect a love story. Not the fairy tale that is make-believe and will never ever happen in real life. It is a realistic love story, one that every woman needs to read and experience. It is the message of loving yourself, complete with ahappy ending.

Thank you again to Arlene for letting me drop in! I hope you have enjoyed this post and will come and check out my new novel, I'm Still Here, available on September, 2, 2014.