What I Can Never Write About

Our 42nd Anniversary

Write what you know. Have you ever heard that advice? And yet, folks write historical, science fiction and fantasy novels. And I'm almost sure that most mystery writers have never been involved in a real murder investigation.

So what does it mean? I think when we write what we know, we are looking deep within ourselves for experiences that strike a common chord in our fellow beings. There have been few writers in the history of the world who have been able to cover the entire range of human experience. Shakespeare comes to mind.

The chances of my writing a believable story about a dysfunctional relationship or an unhappy marriage are practically nil. After forty-two years of wedded bliss, I am an expert on how great marriage can be. Unhappy marriages are a closed book to me. That kind of book is just not going to be in my oeuvre.

Novels require you to spend many months thinking about problems and conflict. I wouldn't even want to spend six months to a year thinking about husbands and wives who can't get along.

But I have plenty of other topics to write about with confidence. The joys and heartbreaks of parenthood. The challenges of childhood. The struggle to find that one right person. The process of soul searching. The role of gender in a woman's life.

I write romantic, humorous novels with happy endings because that's what I know. And I thank my husband Michael for that. Ours has a been a very happy journey. But without laughter, we would never have made it this far.

So happy anniversary to us. Forty-two years later, we've still got the fairy tale ending.

NYC Anniversary!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If it's a really good photo, I'd say ten thousand or more. And Michael is a really good photographer. So rather than tell you how romantic and lovely a day it was, I'll just show you.

Here's the rundown on our fabulous NYC anniversary trip on Friday.

Michael loves cars, engineering and architecture. So our first stop was naturally the Chrysler building. Art Deco raised to its very highest level.

Then on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We had been once before but hadn't had a lot of time. I swear this museum would make you ADD. Because as you're standing in one room looking at one of the most famous paintings in the world, you're catching out of the corner of your eye another oh-so-famous one in the next room. Very disturbing but very great experience.

I am a huge fan of Vigee-Lebrun and anytime I get to stand in front of one of hers, it's a very good day. And this one is one of her very best.

You can't look at pictures all day, so we spent some time in the musical instruments exhibit. We fell in love with this beautiful metronome.

We also ate lunch in the museum right by a very disturbing statue (from the rear) which we found out after lunch was a sort of triumph of the spiritual over the natural man. I'll sit somewhere else next time.

On the way to The Square Meal which is just a few blocks from the museum, Michael caught this shot of the Guggenheim. Very effective, I thought. It was a beautiful night. And he has such a fabulous eye.

And I think this photo he caught in Central Park was also a stunner.

And last but not least, Michael said he couldn't resist this one. Be sure and click on it to enlarge it. She was obviously clueless that she was being watched!

All these photos are copyrighted by Michael Denney. But if you want to share, just let me know and I'll see if he'll let you post them elsewhere.