Denise Williams's Blog, page 3

Guest Author: Rosie Danan on the Stigma of Female Desire

Moving Past Bodice Ripping Toward Shredding the Patriarchy: Romance Novels as Tools for Justice has a guest instructor this week! Rosie Danan, author of The Roommate (coming 9.15.20 from Berkley) is talking about the stigma of female desire. Rosie Danan Ive spent a lot of time exploring the ways in which societal stigma against female sexuality intersects with both internal shame and external scorn in regards to reading and writing romance novels. 

Before I begin my analysis, I want to...

To-Do: Read This List

Who doesn't love a to-do list? I love them enough that I based a novel on one. Silvana Reyes from Frolic wrote about some of the to-list romance novels checking all the boxes and How To Fail at Flirting made the cut. Check it out here.
"How to Fail at Flirting (Dec. 1st, 2020) is an upcoming romance that will have a fun list to follow and in the end the heroine might just find love on the other side. Its still miles away, this novel, but I wanted to mention it because I am so very...

How To Fail At Flirting in Oprah Magazine!

I was very excited to find How To Fail At Flirting on the list of anticipated romance novels for 2020 in Oprah Magazine. Thank you to McKenzie Jean-Philippe and the Oprah Magazine team for adding my book to this list of phenomenal authors. Click the image below to access the article or click here.

#2020RomClass Book Recommendations

Since late January, over 500 people have been receiving the course emails for Moving Past Bodice Ripping Toward Shredding the Patriarchy: Romance Novels as Tools for Justice. Weekly emails include book and other reading recommendations from the instructors. Additionally, each week, during the Twitter class chat, participants make book recommendations for that week's topic. So, ready to add to your TBR? The data is coded for the week/topic it was mentioned. You'll also see a long list of...

Teach Me (by Olivia Dade) About Cinnamon Roll Heroes with Denise Williams

I enjoyed speaking with Andrea at Shelf Love about cinnamon roll heroes, power and fantasy in romance, and Teach Me by Olivia Data. Listen to the Podcast

'just accept the compliment' and other things I tell myself

2019 was a big year for me. I signed with an agent, I was honored for some awards, I was a finalist for the Golden Heart award through RWA, my book sold, the women's empowerment program I co-lead received high praise, and my kid is cute. All that is to say, I found myself receiving a lot of compliments. That certainly not a bad thing--I like compliments; however, what I recognized in myself was my inability to simply say "Thank you."

Instead, I did what many of us do. I qualified my thank you....

Moving Past Bodice Ripping: Denise Williams on Teaching Romance Novels

It was a blast to join Andrea of Shelf Love to record this podcast. Listen to the podcast

I’d Like to Thank The Academy

This weekend, I finished writing acknowledgements which, I have to tell you, feels a lot like giving an Oscar acceptance speech, except that I was wearing sweatpants and Chris Evans was nowhere to be found when I tripped walking up my own stairs.

Still, it’s humbling to thank everyone who supported you during the conception, gestation, and birth of your book baby. Too graphic? Are you trying to decide what the placenta is in this metaphor? Let it go, it’s not that serious (but the...

The gif of a happily ever after: romance novels via gifs (Vol. 1)

Romance writers are proud of many things related to our craft: character development, humor, snappy dialogue, and steamy love scenes. There's something else, though. We're proud of our GIF game! Meet some of the 2020 debut romance novels coming your way as described by the authors in GIFs.
The Authors:
Allison Ashley Meryl Wilsner Janet Walden-West Katie Golding Suzanne Park Rosie Danan Denise Williams Perfect Distraction (March 23,...

That time my teacher looked like me

Am I wearing a floral jumpsuit with matching 8" tall barrette? Yes. Don't hate--it was the early nineties. Two things about me: I’m a nerd and I love research.

It should surprise no one that I organized a surprise party for my third-grade teacher when I was eight-years old and that for the last fifteen years, I’ve been trying to find her to say thank you for the impact she had on me.

Mrs. James was the first black woman teacher I ever had—from pre-K through a doctoral degree, she was one of...