Conflict

I'm watching The World Series of Poker on ESPN and these two guys are embroiled in conflict. At first one was the jerk and the other was laughing it off. Then the laugher quit laughing. And then it just got ugly. And the whole time I'm watching, I'm thinking UGH!!! Stop! Be nice!
In poker when you get in a situation like that it messes up your play if you let the jerk get in your brain OR you get emotionally involved and become the aggressor.
Watching this is painful. Almost as bad as the RHONJ table turning scene. I hate it.
AND
I guess that's why I commit the nice-nice sin so often in my books.
I want things to be easy. But easy doesn't translate well in books. Sure, I want the happy ending when I read. I want to know I'm getting the HEA. But please, fool me through the book until the end.
I'm reading The Sweetness of Honey by Alison Kent right now. She handles conflict PERFECTLY.
I try to learn something with every book I read. With this one I think it's going to be about conflict. Kent has created characters with great internal conflict and external conflict between the characters. And she's done it in a way that doesn't make the reader uncomfortable.
I figure it's going to take me forever to master the art of conflict in writing. I'll never be comfortable being around conflict in life. I'm still watching WSOP, but man, I hope these guys stop being jerks.