Flirting with Romance

Getting over my romance novel prejudices, and embracing what those love stories could teach me about writing and radical self-acceptance.

Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash

When I was young — probably around 12 years old — my father caught me in the romance aisle at the bookstore. I had grabbed a novel full of warriors and wizards from the fantasy section and plopped down onto the gray carpet, happily turning pages, not realizing that I was facing an…