But since it’s a plot-point she has a clubfoot, I finally decided it wasn’t realistic, and gave her a job working with the wool still but not in the field.

I wanted, too, for her to be a weaver because I wanted to use the images from a Twila Paris song: “Like a tightly woven garment, like a metal alloy, we are put together in the strongest way,” for my main couple.

But even in my contemporaries my heroines reflect my desire to be a wife and mother. I don’t write contemporary romances, I’m still not quite sure what exactly I write on that front. Even though I know all about the courtship of the H&H that’s rarely the main part of the story. Usually the part of their story that I want to tell is after they’re married so a job for my heroine isn’t even something I think about.

But I have such a different ideal of what a woman should be from most other women, and most certainly from most other women my age. I really do think that part of my calling as a writer is to portray this different desire in fiction and to hold it up as the Biblical ideal that it really is. Far too many young women today are told that just wanting to be a wife and mother is a waste of her time and talent and that’s just not true.

My male MC is a cabinetmaker turned fur trapper turned southern planter, still doing cabinetmaking on the side.

My first book naturally had a heroine who worked. It was a necessity. I did pick an easy job (an accountant) that I was familiar with. It’s not that I didn’t want to do research, but the job fit Jenny. She was a ‘play it safe’ girl and liked all her ducks in a row. Being an accountant fit her lifestyle perfectly!

It also made me be creative in giving her time to be with the hero. Usually a heroine at ‘work’ isn’t fun, especially when it is an 8-5 boring job.

Thinking back to most of the books I’ve read, they either have 4 weeks of vacation coming to them, which they use during the time they just happen to meet their soulmate, or they, like you’ve said, have a flexible job where they might work alot, but they can come and go as they please.

My book 2 has a heroine who is a teacher, so she has the summer off. WOOHOO!!!

In my stab at ‘lit’ my heroine was a stained glass artist.

On my contemporary – I have the heroine as a teaching assistant for now. The hero is another college student.

Not really a lot of research necessary – but that’s because I’ve been in that environment.

I enjoy novels where the characters have “different” jobs than the norm, but doesn’t mean I feel ready to write them yet.