Valentine’s Day for a Romance Author (Spoiler: Totally Fiction 🙁)
- Kalen Kory
- Feb 12
- 3 min read
Let’s address the fantasy right away.
If you think being a romance author means spending Valentine’s Day wrapped in silk pyjamas, slow kisses in candlelight, and a dangerously attractive man leaning in a doorway saying things that would absolutely get him HR-reported in real life…
It’s a nice fantasy.
In reality?
I’m in oversized sweatpants, sitting cross-legged in the corner of my sectional, blankie covering my bare feet — knee-deep in edits, arguing with Grammarly that the punctuation in my sentence is in fact correct, reheating my coffee for the third time, and questioning whether Chapter 8 needs another “quickie” added because a very good idea just popped into my head.
Honestly… not a bad way to spend the day.
Because while the world is booking dinner reservations, in my world, nothing says romance like debating whether a fictional man should press her against the door… or make her wait another five seconds.
Five seconds matter.
Trust me.
The Irony of It All
There’s something wildly ironic about writing love stories while your real-life Valentine’s plans involve:
A laptop
Reheated leftovers (for the third day in a row)
And a pile of tissues because that last scene just emotionally wrecked you
Emerson Grove Series - Book 2 - Shadows - is finished (insert dramatic applause), and I’m deep in polishing mode. And if you’ve never edited a novel before, let me tell you:
Drafting is magic.
Editing is war.
Drafting is falling in love.
Editing is asking, “Do you really mean that?”
It’s intense.
It’s obsessive.
It’s oddly satisfying.
And honestly? I wouldn’t trade it.
Because here’s the truth I’ve learned since falling headfirst into this genre: fictional love lets us explore the things we’re still figuring out in real life.
Control.
Surrender.
Boundaries.
Trust.
The messy stuff.
The electric stuff.
The “I probably shouldn’t want this, but I absolutely do” stuff.
Valentine’s Day might be marketed as candlelight and roses, but for me, it’s about building tension inside a small-town security team and making sure my characters earn their happy endings — yes, I mean those happy endings.
(Subtle has never really been my thing.)
Writing Spice vs. Living It
When I first started reading romance during Covid, it filled a gap I didn’t even know I had.
I had spent years career-focused. Structured. Strategic. Practical.
Romance novels were chaos in the best way — a way to experience intensity my real life wasn’t offering at the time.
Now I get to create that chaos.
And yes, I write spice. On purpose. With intention. But if you’ve been following Emerson Grove, you know it’s never just about heat. It’s about power shifts. Loyalty. Friendship. The secrets simmering underneath small-town smiles.
So while the rest of the world is buying heart-shaped chocolates, I’m here deciding whether a scene needs more tension… or less clothing.
Priorities.
Enter Fire Horse Energy & Evolution
February 17 brings in Fire Horse energy — bold, fast-moving, independent, slightly unhinged, and absolutely not here to play small.
It doesn’t wait for permission.
It doesn’t shrink to stay comfortable.
It moves.
Honestly? That feels aligned.
Editing Shadows right now feels very Fire Horse energy. It’s decisive. It’s sharp. It’s me trusting my instincts instead of overthinking every choice.
So if things feel like they’re speeding up — in your life or mine — maybe it’s not chaos.
Maybe it’s alignment.
(Or maybe it’s too much caffeine. Jury’s still out.)
What Valentine’s Really Means This Year
This year, Valentine’s isn’t about perfection.
It’s about creation.
It’s about choosing the love stories we want to tell — on the page and in real life.
It’s about knowing that fictional men might deliver better monologues, but real life still deserves the right fit.
And it’s about recognizing that sometimes the most romantic thing you can do is choose yourself, choose your creativity, and choose the life that makes you feel alive.
Even if it looks unconventional.
Especially if it looks unconventional.
For me, it’s about building a town where love is layered, threats linger, friendships run deep, and nothing — good or bad — stays simple for long.
And maybe enjoying the fact that fictional men rarely leave you “on read.”
(For anyone over 40 — that means they saw your message… and chose silence.)
No shade. Just observation.
Now I’m Curious…
Are you a Valentine’s traditionalist?
Or do you think it’s mostly marketing and mood lighting?
Me? A little traditional… and still convinced it’s wildly overhyped.
Until next month…
I’ll be here — editing tension, embracing my inner Fire Horse, and fully open to the possibility that an extremely hot man might ride in on said horse. Yeehaw!
— Kalen 🔥
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