The Case for Silliness

Ok. I admit it. We live in a big, bad world. Terrorists are a real threat. The economy is wobbling like a top. We’re in the middle of a divisive, and increasingly nasty, election cycle. But, I would argue those truths support my conviction that every person needs a little silliness in their life. At least, once in a while.

I remember one day especially when silliness sort of took over for me. I was the proud companion of a 25 pound, long-haired cat (no one may be said to own a cat, you know). I loved Tommy Whiskers dearly, but his shedding drove me nuts. So instead of just vacuuming my house (again!) I went straight to the source. Yes, I put a brush on the nozzle and started vacuuming the cat. Needless to say, Mr. Whiskers didn’t think much of it, but I was making some real progress on his undercoat when the phone rang.

It was my dear husband. He was having a terrible day. One of his worker’s daughter had committed suicide over the weekend. Another had filed a sexual harassment complaint against another member of my DH’s team. The deadline for the project for which he was responsible got moved up . . . by several months. A string of unhappy people had paraded through his office that morning.

“I just had to call you,” he told me. “I needed to talk to somebody sane. What’re you doing?”

Dead silence. “Vacuuming the cat.”

Dead silence. A little chuckle. A serious guffaw. Five minutes later, my husband was still ‘tears-running-down-his-cheeks’ laughing. He desperately needed a little silliness and I unwittingly provided it for him.

Especially when times are tough, we require silliness to balance things. Not everyone can be sure of having someone to vacuum their cats at the opportune moment, so what better place to find some silliness than in our fiction?

With that in mind, let me introduce you to my latest release, PLEASURING THE PIRATE. As the title implies, there are plenty of steamy love scenes in this story. But my pirate hero, Captain Gabriel Drake, also has 5 orphaned nieces who are constantly dreaming up new devilry, a crusty first mate who follows him back to his Cornish castle and a chatelaine who tries to ambush him on his way home. Of course, the main thrust of the story is the love that develops between Gabriel and Jacquelyn (the afore-mentioned chatelaine) but there’s no reason a romance can’t give you a chuckle or two along the way.

Pirates may have been fierce in real life, but now they are such fun! In fact, tomorrow September 19th is the Official International Talk Like A Pirate Day! What? You’ve never heard of it? You are a lubber of the first water and in serious need of some piratical help.

Check out my website at http://www.emilybryan.com . In my PIRATE COVE, you’ll find pirate pick-up lines, a pirate lexicon, and of course, an excerpt from PLEASURING THE PIRATE! There’s still time to enter my Pirate Name Contest as well. Some lucky winner will receive my entire backlist, a box of books I picked up in San Francisco at RWA Nationals, and a $25 B & N Giftcard. Arrrg!

I’ll be checking in from time to time to answer questions. Terra is going to pick someone who comments to receive a signed copy of PLEASURING THE PIRATE, so be sure to post. Please feel free to share your own silly story.

Thanks, Terra, for letting me share a little silliness with your readers today. And I want to assure them that no cats were harmed in the vacuuming debacle. Tommy Whiskers lived happily to a ripe old age, and when he died full of years and many cans of tuna, he was buried with ceremony and tears in the back yard.

But my husband still laughs every time he thinks of him.