Suspense is suspense is suspense...Part 1 of 3

"A writer should create situations with suspense, leaving the reader wanting to know what happens next.  Effective suspense works when the reader cares about characters and what those characters experience within a story." -- Tameri Guide for Writers

Hmm.  Effective romance also works when the reader cares about characters and what those characters experience within a story.  Anticipation...a building of tension...multiple conflicts...inner struggles...cliff hangers...a big finish with a satisfying resolution...aahh, no wonder why romance and suspense go together like peanut butter and jelly! 

Romance writers must be suspense writers.  Suspense is uncertainty.  Romance, even with a happy ending, is dealing with uncertainty.  It doesn't matter if we're writing "romantic suspense" or "traditional romance" (whatever that may be!)  -- we just want the reader to keep turning the pages of our story because they have the need to know "what happens next?" to the characters they care deeply about. 

What is your writer's block?

Status: In revision.   That's become a bit of a catch-all phrase for me that covers everything after the first draft to final edits.  It also feels like I'm:  In renovation.   And we all know if you tear down one wall in a renovation, the dust will settle on the rest of the house.  Even if you've covered everything with drop cloths, somehow the dust will invade the nooks and crannies far from the destruction zone.  By the amount of fallout, you'd think the demolition crew had used explosives to tear down that wall.

After the explosion, even if the "all clear" hasn't been given for further demolition, I really can't resist the temptation to do some feather dusting of a scene I just blew up.  Then I wander through the building's structure looking for signs of fallout from this change.  When I find it, I hesitate with my feather duster in hand.  How severe is the damage?  Can I clean it up?  Should I?  Or do I wave my feather duster like a magic wand and undo the explosion?  I can do that.  Yet another choice is a further explosion.