As for women in a man’s world, those attitudes still exist. I work in a so-called “man’s” job, and I see them every day. They’re not as blatant as they were in Collette’s time, or even 20 years ago, but they’re still there. Will they every go away? After all my years in the workplace, I have my doubts.

I can understand Collette’s dilemma. She wants to write, not take on the world. You can do only so much before you’re exhausted. Jane Austen didn’t really have a choice but to hide behind the “By A Lady” with which she signed her books. By Collette’s times, things were opening up, but they were still a big struggle. Even today, when women are acknowledged as authors, there’s still a stigma attached to writing romance–and I think it’s because romance is mainly written by women for women. You don’t see the same attitude about westerns or war stories–could it be because they’re mainly written by men for men?

Hope you have lots of sales!