European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 13, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A i nest pm a a � novel love from the cover Odeese rippers Are what they used to be called but these Days it is More than bodices that Are rip Ping or rippling. Birmingham s latest Book is a twist on the old pygmalion theme and set in 1880 London. One of the first fiery passages crackles through eight pages of Romance torrid is not the word. Torrid does not last eight pages from first kiss to denouement. Many critics tag such paperback dalliances As soft porn. Is it a Little unseemly for a air Force colonel s / wife who is also a colonel s daughter to Tell White hot sex stories she and her husband now retired just laugh at the notion. As far As the plucky author is concerned it is a writing exercise in which she includes As Many sensory details As possible. People who Don t write do not understand How hard it is to accomplish she explained. The Only criticism i get is from conservative elderly  among the cheers she receives Are those from the women at her husband s office. He is an executive with a computer firm near their Home South of fort Worth Texas. They Tell her that since they have read her books they look at him with whole new eyes. Reading Pearl Buck s the go dearth As a teen Ager set her mind to writing a novel. Her dream is to write a serious historical work like John Jakes Kent family Enron Ces someday. Aside from scratching out wives club projects Beauty articles and travel free Lancing when she and her family were stationed in Fulda Germany several years ago Birmingham was a writing Tenderfoot. Her first manuscript was Handwritten. It was her Texas whip it on attitude that made her deter mined to get it published she said. She decided to take the commercial fiction route to make a name for herself to be a writer takes a Tough hide said the novelist who can see Long horned cattle from her writ file Birmingham to be a writer takes a Tough  ing window. She docs not flinch when people turn up their noses at her paperbacks with the lurid covers. Instead she reminds them that Shakespeare Charles Dickens and Jack London also wrote for the masses. In 1991, spitfire was published by Avon books. It sold out just As her first Book did. The third is Welt on its Way. People think any housewife can write this. Most think that they can just pull out the Cork and ideas Are going to flow she said. The ideas do not pour out. It s More like a Leaky faucet for hot writing lot of people arc closet writers. They have written something that they be hidden in the closet or under the bed said Sonya Birmingham a Success Ful Romance novelist. You must have a raging burning flame in you that you will  Birmingham compares writing a novel to being a Marathon runner. As far As she is concerned most people do not have the stomach for the amount of work it  is not much Romance in writing Romance finless you love working five or six hours a Day five Days a week with the Burden of a deadline on your Back she said. Her key to being published winning contests. She joined every writing group she could and entered contest after contest. In 1989 she won Over two dozen writing awards for humor Romance and West Ern writing including the noted Oxbow award. Contests Are your stepping stones even if you Don t want to write Kissy-kissy1 Type books she said. In commercial writing books in the mystery Western and fantasy Mold for example publishers do not take chances on unknowns. Winning contests arc an unpublished author s credentials. They arc the secret to getting an agent. Agents do not know if an Amateur has the stamina to write a Book so they accept Only completed manuscripts. But an Amateur can enter contests without a finished  hand. Joining critique groups for encouragement is a must said Birmingham. Everybody shares body v  be with people who Are crazy about writing. Live breath and dream writing. Love words writing is the written heart hitting the Page she said. As a writer what you Are Selling is your Emo  for hopeful writers in military communities Over seas placing ads in the classifieds or dropping off leaflets at the local Library Are ways to Start up writ ers groups. Military people overseas Benefit from european settings and cultures. They can have contracts re viewed by Legal assistance officers who May also explain copyrights. No agent can sell a bad Book so write Well. Learn to write tightly powerfully and or smelly. Manu scripts that do not include a sniff or two in their first 200 words Are sleepers. Hang on. Hang on she advises those who May fal Ter in the Marathon of words. Hang on until three quarters of the Way through the a novel. Once that far it s like a horse going Home to the barn. Savor the luxury of writing a first Book she told her audience of two dozen writing junkies. Take As Long As you want because once published and on contract deadlines stare Back at you from the end of every chapter. All novels have a dark moment in the plot line. In her own career she found that her darkest hour came after she was a published author. She realized she was in the heavy hitter league and she would have to continue to live on Hope. Birmingham did not have As much influence As she thought she would on the final edit. Now into her fourth Romance novel she recalled How her publishers took the knife to the ending of the third. A lot of writ ers fall out after their third or fourth Book she said. And by the Way she cautioned All those would be novelists who Are teachers and bureaucrats writers Are not fabulously wealthy. They do not make much More than teachers and mid level  Effi Bathen when a Cool bedroom needs a steamy Book by Sandra Crockett the Baltimore Sun o the thrill is gone. The fire is out. The elec tric Blanket is the Only hot thing in the Bou Doir. ". Listen to the doctor and take a Romance novel to bed. These books just May turn up the body heat says or. Gay Guzinski a gynaecologist at the University of Maryland Hospital. They can be especially helpful for women who would be turned off by the this goes Here that goes there illustrated sex manuals. The people i would recommend these to Are women who Don t have a Good sense of their bodies who might be embarrassed by them who Aren t receiving pleasure but feel they Are missing some thing she says. At first some Are even embarrassed to mention they Are not having an orgasm. These women May not be comfortable sharing this information with a male gynaecologist but they share this with me. And there s a group of women who just Don t fantasize Guzinski adds. They. Feel As if they Are sort of stuck in the same  Romance novels the doctor says can give women permission to be More sexually expressive with their husbands or significant others. These women May have regarded sex As just a duty she says. Guzinski first determines there s nothing physically wrong with them before suggesting Good bodice ripping deep kissing Subtle yet sexy Romance novels. And it s not just older women who May feel sexually repressed says Guzinski in an article in the november Glamour Magazine. They could be younger women who married and had children Early menopausal women widows or those contemplating a new relationship. Although there Are Many Good in formational sexual aids on the Market Guzinski says these woman Are embarrassed to go out and say rent an explicit video. Romance novels Are Inex pensive and socially sanctioned. Anybody can drop one into their shopping cart while at the grocery store even Guzinski who reads what she recommends. I absolutely would Only recommend something that i had  Romance novelist Mary to Putney is one of the writers she suggests. Well there has been a Survey that says women who read Romance novels make love More often than those who Don to says Putney author of petals in the storm Penguin Usa. Another reason some women might be helped by Romance novels is because females Are verbally oriented while men Are visually oriented says or. Michael Plaut a certified sex therapist and professor at the University of Maryland. Of course that s not always the Case says Plaut a psychologist. But he agrees that Romance novels Are a valid sexual Aid. One sex therapist however says there could be drawbacks. Depending on How graphic they Are even Romance novels can be too much of a leap for some people says or. Eileen Mager also a certified sex therapist and psychologist. And we have to consider that they might pro Mote unrealistic  but Romance novels have a place in her practice also and Mager will recommend them to some patient someone who is already aware that she wants to explore her sexuality she says. All kinds of literature and Media can be enhancing says the doctor. And it s a Good idea for Doc tors to suggest different enhancements not pre scribe them As a sure fire cure All. For Plaut the novels Are at least one Way of open ing lines of communication Between couples. Sex is such a difficult thing to talk about in our  Page 4 sunday february .13, 1994