Whip-It UP Wednesdays!

A new month is dawning and January is nothing but a bad memory. How have you kept up with your goals? Are you staying motivated?

I've done pretty good. I dropped a few pounds last month . . . thanks to a doctor ordered low fat diet. Bland chicken and veggies is on my menu, thanks in part to a disgruntled gallbladder. I've got two weeks of cooling my heels and eating like an obsessed Hollywood Starlet until I find out if I have a date with Dr. McDreamy and a knife. So, cry for me Argentina because this chocoholic has had the jake-brakes slapped on her habit. All I can say to that traitorous organ of mine is Et tu, Brute?

As for my WIP, it's been smooth sailing. I've finished a chapter and have chugged on toward another turning point. I've found the bread crumb trail and am making headway through the forest of confusion in my mind.

Praise be and pass me a carrot stick!

I'm hoping to finish up the another chapter this week. I think setting small attainable goals has been my dark horse in this side show called life. For once, I haven't been second guessing my voice. Ha! I guess I've reached my own turning point. lol

This weekend, I watched THE DUCHESS with Keira Knightly and Ralph Fiennes. What a treat! Ms. Knightly did a fantastic job playing Georgiana Spencer, the Duchess of Devonshire. The costumes were absolutely gorgeous and the sets were actual locations in England. In the 'special features' section, I watched the behind the scenes snippets and was fascinated by how much information the author had on the grand dame. The real life caricatures of the duchess were awesome . . . but brought to mind a question.

While the ever-talented Ms. Knightly knocked it out of the park in her usual fashion, she didn't quite fit the buxom mold the real duchess seem to fit. Curves. The paintings and drawings of Georgiana all showed a VERY buxom woman. Obviously this is no slight to the actress as she was quite stellar in her role, but why didn't the powers that be fit an actress with more plump in her trunk?

So, with that in mind . . . what about you? Do you tend to fit your heroines within the standard norm of body types? Trim and lean with nary a roll in sight? I find it interesting that most romance novels cast the heroine in the "curvy, but trim" category. Ever after child-birth, the leading ladies of romance just keep on truckin' in their banging little bodies. I realize this is fantasy, but I think it would be fun to have a fuller figured heroine. I'm thinking kind of like a Bridget Jones and her "always just a little bit fat" body.

Do you think romancers would shy away from a buxom heroine? Is that a character you would gravitate to? On the flipside, what about a hero with a little cushion for the pushin' ? Would he be just as dreamy if his hips weren't so lean? Truth be told, I'm a bit of a chubby chaser myself, so a super trim hero doesn't do much for me. I like a man with some meat on his bones. Picture a Kyle Chandler or a Triple H (WWF). Sure they're fit, but also rounded in a very real way! Certainly no half-starved Hollywood actor. What about you? Would you want to read about a hero or heroine who has a little more to love than just angles?