How speaking French made me better at writing romance...

In English we say "I miss you."

In French we say "Tu me manques."

Loosely translated: You are missing from me. It's a beautiful sentiment and has challenged me to bring more lyricism into my writing... now I always pause and think... how would my husband say this? (dorky but yes, that does leave me thinking about Francois several times a day....).

For something to be missing from you, it had to have been a part of you previously (that is now missing). You miss a person the way you would miss a part of yourself. What could be more romantic than that? Thus the French influence.

When my husband explained it to me, I fell in love with him all over again. He just looked at me, and smiled whilst shaking his head. "Love is poetry," he said.

I think about words a lot (duh, I'm a writer), and I've been thinking about tu me manques a lot today.

You are missing from me.

This is the sentiment I'm carrying into my current work in progress (the forth book in the ?Nearly Wed Series - Nearly Never After).

Noah Stevens is the opposite of someone who is looking for love. He is still mourning. Determined to not love anyone again, how could he? Isn't it somehow selfish to fall in love twice?

Enter my heroine, an independent lady on a quest of her own. The last thing she needs is a brooding bachelor standing in her way...

xx don't worry, I'll make sure it ends well.

Any thoughtful sentiments from your significant other?

I'm also taking notes on love poems...