Romance writers often get accused of being “unrealistic,” so I want to talk about that.

I think there’s a reason people say that—usually because they think our books imply that we should all hold out for Prince Fabio—and it’s tiresome and boring.

But on some level, they’re also saying that it’s unrealistic to expect the world to change.

I was walking the dog and thinking about the election and the pandemic. There’s a lot of truth to the claim that the world isn’t going to change a whole lot.

So I just want to say: I think romance writers often *are* unrealistic, at least in the sense that we look at reality with clear eyes and then say “nope, we’re not staying here.”

We’re, maybe, 10% unrealistic.

It is foolish to think you can change the world a lot. You can change it maybe 0.5%.

The question that we’re faced with is then, do you give up? Or do you find the lever to make your 0.5% change result in the 10% difference you want to make in the world?

I hope that’s what we’re doing here. The auction organizers and volunteers are throwing out 0.5% change out there, trying to make change happen.

But everyone who has bid and retweeted and donated—you have all been the fulcrum we rest this lever on.

We’ll give you our 10% unrealism. We’re shooting for a better reality, and we can do it together.

Thank you all.