Wednesday 13 October 2010

The Chilean miners

Hopefully, by the time I get up and flick on the news in the morning the chilean miners rescue will be well under way - I can't wait to see the images of those men coming out. Crossing everything for a safe recovery.

As a romance writer, hasn't it been creative juices gold? It's the stuff that movies are made of - and they don't even need to embroider the truth. It's been a truly miraculous story of human strength and endurance, with some truly epic moments of high drama along the way. The moment that they read aloud that note from the miners confirming that they were all alive and safe... wow. Just wow.

All of those wives and girlfriends camping on the surface to be close to their men.
Their novel ways to keep the channels of romantic communication open, even under such dire circumstances.
The amazing  bonds of solidarity that have formed between those families waiting around camp fires for their loved ones, and the sometimes explosive and unexpected stories that have dribbled out over the weeks.

I read that at least four of the miners plan to propose when they make it above ground.

A tiny baby girl born with her daddy trapped below.

I also heard about a violent row that erupted on the surface between one of the miners wives and his mistress. Straight away I find myself wondering if they knew of each others existence before the accident happened. How will his time below ground impact on these two women over the next couple of days?

And tonight I saw one of the wife on the news say that hopefully it will have made her husband a more humble man. I hadn't given any thought to the idea of any of the relationships being less than perfect before hearing her speak, but of course they weren't. These are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

How on earth will their relationships fare under the burden of normality?

 Completely fascinating, and a deep, deep well of romantic inspiration.

9 comments:

  1. I AM sooooooooooooo out of touch, haven't even heard of this disaster. Maybe I should start watching the news but it usually just depresses me and is on at the WRONG time. Saying that it sounds like a disaster we had in Tasmania downunder a couple of years back. Definitely lots of stories to tell there!

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  2. Definitely heart-wrenching.
    Janet Dailey wrote a Silhouette romance -- "Wild and Wonderful" -- set around the coal mining industry. It's part of her Americana series and is set in West Virginia. I think it was first published in the early 80s.

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  3. BTW. I think Dailey was Harlequin's first American author. Do you know if that's true?

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  4. Oh, I'm watching right now, Joanne! It's so amazing! 69 days underground...I can't believe it.

    Tina, yep, I think you're right...she was also the one who...er..plagiarized La Nora.

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  5. I had heard all about the mistress and the wife but none of the nice things like the planned proposals!

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  6. Oh wow, I hadn't heard about the mistress/wife story either. How awful! But, of course, you're right--those relationships won't be perfect and they'll have a huge amount of work in front of them to readjust to every day life won't they.

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  7. Yep Maisey. That was an ugly period for the romance genre. Why oh why? :(

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  8. I normally shy away from the news too Rach, it usually gets me down. But watching the rescues this morning was so addictive, I watched about six in a row, just sitting on the sofa, crying into my mug of tea. Fantastic stuff, so inspring. Joanne, my husband had only one thing to say as we watched the men emerging from under ground, 'they'll all be getting some tonight'. Honestly, his mind is a worry sometimes!

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  9. It's pretty awesome huh? And inspiring! Not to mentino putting heaps of perspective on our own lives. But yeah, talk about setting off a few ideas creatively. Given me some great ideas for conflict...
    Lol on Aideen's husband! :-)

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