I’m a tad bit surprised at the response to my entry on Mary Balogh’s RWR comments. It seems writers either must read in the genre they’re writing in or they musn’t. I’m thankful to everyone who commented on the subject, both here and on Alison Kent’s blog and Celia Stuart’s where they mentioned my entry. I learned a lot from all of you.
I also found this portion of an article on Nicole Jordan which said (in part), “A voracious reader, she now reads few romance novels herself. “I have slacked off on the romance novels because I’ve become jaded on them,” she says. “I end up studying them. It’s kind of taken the pleasure out of them. Now I read thrillers.”“
So Mary, who I believed to be quite alone in her rejection of romance novels, appears to be in good company. As for me, please send all the unwanted romances my way. I adore them! 
I had grand plans to get a bunch of work done today, but I was distracted by my e-mail in-box! :blush: Good thing Hubby’s off to the ballgame again tonight. I’ll get a ton done later!
As I venture into the world of critiquing I hope I don’t lose my love of reading romances. I absolutely adore them and I hope I can continue to get lost in them!
I think it’s an interesting subject. Even Pam Britton says she can’t read a lot of historicals (that’s what she writes).
I also think I hit on the reason (for me) why. I spend so much time critting romance that when I read it, I can’t shut the editor off.
Oh, the dreaded email inbox! I hate it!
And I’m with ya on sending the romances my way. I need to read them if I’m writing. The problem is that I’ve gotten so much pickier the more experienced a writer I become. I have a MUCH lower tolerance for overused plots, mediocre writing, and shallow characters, so I’m finding that my novel choices are becoming more and more limited. Fortunately, there are a lot of good authors out there, so they’d just better keep on writing!