Friday Friend - Lila Munro's Heroines

Welcome to today's Friday Friend - Lila Munro.

Lila currently resides on the coast of North Carolina with her husband and their two four-legged kids. She’s a military wife with an empty nest and takes much of her inspiration for her heroes from the marines she’s lived around for the past fifteen years. Coining the term realmantica, she strives to produce quality romance in a realistic setting. Her genre of choice is contemporary romance that spans everything from the sensual to BDSM and ménage. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading everything she can get her hands on, trips to the museum and aquarium, taking field research trips, and soaking up the sun on the nearby beaches

My Heroines Have Always Been…Not Cowboys

I pondered a long time on what to write about today and the other morning it struck me right between the eyes. Duh, Lila! The blog you’re writing for is all about heroines…who were yours? Oh,dear. Now that would require some thinking.

I must confess while I absorbed English classes in high school like a sponge, I thoroughly detested history class, of any sort. So, while in fact many of my teenage idols were writers, I dug a little deeper and remembered when history was fun, you know, way back in primary school? When teachers wore crazy hats when teaching about Louis and Clark, and sneaking around on the Underground Railway sounded daring, and you wished you’d been there to help. For some reason or other at a younger age, history was exciting and it tended to stick.

Once we got past all the intriguing characters, well, let’s just say the boring political crap they tried to teach me later, well, bored me. And in the college years, my history teacher was a very colorful hippie gal that was still living the sixties. Not that I have anything against all that, I’m sure it was an exciting time to be active in the forming of nations, it’s just I’d have liked to have found out more about the entire span of modern history not just ten years of it. She’d have been great if they’d given her a class called…oh, I don’t know…The Sixties, How We Survived and How You Can Revive—Them.

Where was I? Oh yes…fifth grade. When things were still interesting as far as the olden days. Here are some of my heroines and how they contributed to molding ...

Susan B. Anthony:

Ms. Anthony was born in Adams, Mass. February 15, 1820. She came from some pretty cool parents for the times who fortunately believed their daughter deserved just as good an education as their sons. And they were active from the get go in reform measures. Seems she came from good stock! Now so I don’t get in trouble, I helped myself to the following information from http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/figures.htm

as will the other factoids about my other heroines in a few paragraphs. Yes, I’m a writer, but I take help when I can get it.

• Founded the National Woman's Suffrage Association in 1869 with life-long friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Together they worked for women's suffrage for over 50 years.
• Published "The Revolution" from 1868-1870, a weekly paper about the woman suffrage movement whose motto read, "Men their rights and nothing more, women their rights and nothing less.
• First person arrested, put on trial and fined for voting on November 5, 1872. Unable to speak in her defense she refuse to pay "a dollar of your unjust penalty."
• Wrote the Susan B. Anthony Amendment in 1878 which later became the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.
• Helped found the National American Woman's Suffrage Association in 1890 which focused on a national amendment to secure women the vote. She served as president until 1900.
• Compiled and published "The History of Woman Suffrage (4 vols. 1881-1902) with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage.
• Founded the International Council of Women (1888) and the International Woman Suffrage Council (1904) which brought international attention to suffrage.
• An organization genius -- her canvassing plan is still used today by grassroot and political organizations.
• Gave 75-100 speeches a year for 45 years, traveling throughout the the United States by stage coach, wagon, carriage and train.
• Led the only non-violent revolution in our country's history -- the 72 year struggle to win women the right to vote.

I used to daydream about standing out there with my picket sign alongside Sue and her compatriots.

Harriett Tubman:

Miss Tubman was born on Edward Brodas plantation near Bucktown, Dorchester County, Maryland around the year 1820. Unlike Ms. Anthony she was denied education due to being born into slavery, but that didn’t stop her from helping free 300 slaves during the years of the Underground Railroad.

Nicknamed Moses she was described in the Boston Commonwealth in July 1863:
"Col. Montgomery and his gallant band of 800 black soldiers, under the guidance of a black woman, dashed in to the enemies' country ... destroying millions of dollars worth of commissary stores, cotton and lordly dwellings, and striking terror to the heart of rebeldom, brought off near 800 slaves and thousands of dollars worth of property."

Striking terror to the heart of rebeldom…Can you imagine?

These women definitely had backbones and nothing can stop me attitudes. Since I didn’t raise a daughter I often wonder who the girls of today look up to. Do they find the characters of the past interesting? Do they daydream about pioneering the prairie with Laura Ingalls Wilder? Do they want to be a gun toting Annie Oakley when they grow up? Fly to far off places, the moon perhaps, in the fashion of Amelia Earhart? Or have this, that, or the other shining star from Hollywood taken all these courageous women’s places? I hope not…

Thanks for having me over today girls! It’s always a joy and pleasure. Maybe some of you readers will leave some comments on who their heroines were growing up and if they’d like to keep up with me and the strong willed women I write they can find me at Realmantic Moments .

Happy reading!

Lila's works include The Executive Officer’s Wife, Bound By Trust, Destiny’s Fire, Salvation, Three for Keeps, the Force Recon series, the Slower Lower series, and the Identity series. She’s a member in good standing of RWA and Passionate Ink. Currently she’s working on sequels to several series to be released throughout 2012. And has a brand new line scheduled for winter 2012-13. Ms. Munro loves to hear from her readers and can be found at Realmantic Moments, Facebook,  Pinterest, Goodreads  You can also contact her via email at lilasromance@gmail.com You can find all her works at: Amazon, Nook, ARe, Bookstrand

Rebel Ink Press presents an exclusive new line from bestselling authors BethAnn Buehler and Lila Munro…

Toy Box Tales…

The Toy Box clubs, where the beer is always cold, the drinks are always perfect, and the sex is always hot, are found in the back alleys of cities across the world. Somehow, elite fighting forces always know where to locate one. Special ops team members stationed and deployed around the globe are guaranteed to find a piece of Americana, or something more exotic if they prefer, every single time they visit--no matter the mission. Owned by a mysterious man who wishes to remain anonymous, these clubs cater to every need, whim, and at times, every fetish imaginable. But as America's best often find, what happens at the Toy Box doesn’t always stay at the Toy Box...

Coming August 17, 2012…

Sugar and Spice - Lila Munro

Drake O’Malley is in between deployments and looking to hook up, but not on a permanent basis. The Toy Box, Fayetteville, North Carolina, is his team’s regular haunt. While most of what goes on in the back isn’t Drake’s style, the club does make a righteous Irish Car Bomb. And the girls who grace the doors aren’t bad either. If only Drake could find one that liked the occasional spanking, wasn’t into the whole twenty-four seven scene, and would let go when he disappeared on a mission. Someone with some spice… And spice is what he gets when Nutmeg Newman shows up. She’s not looking for a permanent mate, just a good time. In fact, she let’s go on cue and isn’t heard from again until her sister, Coriander, comes knocking on Drake’s door with a special Christmas surprise. One wrapped in a cute pink package complete with hair bow...

Thank you so much for being with us today, Lila, We wish you every success with your Toy Box Tales which sound intriguing, to say the least!

Hope all our readers will tell us about THEIR heroines!