Sassy, Snarky, Sarcastic: Who Me? by @JoanReeves #RomanceGems

My mouth used to get me in trouble all the time!

Okay, so it wasn't actually my mouth that got me in trouble. The problem was the words that came out of my mouth.

Miniature Dorothy Parker

When I was a child, I had the unfortunate habit of saying what was on my mind.

Somehow, I looked at the world around me and always came up with a comment worthy of Dorothy Parker.

While her witticisms and acerbic comments gained Ms. Parker the rep of possessing a biting, sophisticated wit, it gained me the reputation of being a sassy little girl with a smart mouth. Trust me, being sassy or being called "smart mouthed" wasn't considered praiseworthy in my small southern town.

Joan talks too much in school.

While a sassy assessment of people and events might be wonderful for a stand-up comedienne in training, it wasn't considered so wonderful by my parents or teachers. I remember a comment my third-grade teacher wrote on the back of my report card: "Joan talks too much in school."

Oh, my! That did not endear me to the teacher or to my parents even though the remark didn't surprise them. I think they'd already given up their effort to teach me that children should be seen and not heard.

Sassy Mouth Makes For Writing Talent

Fortunately, I developed the ability to filter what I thought. Now I utter the unadorned truth about what I think only to my Darling Husband.

Sometimes he laughs. Sometimes he rolls his eyes and calls me a smartass. Then he kisses my smart mouth. Not once has he ever told me to be quiet. Oh, how I love that man!

Besides, now I let heroines mouth off. I like to write heroines who are armed with an arsenal of sass and aren't afraid to use it. All my books have a lot of dialogue, whether they're romantic comedy or romantic suspense, so those girls have ample opportunity to speak what they think.

Readers often tell me that they laugh out loud at the conversations between characters.

In Just One Look, my heroine Psychologist Jennifer Monroe uses words, innuendo, and sexual tension to twist her hero, Gynecologist Dr. Matthew Penrose, into a pretzel.

It's so freeing for characters to say things I'd like to say, but never do.

Probably because I still hear the voices of my teachers and my parents telling me to think before I speak so I don't sound like a sass mouth.

Smart, Sassy Women Speak

I honor the smart–and the smartass–women who uttered these quotations below. I like sassy quotes. I used some of my favorite quotations as a literary motif, prefacing each chapter with a sassy quote, in my romantic comedy, Old Enough To Know Better. The quotation kind of foreshadows what the chapter is about.

I find the response to this book interesting. It's an older woman/younger man story. Of 4 reviews this year, 3 loved it and 1 absolutely hated it! Funny how those reviews came in just days apart. When that happens, it really makes you realize—again—how subjective reading taste is.

Warning: Hot as the Texas Summer of the story.

Here are some of the quotes I used in Old Enough To Know Better plus a few other favorites.

“I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb ... and I also know that I'm not blonde.” ~Dolly Parton

“You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a smart woman with a dumb guy.” ~Erica Jong

“A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.” ~Jane Austen

“If high heels were so wonderful, men would be wearing them.” ~Sue Grafton

“When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country.” ~Elayne Boosler

"I don't have much fear of getting older, but I do dread that someday a wicked genie will make me go back and live my 20's all over again." ~Elizabeth Gilbert

Cinderella Blue has heroine armed with a smart mouth and a Glock.

"Love is like the measles. The older you get, the worse the attack." ~Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Man in Lower Ten

"I used to be Snow White, but I drifted." ~Mae West

"Love is a game that two can play and both win." ~Eva Gabor 

Bringing in a Man to Close

Here's an excerpt from In Praise of Older Women, an essay often attributed to Andy Rooney, but actually written by Frank Kaiser.

You can find the entire text of Mr. Kaiser's essay here.

“Once you get past a wrinkle or two, an older woman is far sexier than her younger counterpart. Her libido’s stronger, her fear of pregnancy gone. Her experience of lovemaking is honed and reciprocal, and she’s lived long enough to know how to please a man in ways her daughter could never dream of. (Young men, you have something to look forward to.)” ~Frank Kaiser

Pop Up Giveaway

Famous Quotation by Dorothy Parker

I'll give away 1 Kindle edition of 1 of the 3 books mentioned in my post.

Leave a comment with your email address written out. (Don't leave it as  a hot link.)

Tell me if you speak your mind or if you're discreet (unlike me) and refrain from snarky comments.

On June 3, our Rafflecopter begins. Check out our Monthly Giveaway page now to see all the great prizes.

On Monday, June 3, I'll select a winner by random draw from all the comments with an email addy. I'll notify the winner by email and also post her name in comments on this post.

June is going to be great! Enjoy the golden sunshine and have nothing but happy days.