Shades of Blue, Shades of Me....

I tend to paint my nails blue— A lot.

I'm not a major girly-girl even though I love to read and write romance. I love sappy chick flicks, but I hate dresses and don't normally wear them or high heels unless I absolutely have to. I honestly can't remember the last time I wore a dress unless it was part of a costume and the closest I come to anything girly on my feet are strappy leather sandals in the summer.

I do wear make-up, but I'm not a huge jewelry buff. I wear earrings and my wedding ring set, but otherwise, I'm really a plain Jane-T-shirt & jeans kinda gal, though I have been known to wear a bead bracelet from time to time or mini metallic butterfly clips in my hair when I'm feeling free-spirited and bohemian.

So that's where nail polish comes into play. It's my one girly outlet when it comes to health and beauty.

I LOVE nail polish—in all shades~ pinks, reds, silvers, purples, greens, but most of all in shades of blue. I generally stick the most with dark metallic or iridescent blues that most would describe as "midnight" or as the case may be with the shade I'm wearing today- it's an "All Night Long" blue (quite similar to the shade pictured)

I didn't realize just what a big part blue plays in my life and my stories until I was swiping my nails down with the polish this morning. Several of my heroines have blue eyes...I'm sure that partly comes from the fact that I have blue eyes and because once upon a time, I was told I had the most amazing baby blues by the love of my life. But I digress....

Blue is most definitely a comfort for me but I can't seem to pinpoint why that is exactly. I love pale blue skies in the spring, blue butterflies, flowers, blue lights at Christmas. There's something serene about the color blue, the clarity, the intuitive spiritual nature of it.

And then it dawned on me. My heroine in my current WIP is earthy and artsy and she wears a thin blue braid in her red hair. There's significance in that, but to mention it would be to give away too much of the story, too much of her character. But there's a reason for it and it's something she draws comfort from.

I guess what they say is true of writers...we tend to weave bits of ourselves into our characters- sometimes not even realizing we do it until much later, if at all. When I write I weave shades of blue into the fibers of each story and in doing so, I weave in shades of me.....