Fans Are Like Friends To 'Reigning Queen' Of Women's Fiction
Both women say they feel a personal connection to Macomber. In fact, everyone here this weekend seemed to feel that way. They all refer to Macomber by her first name; They know her husband Wayne and her underwear-stealing dog Bogie, and her children and grandchildren.
Macomber loves them right back, signing books, comparing recipes and posing cheerfully for endless pictures. Almost everyone I met this weekend said I'd just missed Debbie — she'd been by a few minutes ago, and stopped to chat.
"I think that's exactly what an artist does: They want you to feel that connection," Macomber said when I finally found her. She said she wants to be a blessing to her readers, "to help someone who's having a hard time going through cancer to be able to escape in a good story, and forget their problems."
Though my tastes run more towards bodice-rippers, I got ready for the retreat by reading several of Macomber's books, and that's exactly what I found: gentle, friendly, comforting reads that function almost like self-help manuals in fictional form — no matter your troubles, you can forget them and follow along with Macomber's characters as they battle their demons on the road to love and fulfillment. For some readers, the books really do affect their lives.
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