It’s been two. years since the filming of Hallmark’s adaptation of Christmas Class Reunion, and we still get questions. Usually the first is, how did you get a movie deal? That’s followed by, “What was it like?” And since we've picked up a lot of new followers since 2022, it seems as good a time as any to circle back.

Ready? Okay, here we go!
 
How did you get a movie deal?
 
It's complicated! Paul wrote the original version of Christmas Class Reunion, and it might be the most unlikely story ever to become a Hallmark movie. You’re familiar with the formula they use. Young happy couples living clean idyllic lives. No drugs. No sex outside of marriage. And there’s always a happy ending. In the writing business, those are called tropes. And if authors go against them, readers get mad. Consider the movie, Pretty Woman. It’s one of Robin’s favorites. How much different would Pretty Woman be if Edward hadn’t returned for Vivian? Without that final scene, it’s not a love story at all. Romance readers expect the same. Couples meet and fall in love. Something drives them apart, yet they persevere. And in the end, they live happily ever after. Sound familiar?
 
But Paul doesn’t read romance novels, except ours. He did go to his fortieth class reunion, though, and while there, he sensed a story needing to be written. He started that very week. The original CCR was released in 2018 to mostly positive reviews, but there were a few unhappy readers. Amazon marketed Christmas Class as a romance. Romance readers expect happy endings, and the end of CCR wasn’t particularly happy. In fact, it was gut-wrenchingly sad. We still laugh at a one-star review a reader left on Amazon: I expected a Christmas romance and what I got was a one-night stand.
 
Fast forward to 2021. We decided to collaborate on some stories that eventually became Robin Paul Romance. Part of the plan was to update CCR, but before we got started, Paul received a Facebook message. A producer with a Los Angeles film company wanted to discuss pitching CCR to Hallmark.
 
Paul thought it was a scam and blew it off. Robin, ever the optimist, dug deeper. It turned out to be legit. The first conversation went well, though there were no promises. Getting any book made into a movie is a long shot. Especially one like Christmas Class. Changes would be needed. Big changes. Remember, Paul never intended it to be a Hallmark romance. Robin wasn’t surprised. She's a huge Hallmark fan. She knows what they like.
 
Months passed with no word. We were well into our update of CCR when we received the call that changed everything. Hallmark wanted to option our story! Scriptwriting commenced in the spring of 2022. Filming was scheduled for September. Robin still remembers when the completed script arrived. She read it and fell in love. While much of the original story was changed in the screenplay, the feel and emotion were maintained. 
 
So, what was it like?
 
A whirlwind! The movie was filmed in Langley, British Columbia. We were invited for the month-long shoot, but chose to stay for a week. We learned how much hard work goes into filmmaking, and how arduous it can be. If you’ve seen the film, you might recall a scene during prom where the high school principal catches two students getting cozy in a dark corner. That forty-five second scene took hours to film. The crew showed up early and worked late into the evening. The director did a masterful job of keeping things moving, even with a gym full of extras from the local high school.
 
Other Questions We Receive . . .
 
Favorite memories of your week on set?
Robin: How kind everyone was. And how we were treated like royalty. There were even chairs with our names on them!
Paul: The behind-the-scenes stuff, and how many people it takes to make a movie. I also liked that there were food trucks with all the free food you could eat.
 
What was Aimee Teegarden like? 
Robin: Wonderful! Very kind and down-to-earth. She hugged me when we met. I love huggers!
 
Will any of your other books be adapted to movies?
Gosh, we hope so! There have been discussions, but you never know what project might stir some interest.
 
Did you get paid?
Are you kidding? We paid them… okay, just kidding! Yes, we got paid.
 
Any desire to be in a movie?
Robin: Yes!
Paul: No, but I think I would like to try writing a screenplay.

Did you attend a big premier party?
Our friends, Chris and Glenda, hosted the best premier party of all time! There was delicious food, two big-screen TVs, and even a red carpet! Some of you might have caught the Facebook Live event Robin did that evening. It was spectacular! That's Chris and Glenda with their rescue greyhound, Linus.
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Fun Facts About Christmas Class Reunion

• Pure Leaf Tea was a sponsor, and their product was prominently displayed during the reunion. Look for it next time you watch.
• 2.62 million viewers tuned in for the December 10 debut, making it the day's most-watched cable show.
• Filming for the prom and reunion scenes took place at Brookswood High School in Langley, BC. The school is used frequently, so staff and students are used to it. Brookswood students were used as extras.
• Co-star Tanner Novlan is famous as the “struggling actor” in Liberty Mutual (Liberty-Bibberty) commercials and as Dr. John Finnegan on the CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful.
• Executive Producer Karen Glass is, like Paul, a Maryland native. Her brother, Ira Glass, is the host and creator of NPR’s “This American Life,” one of Paul’s favorite radio programs.
• Filming of dance scenes begins with music playing. Once the actors and extras find their rhythm, the music stops so they can speak their lines. They're actually dancing without music. It's put back in during post-production.
• There are strict schedules for how long the crew can work, and when they are given breaks. Ignoring those can result in fines.
• CCR was the last Hallmark movie filmed for 2022 release. It made it from the editing room to the screen with just days to spare.

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Paul here. Today is the first official day of summer, so I’m sharing one of my favorite summer memories:
 
The bookmobile.
 
If you grew up in a decent-sized town, you may have never heard of a bookmobile. I’ve included a couple of pictures to give you an idea of what they look like. Think of an RV or bread truck, except full of books. It's pretty ingenious, really. The librarian drives to a location, usually a small town far removed from any public library, parks near the local church or general store, and stays for a couple of hours. When I was a kid, the bookmobile came to Galestown every other Tuesday between eleven and one. I don’t know if it’s the same today, or if the bookmobile is even still a thing, but in 1960s and 70s Galestown, Maryland, it was huge.
 
The selection of books was small, but in the days before Amazon and Barnes and Noble, the opportunities were endless. There was always plenty of Beverly Cleary’s Beezus, Ramona, and Henry Huggins. I spent most of summer before sixth grade reading Clair Bee’s Chip Hilton series. Miss Charlotte, the bookmobile librarian, would happily bring books she knew I would like. Thanks to the bookmobile I can tell you anything you want to know about Brooks Robinson, Curt Flood, or Pete Maravich. And, as my tastes changed and developed, the bookmobile scratched the itch. Pat Conroy’s eloquent prose thrilled fifteen-year-old me in The Water is Wide and The Great Santini. Stuart Woods’s Chiefs kept me on the edge of my chair while introducing me to the southern fiction I still love today. Throw in some Stephen King, Irwin Shaw, and Harper Lee with a little George Plimpton and J. D. Salinger, and a lifelong love of reading was born in a tiny bookmobile on the Maryland countryside.
 
Unlike the traditional library, the bookmobile’s selection changed from week to week as books were pulled and returned to the central library thirty miles away. Later, after leaving Galestown, I lived in communities where we had our own public libraries. I could go any day and check out as many books as I could carry. Heady times, but still not as exciting as climbing onto the bookmobile every other Tuesday to discover what treats Miss Charlotte had for us. Like the Alice Cooper biography, that probably should have been locked away behind the circulation desk! I’m a big Alice Cooper fan and love how he has become such a beloved figure today, but in 1970s America, his biography could have stripped paint! Thanks to the quirkiness of the bookmobile’s circulation system, I checked it and John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath out in the same week. Dust bowl misery on Wednesday, sex and cocaine with groupies on Thursday. I learned a lot, thanks to the bookmobile.
 
So, how about you? I’m not the only one around here with bookmobile memories, am I? I hope you will share yours below or on our Facebook page!
 
And enjoy your summer!

I’ll bet I’ve been to more proms than you. Eleven in all. Seven as a school administrator, three as a teacher, and one as a student. I’ve been to proms in high school gyms, country clubs, private resorts, and one that was actually held in someone’s home. Robin’s prom was at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City. Fancy, fancy.
 
So when it comes to proms, I’ve seen some stuff.
 
Like the prom where fried chicken was served for dinner. As the evening progressed, we noticed more and more girls with greasy stains on their gowns, just below their armpits and… ah… on their backsides. A little detective work led us to the answer. The gowns tended to ride down on top, so the ladies would hoist them back into place. And their derrieres? Well, the lights were low and apparently so were the hands of some of our young men. 
 
Then there was the Hawaiian-themed prom. A group of enterprising students created commemorative t-shirts they sold for ten bucks each.
 
I got lei’d at SCHOOL NAME prom. 
 
You can imagine how those went over. Small town, conservative values. It was my job to get those shirts back before they went public. There were seventy-three, as I recall. Students resisted until it was announced that prom would not begin until every shirt was accounted for. The last ones came in less than an hour before the doors were to open.
 
So, what do you do with seventy-three suggestive t-shirts? Well, let’s just put it this way. The cafeteria staff had some interesting dish rags the following fall. You cannot make this stuff up.
 
Did you go to your prom? What do you remember? Was it as magical as you hoped or a complete disaster? Mine was… not so good. But also really sweet. My date’s name was Teri. She was one of the most popular girls in our class. I have no idea why she didn’t have a date, but I’m pretty sure I know why I didn’t. I was a shy, nearsighted kid with no car or driver’s license. It took me two weeks to work up the nerve to ask her to go. She said she needed to think about it over the weekend. Talk about a long weekend. Then, on Monday, she said yes! There was only one problem. Prom was in five days, and I didn’t have a tuxedo. Mom and I rushed to the local men’s shop, only to discover that the only color still available was brown. No one – no one – wore brown in the colorful, disco-infused 1970s. I know Teri was disappointed when I told her. Her dress was light blue. 
 
So, let’s recap: Teri had to drive and my tux clashed with her dress. Still, she was totally cool. She picked me up. We ran back to her house for pictures before dinner. I scored points by making reservations at one of the ritziest restaurants in the area. Unfortunately, we blew a tire on the way. A college-aged guy stopped and offered to change it. A true knight in shining armor. After he finished, Teri gave him her number and asked him to call her sometime. 
 
Ouch.
 
Despite the rocky start I have pleasant memories of prom night. We dined on crab imperial, had our picture taken in front of a fake bridge, gorged ourselves on finger foods, and danced more than we sat. I left for college later that summer. Teri and I didn’t cross paths again until our fifteen-year class reunion. She lost her life in an accident a few years later. When I think of her, and prom, I smile. 
 
How about you? Favorite prom memories? Share them in the comments below or on our Facebook page.

​We’re changing our healthcare coverage and keep running into the term “qualifying life event.” Sound familiar? These allow you to make changes in your health insurance outside the usual enrollment period, things like marriage, divorce, and having a baby. We have no plans nor the biological capability for those. Moving and death count, but we’re in good health and after the many moves we made for our careers, we’re content to stay put. There are others, but few apply to mature (make whatever you want out of that) adults. Life events at our age aren’t like they were years ago. For example, our biggest life event in recent years happened recently. 

We swapped sides in bed.

​And if that isn’t enough… are you ready for this? We upgraded from a queen mattress to king.

Oh. My. Goodness. 

As we mentioned last month, we get questions from readers. One that comes up regularly is, who does what to get a Robin Paul romance into the hands of our wonderful readers?
 
The answer is, it’s complicated. There’s much more to getting our books on shelves than writing them, particularly when you aren’t tied to a big publisher. We choose to publish our own books. That puts us in pretty good company. Best-selling authors like Colleen Hoover, Lucy Score, Mark Dawson, Hugh Howey, and others are indie authors. It allows us to choose our own destiny. The downside? We are responsible for everything. EVERYTHING. Writing, editing, cover art, print prep, marketing, and finances. That means there is plenty to do. 
 
So, who does what?
 
It all starts with an idea. We brainstorm constantly and keep a file of potential story ideas. Our first book, Christmas Presence, is the story of a nurse who returns to her hometown. Robin spent much of her professional life as a nurse. Her experiences played into that story from the first page to the last.
 
Once we figure out the story, Paul starts writing, usually about 1500 words a day. As each chapter is complete, we  read it aloud. Paul loves writing dialogue. Robin infuses scenes with emotion and setting, and checks for continuity mistakes (such as a secondary character whose name changes). Robin is also better at the mushy stuff, so she gets to punch up the romance scenes. This is usually the time we begin working with Berni, our UK-based designer, on the new book’s cover.
 
Once a manuscript is complete and we’re satisfied with the story, it goes off to Jen, our editor in Kansas City. A month later, it returns with hundreds of notes and suggestions, including grammar and spelling errors, ways to make things more concise, and plenty more. Paul spends two weeks going through the edited manuscript page by page, considering and, most times, accepting Jen’s edits while Robin prepares to record the audiobook. A marketing plan is put together about this time, too. We advertise heavily on Facebook and Amazon. Paul’s background is in marketing, so he leads this effort.
 
Finally, about six months after putting the first words on a blank computer screen, Paul uploads the final manuscript onto Amazon while Robin heads to the recording studio in Sarasota to record the audiobook. And just like that, a new book is born!
 
There’s a lot more that goes on, such as newsletters, attendance at conferences, answering reader emails, and this blog that is handled by whoever has the time. It might not be ideal, but it works well for us.

​And it helps that we kind of like each other!

​It tickles us when readers want to know more about us. We get asked about family, past jobs, favorite foods, TV shows, movies, and so on. We’re not private people. We’ve lived in too many small towns to worry what people think about us. It’s just that we’re… not that interesting.
 
But since some of you asked, we’ve put together this list of things we like. And a few things we don’t. Many we agree on, on others we’re not even close.
 
Okay, here we go… try to stay awake!
 
Family: We’re a blended family of four kids. The joke is that we’ve been together so long that no one can remember which kids are whose. Paul and Cody had part-time gigs with the Kansas City Royals in the early 2010s. A supervisor approached Paul and said he’d just learned that Cody was his son. “I can’t believe I didn’t already know,” he said. “You look so much alike!”
 
You guessed it. Cody came with Robin.
 
In addition to three daughters and a son, we have two sons-in-law, a daughter-in-law, and a future son-in-law. We also have three granddaughters and two grandsons. Two of our kids live in the Kansas City area, one is in Tampa, and one is in New Jersey. They and their significant others have jobs ranging from teacher and aviation mechanic to stay-at-home mom and football coach. Our oldest daughter recently returned to school to become a physician’s assistant. What we’re most proud of is that they’ve all grown into caring and loving adults.
 
Robin is a nurse by trade, but for the past fifteen years she’s worked in leadership. First as director of obstetrics in a suburban Kansas City hospital and, more recently, as an executive for a multinational company that makes medical education products. She has an MBA and a PhD. Paul spent thirty years as a teacher and school administrator before transitioning to full-time writing a decade ago. Of all the jobs he held, it was the time he spent as a high school teacher that was most rewarding. Over the years our careers have taken us from rural communities to Kansas City and the Tampa Bay area. 
 
But enough of that stuff. Let’s get to the important issues. Ready?

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​Where did we get married? Gulf Shores, Alabama. On the beach! At sunset! Cody was ringbearer. He lost the ring. That’s a story for another day.
 
Favorite food? Both of us love pizza! Robin likes pineapple, so we order half-and-half.
 
TV shows? Ted Lasso (Robin). Everybody Loves Raymond (Paul).
 
Movies? Pretty Woman and anything Hallmark (Robin). Mr. Holland’s Opus (Paul) But he also loves those vigilante movies like Billy Jack and Equalizer. He binges them when Robin is out of town.
 
Music? Both of us love 70s/80’s pop. Robin leans toward Little River Band (She’s seen them in concert at least five times) and Lionel Richie. She also loves classic country. Paul's secret love is 80s R&B acts like Johnny Gill and Surface.
 
Person Most Admired? Robin is quick to say her mom for her intelligence and sass. Paul goes with Ronald Reagan, who he first heard speak at a college rally.
 
Things Robin likes that Paul doesn’t? Sauerkraut, cottage cheese, coffee, vegetables, shopping (Paul is a terrible shopper).
 
Things Paul likes that Robin doesn’t? Running, bratwurst, fantasy baseball, biographies, talk radio (Robin falls asleep).
 
Favorite things to do together? Family time, chill at home, eat out, Friday beach walks, pickleball, hanging with friends. And writing books.
 
And speaking of writing books, another question that comes up is, who does what? How do two people write together? That’s a question for next time.

Love y'all, Robin Paul

This is from Paul...
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Robin and I love teachers. That’s not just some throwaway line for Teacher Appreciation Week. We really LOVE teachers. We love teachers because at one time or another we were teachers. Three of our four children are teachers. Our son is married to a teacher. Our second daughter is marrying a teacher this summer. Our youngest dates a teacher.
 
Yeah, we love teachers.
 
As a kid I never missed a TV show called Room 222. It centered on a high school history teacher named Pete Dixon. Students loved Mr. Dixon and he loved them back. I wanted to be Pete Dixon. I also wanted to be Mark Thackeray. If you’re a fan of classic movies, you remember him as Sir in To Sir With Love. I’m currently listening to Lulu’s song of the same name, and remembering the final scene. It still gives me the feels.

​Teachers like Pete Dixon and Sir are fictional characters, and as heroic as they seem, don’t compare to the real-life educators who impact our lives so completely. You know who I’m talking about. They begin the school year as strangers and by May, they’ve changed us. Ask anyone to name that teacher and without hesitation they will.
 
Who is yours?
 
For me, it wasn’t just one, but several. And I can still tell you what made them THAT teacher. There was Mr. Lake, who taught me that a person’s skin color doesn't matter. Mr. Wood and Miss Falin showed me that guys could write stories and poems and still be guys. Mr. Lamparter encouraged me to pursue talents I didn’t know I had. And Dr. Boles, who sadly passed a few months ago, taught me that it is okay to let your students know the real you.
 
This is Teacher Appreciation Week. There’s no better time to think back to that special one. Or special two. And if you want to share a memory below, please do. 

Don't miss any of our Robin Paul romances. You can find them here. And thanks for reading!

True love lasts forever. 
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We all believe that don’t we? If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be gobbling up romance novels where everyone falls in love and lives happily ever after. Or binging on Hallmark movies like Christmas Class Reunion. Or listening to all those sweet love songs on our playlists. One of my favorites is Taylor Dayne’s I’ll Always Love You. Remember that one?

Gotta love that late-80's hair, right? Anyone else miss MTV videos? Did anyone not know that MTV actually used to play videos?

We all want what Taylor is singing about, don’t we? You are the one that I’ve been searching for. You are my everything. Tell me, who could ask for more? Yes, please. Pretty please! Give me that!

​But while real love is forever, the way it’s portrayed in books and on screen isn’t. Ready for an example? Try this passage from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, written in 1847.
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What do you think? It probably depends on your perspective.

If you’re a lover of the classics, you’re swooning as you visualize Mr. Rochester proclaiming his love of Jane. 

The rest of us? And I include myself in this group. We're not swooning. This scene starts out pretty good. I have for the first time found what I can truly love. Nice opener, Mr. Rochester. Unfortunately, you lose me when you claim you are bound to me with a strong attachment. And then you go completely off the rails at a solemn passion is conceived in your heart. I’m a lot of things, buddy, but solemn isn’t one of them. Not many women want their lover to call them solemn. Beautiful? Smart? Sexy? Yeah. Solemn? No, thank you.

And that last line, about us fusing together? Mr. Rochester, are you talking dirty to me?

I think we can agree, Romantics, that while true love is eternal, the way we write about it is always changing. Many of us would be hard to slog through Bronte after a long day at work. I pay better attention when expressions like solemn passion and kindling in pure, powerful flame aren’t being strung together.

By now you’re probably wondering why I’m writing about this.

It really has nothing to do with Charlotte Bronte. 

It has everything to do with General Hospital.

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​We’re going to go out on a limb and guess you’re a fan of romance. We certainly are, and while our choice to write romance was an easy one, we had no idea it would lead to so many decisions that wouldn’t be as easy. Like what kind of romance to write. And what you expect.
 
Do you read different types of romance? If so, you probably know there are many genres, but how many are you familiar with? Billionaire romance? That’s where one of the lead characters is uber-rich. This used to be millionaire romance, but everything costs more these days. There’s even a sub-genre called billionaire cowboy romance. There’s Gothic, which Paul thought was like the Addams Family or the Munsters but isn’t really that at all. There’s medical and military, LGBTQ and paranormal, and a bunch of categories involving vampires and werewolves and time travel. And we can’t leave out romantic comedy, romantic suspense, and sports romance. The list goes on and on.

​Okay, before we get too friendly let’s get something out of the way.
 
Robin Paul isn’t a real person.
 
If you stopped by the front page of our website you already know that. If you missed it, sorry for the surprise.  Take a moment now to jump over and meet the people behind Robin Paul.
 
Are we all on the same page now? Good. Please keep reading.
 
When we decided to collaborate we actually gave ourselves titles, but they seemed kind of dumb so we left them off our new business cards. Robin is our Chief Romance Officer. She earned that title by being an awesome wife and by watching Hallmark movies nonstop from October through January. She has dragged Paul to a gazillion chick flicks by promising him the large tub of popcorn. 
 
Paul loves popcorn. A lot. His title is Director of Words. His vocabulary is endless. Robin has to remind him sometimes to tone it down. Not everyone uses words like extemporaneous or commonsensical. Paul does. And he doesn’t mind tossing them in with his order of long ends and fries at Arthur Bryant’s Barbeque. Paul loves barbeque. 
 
Alison loves barbeque too. When she was being tested for kindergarten, they asked what her three favorite foods were. Her answer? Burnt ends, ribs, and brisket. Alison is Robin Paul’s Counselor of Cool, because she’s young and keeps up on trends that Paul and Robin miss. Plus, she lives in New Jersey which is right next to New York where everything is cool.