{"id":1868,"date":"2011-08-04T01:00:30","date_gmt":"2011-08-04T01:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/booksbylyncote.com\/SWBS\/?p=1868"},"modified":"2011-08-04T13:09:31","modified_gmt":"2011-08-04T13:09:31","slug":"author-shana-burton-flawfully-wedded-wives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/booksbylyncote.com\/SWBS\/uncategorized\/author-shana-burton-flawfully-wedded-wives","title":{"rendered":"Author Shana Burton & Flawfully Wedded Wives!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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My guest today is Author Shana Burton who has just released Catt Chasin.<\/em> <\/span>Please give her a warm welcome. Here’s Shana:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Flawfully Wedded Wives<\/p>\n

Few things can spark a conversation like asking a group of men to give their definition of a strong woman and to explain the difference between a woman having strength and being emasculating.\u00a0 The answers ranged from cynical (\u201cIs there a difference?\u201d) to brutally honest (\u201cSome men are intimated by strong women who are independent, opinionated, and focused.\u00a0 Those who are usually date white or Asian chicks.\u201d).\u00a0 However, the consensus from all the men seems to be that a strong woman is someone who compliments the man\u2019s role rather than trying to dominate it.\u00a0 The real strength, it seems, lies in being able to balance her role as wife and mother while still being independent of a man.<\/p>\n

When I think of strong women, women in my family and close friends immediately come to mind, but one could argue that the epitome of a strong woman can be found in Proverbs, where Solomon describes \u201cThe Wife of Noble Character,\u201d also known as the Proverbial Woman.\u00a0 She is a woman who many endeavor to be but few can actually achieve.<\/p>\n

According to the text, the Proverbial Woman is nothing short of Super Woman.\u00a0 Her husband is confident in her.\u00a0 She brings him good, not harm all of the days of her life.\u00a0 She\u2019s a hard worker and has her own business.\u00a0 She wakes up early to cook for her family while acquiring land, sewing her own clothes and feeding the poor.\u00a0 She\u2019s clothed in strength, dignity, and wisdom.\u00a0 Her children call her blessed, and her husband adores her.\u00a0 (Solomon forgot to add that she also gives ordinary women a complex.)\u00a0 Simply put, she is strength personified, but is she the person that women should strive to be?<\/p>\n

Feeding the poor and waking up at dawn to make breakfast are noble indeed, but where are this woman\u2019s flaws? Doesn\u2019t she ever get tired her husband? Is she never too exhausted from work to cook dinner? Do her kids ever “work” her nerves like mine do?\u00a0 Yes, she epitomizes strength and character, but the one thing she is lacking is humanity<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In my latest novel, Catt Chasin\u2019<\/em>, my goal was to create a Proverbial Woman for the modern age with my heroine Catt Cason.\u00a0 Like the Proverbial Woman, Catt works hard, she\u2019s smart and savvy, she takes care of her family, and she\u2019s sensitive to the needs of others, but unlike the Proverbial Woman, Catt has her share of flaws.\u00a0 She struggles with her weight.\u00a0 She both attracts and drives men away.\u00a0 She\u2019s emotional.\u00a0 She\u2019s been hurt by the people who claim to love her.\u00a0 She\u2019s slept with men she\u2019d rather forget and has done things she\u2019s not proud of.\u00a0 Like most women, Catt\u2019s strength is not how many balls she can juggle at one time, but how many times she can pick herself up after falling down, how well she can maintain grace under pressure, how she keeps her dignity in a world filled with degradation, and how she shows courage when the odds are stacked against her.\u00a0 She\u2019s a strong woman, but she\u2019s also human, which not only makes her virtuous but also makes her phenomenal. Just like you and me.<\/p>\n

Ironically, no man I questioned really expected any woman to be the Virtuous Woman Solomon describes.\u00a0 Ultimately, they view strength the same way most women do: someone who supports, who gives and loves unconditionally, knows when to step in and when to fall back.\u00a0 I have to wonder if even Solomon knew no woman could live up to his ideal and still be sane at the end of the day.\u00a0 After all, he had 700 wives and 300 concubines and no mention of a Proverbial Woman in the whole bunch.”–Shana<\/p>\n

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Shana’s links:
\nwww.shanaburton.com<\/a>, www.shanajburton.blogspot.com<\/a>, www.facebook.com\/shanajohnsonburton.com<\/a>, www.twitter.com\/shanajburton<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks, Shana, for that interesting post. I’ve always wondered why there wasn’t a Virtuous Man description in the Bible. But maybe Christ is the example for men. Also I’m always interested in the fact that heroines in African-American inspirational romance can sin sexually and repent but that is taboo in white inspirational romance. Though my next heroine is a former prostitute, but that’s a historical. I can get away with more–if it’s in the past. \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n

So ladies, what do you think of Shana’s thoughts on the virtuous women? Know one? :-)–Lyn
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