Today I am so excited to welcome L.A. Witt back to the blog.  L.A. is a frequent guest poster here and today and she is joining us for Men in Uniform Week to share why she enjoys writing military romances.  Please help me give her a big welcome! 

Why I Write Military Romances

This will probably not come as a surprise to anyone: I write a lot of military romances. A lot.

Why? Well, a few reasons.

Let’s get two of the most obvious out of the way right off the bat: hot bodies. Uniforms. ‘nuff said. Because OMG.

But a military romance is more than eye candy on the cover. Obviously there needs to be a little more depth than that.

I’m a Navy wife, and have been for eleven years. My family is so military, we bleed camouflage. Seriously, when I tried to join the Peace Corps when I was a teenager, my grandmother was horrified at my flagrant act of rebellion. To say I’ve been around the military my whole life would be a wee bit of an understatement. The jargon, the uniforms, the general military culture—well, as they say: write what you know. The military life… I know it. Very, very well.

The military is also rife with conflict for relationships and families, not to mention LGBT service members and families.

Even with DADT being a thing of the past, change happens slowly. LGBT personnel still face discrimination and personal risk. Inability to get married makes it nearly impossible for families to stay together when a service member changes duty stations (this is being resolved, but again, it’s a slow process). So there’s lots of room for conflict. The possibilities are endless.

And whether LGBT or not, the military creates a certain amount of stress and conflict for relationships. Again, endless possibilities. For example, when you have a ship full of 5,000 sexually frustrated people with no outlet, the tension is insane. Or when your relationship is just getting off the ground, and then one of you is sent into combat, whether for a short mission or a 1-year deployment, it gets… well, I’m sure you can imagine. Deployments are tough. Believe me, I know.

So one of the reasons I write military romances is that it’s its own little cornucopia of conflict and tension.

Then there’s the type of people who join the military. Some of them want to see the world. Some just want money for college. Some don’t know what else to do with their lives. Some want a guaranteed paycheck for four years while others have their eyes on twenty-plus year careers. People from all regions and all walks of life are thrown together in a strict hierarchy. Culture shock. Clashing values. Anything you can imagine that happens when you throw a bunch of mismatched people together with crappy working hours, long separations from family, and a high stress work environment…it happens. All of it. Again—endless possibilities.

In the end, military romances are what I know, and I find the people and the life associated with the armed forces to be endlessly fascinating.

And let’s face it…

Those uniforms.

Nuff. Said.

L.A. Witt is an abnormal M/M romance writer currently living in the glamorous and ultra-futuristic metropolis of Omaha, Nebraska, with her husband, two cats, and a disembodied penguin brain that communicates with her telepathically. In addition to writing smut and disturbing the locals, L.A. is said to be working with the US government to perfect a genetic modification that will allow humans to survive indefinitely on Corn Pops and beef jerky. This is all a cover, though, as her primary leisure activity is hunting down her arch nemesis, erotica author Lauren Gallagher, who is also said to be lurking somewhere in Omaha.

• Website: http://www.loriawitt.com
• Blog: http://gallagherwitt.blogspot.com
• Twitter: @GallagherWitt