I keep seeing news that the romance publisher Harlequin is shutting down its line of historical romances. I guess true love doesn’t last forever?

This reminds me of my own personal history as a Harlequin proofreader, where I read hundreds of historical romances. I admit they left me a little puzzled. How were the heroines always able to make peach cobbler out of nothing but dirt and tumbleweeds? Why did the heroes always somehow manage to forget they were land rich? What happened to all the Indigenous people?

I guess I’ll never know the answer to those questions now.

I will, however, have the memories of my favourite typos. There is one that will always stand out for me — the alpha male of typos, if you will.

“He panted heavily in her rear.”

To be clear, my job was to catch typos and correct them. However, I argued long and hard that this was not a typo. There were no errors in this sentence, I protested. It was all correct and we should leave it as written, so as to respect the wishes of the writer.

Alas, dear reader, I was overrruled.

Despite that, Harlequin remains one of my favourite jobs to this day. Although not for the money. It was very much a labour of love.

Anyway, in the spirit of Harlequin I hope you all find true love and someone who will pant heavily in your rear.