Romance writers are some of the nicest, most helpful people I’ve ever known. Maybe it has something to do with most of us being women and all of us dealing with emotions as our job.

Romance writers share the secrets of how they write their books, essentially training their replacements. No other profession does this and I’m not sure writers of other genres are so quick to do this. My husband has a friend who is published in science fiction and since my husband is working on a science fiction book, he’s asked his friend some questions but his friend is reluctant to talk about the writing process. Romance writers, on the other hand, share almost everything about their writing, short of sharing their advance or royalty amounts.

We also often make some of our closest friends through our local writers’ groups or online writing loops. These are the women who understand when we talk about characters doing things we didn’t expect, the ones who sympathize when we get a rejection and cheer when we get an acceptance. They are friends, sounding boards, critiquers, cheerleaders and in some cases, prayer partners.

Therefore, it can come as a bit of a shock when we find ourselves outwardly cheering a chapter-mate who receives “the Call” – makes her first sale – while inwardly, we have to face the darker aspects of our personality as we realize that we’re jealous!

Whether we’re unpublished or published, no one is immune to that green-eyed monster. It doesn’t feel good to know that your joy at someone else’s good fortune is tinged with jealousy, but we’re human.

My last book came out over three years ago, and since I’ve moved and joined a new chapter two and a half years ago, five members have sold new books, four of them first sales. There is a little green-eyed monster lurking in my psyche. He totally blind-sided me a couple of times, and I’m not proud of this.

Have you felt this icky emotion? What do you do about it?