A couple of years ago, a romance author I know was in the depths of a book signing when a man walked up to her and handed her a picture of his privates. I’m using the politically correct version of the ‘p’ word. Stunned, beyond words, she thought she had the good sense to call the police. The picture was taken and handed back to the perp, and the author was told by the female cop, “What do you expect, look at what you write.”Two things went wrong here, the cops attitude, and fact she handed the evidence back to the weirdo. Fortunately for the author it was the last time she saw him. It didn’t turn into a stalking situation, which at first it really looked potentially like it was going in that direction. The idiot must have got the message early on in his escapade, that she wasn’t someone to mess with, and started to look for a new person to harass.  The most shocking thing about it was the young female cop’s bad attitude, and assumptions about romance writers. No one, not even a stripper deserves to receive an unsolicited picture like that, and then treated as if they literarily stood on the street corner with a neon sign that read, “Looking for pictures of male genitals.”Most authors have a great deal of anxiety over the dreaded book signing. Which after hearing that story, I could understand. And I’ve heard more from other authors, cruel words from passer-bys, books picked up examined and then all put dropped in their laps with a sneer. The author maintains her cool, while sitting behind a table, smiling, being polite, when in reality they’d like to dive over the table and choke out the person distributing the insults.I just don’t understand it. If one doesn’t like a genre, then don’t go near it. And don’t treat those who do as if they have the plague or need to be whipped in public.  The public has a misconception of romance authors and their craft. Unless you are knee deep in the industry, an outsider doesn’t have a clue what goes on behind the closed doors of a romance writer. There are a lot of untrue assumptions floating around out there. I’ve heard more times then not, “anyone could write that stuff.” Well go to an RWA convention and meet up with the 3, 000 or so authors, most of who are unpublished and tell them that their ‘stuff’ is easy. No doubt a riot would ensue, and the individual would find themselves out on the street with their own ‘stuff’, bouncing off their head, as it’s flung after them.Any kind of writing isn’t easy. Sitting here writing this at 5am in the morning isn’t easy, because I had writers block last night.Trying to pull together a great story, with the romance as the bases, make it move ahead, hold your readers through what you hope isn’t a sagging middle, and end it with two people who are madly in love, who have a future, that leaves a reader regaling about how much they love this book, (images of Tom Cruise jumping on a couch come to mind) which in translation means, I love this author.   Writing is extremely personal, no matter the genre. It’s a lot of time, devotion and sacrifice to get to the happily ever after. Just ask any author.Question of the Day: Who is your favorite Romance author? And as a author have you ever experienced bad behavior during a book signing.