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Taking notes on faking romance

98856langleyMartinVanWoudenberg
In his new book

You can’t fake your love for another person, but when it comes to being a romantic kind of guy you can become the Great Pretender.

That’s the premise of a book penned by Aldergrove school teacher and family man Martin VanWoudenberg.

Titled How to Fake Romance (When Your Love is Real) it’s a self-help book aimed at the men who need to rekindle the sparks of old flames.

It’s not a weighty tome at under 200 pages, and it’s broken into 90 chapters of “ideas” on how to tell the woman in your life that you care. The ideas are not complicated or expensive for the most part, and are as simple as leaving  notes  around the house or a night out at the movies.

“It’s fast, inexpensive and there is not a lot of potential to mess it up,” said VanWoudenberg.

“But the impact is enormous. And the simple things often have the greater impact.”

It is his third book, and it was previously self-published about five years ago. The new edition is published by iUniverse and was edited by Simon & Schuster. It has been released in Canada, the U.S., Britain and Australia in a run of 17,000 copies.

He also has published a collection of poetry and contributes to the Pacific Rim Review of Books in his spare time.

In his day job he teaches history, English and law at Credo Christian high school in Langley. Over the years, he has also worked as a consultant in the technical fields of marketing and the Internet.

VanWoudenberg developed the ideas for the romantic tips book over about 10 years, and tested them on his own relationship with his wife and mother of their four children, Nicole.

He also convinced his brother-in-law, “the most unromantic guy on the planet,” to try some of the ideas.

“You randomly pick a day of the month, so it becomes a system,” said VanWoudenberg. “It’s faking spontaneity but his wife liked it so much she bought him a copy of the book.”

The book is also available in “ebook” version, and to VanWoudenberg’s surprise, this accounts for 15 per cent of its sales.

There is also a website at  www.fakeromance.com.