Anna DePalo

While still in her teens, Anna DePalo began her first novel. She wishes she could say this early manuscript went on to receive numerous accolades and bring her fame and fortune. Instead, that first attempt — well, all three pages of it — hit the trash heap, and she understood why many authors throughout history have burned their papers for posterity. Anna went on to live in Italy and England, graduate from Harvard, earn an advanced degree in political science, practice intellectual property law, and marry the man of her dreams. One day, Anna decided to give fiction writing another try, believing that having done some more living would help her tell the truth about life in the pages of made-up stories. This time she didn't stop at three pages — or even 93. Writing during weekends and evenings, after working long days as an attorney, she finally typed her first "The End." That first finished manuscript, Having the Tycoon's Baby, soon sold to the Silhouette series, became a bestseller and award winner, and has been published in over 10 countries to date. These days, Anna has happily traded a lawyer's navy-blue suits for a full-time writer's blue jeans and is given to toasting new story beginnings while ensconced in front of her home-office computer.