Jan Colley

Jan Colley lives in the South Island of New Zealand with Les and two lovely cats. Her passion for travel has resulted in many overseas adventures and led to an eight year stint as a Customs Officer, after which opening a backpackers hostel called Vagabond seemed a natural progression. Running her own business, Jan discovered the meaning of the word 'busy' and began reading romance to relax. When they sold the business, she decided to take two months and write a romance. Two months turned into a year and an obsession to 'finish the damn book!' She attended a Kara Writing Course with Daphne Clair and Robyn Donald, finalled in the Clendon Award, garnering the Readers Choice, and entered a logline contest and won an online pitch to Melissa Jeglinski of Silhouette Books in New York. It took three years and three completed manuscripts to finally hear the words she'd heard in her head a hundred times: "We'd like to buy your book." Jan dedicates most of her time to writing and neglecting her family and friends, although she does find time to watch rugby whenever there is a game on, be it her team of champs, Canterbury, or the All Blacks.