On July 31, 1997, after three years of writing and shopping
my manuscripts around, I sold my first book to Avon. A
couple days later, I won the Romance Writers of America's
Golden Heart Award for that same book, an award given to
manuscripts written by unpublished writers. All in all,
1997 was an exciting year!
The very first romances I ever read (way back in high
school in the mid-70s) were published by Avon--Kathleen
Woodiwiss's The Flame and the Flower and The Wolf and the
Dove. I fell in love with Heather and Brandon, Wulfgar and
Aislinn--and have been hooked on romances ever since.
Becoming a published writer has been a long-time goal, and
I'm so excited to have this chance to make my dream come
true. More importantly, I hope to share with you, through
my characters and their stories, a little magic, a little
fun, and a whole lot of romance!
Unlike some authors, I didn't come out of the womb wanting
to write books. In fact, from about the age of 14, I
wanted to be an archaeologist. I received my classical
archaeology degree from The University of Michigan in Ann
Arbor, and even attended a summer program at University of
London's Institute of Archaeology. My first dig, in high
school, was a Mississippian Indian site not far from Terre
Haute, Indiana, and my last was a Roman fort outside
Newcastle in Great Britain. There, standing up to my knees
in mud and swinging a pick ax, I decided that maybe
archaeology wasn't my calling in life, after all. A career
fast track was fine and dandy, but I wanted to take the
scenic route through my own life instead. So, I had a baby
and eventually went to work in a research lab, which
allowed me time to write.
I like nothing better than to curl up with a good book and
a hot cup of coffee, and romances will always be my books
of choice. When I sat down to write my first story, I had
no doubt it would be a romance. As a kid, I was
disappointed that girl oriented stories rarely had the same
sort of fun, excitement or dangerous adventures as the boy
oriented stories. Consequently, I re-wrote a lot of those
books in my head. As I grew older, I discovered the books
I liked to read (and write) were those in which the heroine
has all sorts of fun and excitement...and yes, even
adventures, dangerous or otherwise.
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