Wendy Douglas

Wendy Douglas began her career as a historical romance writer before she ever knew it...by reading every romance she could get her hands on. It seems fateful that her mother-in-law gave her a book to read on her honeymoon. The rest, as they say, is history.

"Somebody else should write books like this!" thought Wendy, and she was delighted to discover that others did write romance novels. She spent many years reading-and loving-thousands of such books and dreamed of writing stories of her own. She made a few chance attempts at writing, but "real life" had a way of keeping her too busy to think about seriously pursuing a career at writing.

Wendy enjoyed a twenty-year career working for engineering and architectural firms in various positions. She was a receptionist, a secretary, an office manager, did bookkeeping and wrote marketing proposals. At the same time, her husband was succeeding in his own career as a commercial bush pilot. They traveled whenever they could, including visits to such marvelous places as Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Ultimately, when Wendy and her husband began their own air charter service, she saw her chance. Working to compromise their schedules, Wendy is able to write three hours every day, Monday through Friday, and full-time on weekends. She completed her first published novel this way.

Though Wendy has several completed manuscripts that she insists will "never see the light of day," she sold her first completed historical novel to Harlequin Historicals in January 2001. Shades of Gray will be released in March 2002.

Wendy is currently working on her next project for Harlequin.