Ah, The Life of a Writer!

 

By: Kathleen Lawless

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The life of a writer is a very solitary one.  We work away, just us and the computer screen and our imagination, creating worlds and characters and stories that we hope will enhance the reading pleasure of many.

 

I have never written a Christmas story, so when the call came to join with nine other writers and create the perfect New England Christmas town, I was ready for the fun.  Emails flew back and forth, fast and furious.  The Town Square, known as the Common was created.  A date agreed upon for the annual Christmas Tree Light Up Festivities.  Hot chocolate?  Of course.  Sleigh rides?  Absolutely!  Snowman building competition?  You bet! 

 

Shops and shopkeepers and their locations were shared and pinpointed.  A Christmas tree farm here.  A frozen skating pond there.  And what about a B&B, described in detail and given a prime location in our perfect town?

 

Once the setting was nailed down, each author gave birth to her story.  And thus, we presented to the world, CHRISTMAS COMES TO DICKENS.  WE hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing our stories in this unique setting.  https://books2read.com/DickensChristmas 

My Story, HOLLY’S WISH, was inspired by my favorite childhood Christmas book, The Story of Holly and Ivy.  I still read it every year during the holidays.  Because with Christmas magic in the air, anything is possible.

Excerpt from HOLLY’S WISH By Kathleen Lawless

“You should never underestimate the power of wishing for what you want. It always worked for me,” Kris said.

“Oh, I do,” Holly said blithely. “Every shooting star, new moon, and birthday candle.  You name it, I send my wish out there. It’s not my fault no one seems to be listening.”

“Your time will come,” Kris said.

As Kris spoke, the shop door opened with a tinkle of overhead bells. Holly looked over to see a tall, dark-hair man stamping snow off his feet. She took a second look, because, truthfully there weren’t a lot of good-looking men in town. Something about him seemed familiar, but before Holly could get a good look he turned away. She was left with an impression of a square jaw, pronounced cheekbones, with a straight, masculine nose nicely balanced above full lips. Maybe she had taken his photo at some point.

When he passed her in the aisle without a second look, she figured she must be mistaken. She paused at the door for one last look, but his back was toward her.  Typical man, doing his Christmas shopping at the last minute.

I hope you fall in love with every one of our Christmas stories and Dickens.

MILLIE’S AWESOME HOLIDAY MIRACLE by Top 100 Author Nancy Fraser - Can one little girl fill the holiday season with enough miracles for everyone? This story will warm your heart.

MIRACLE AT HOLLY HILL INN by Top 100 Author Maddie James - Ariana is looking for the perfect Christmas. Instead, she finds a Scrooge. Will two days snowbound at Holly Hill Inn bring them together?

HOLIDAY HEARTS by Top 100 Author Caroline Clemmons - Laura is funny, beautiful, and smart. She’s not about to date her boss. Can Ward convince her he’s not just looking for a holiday fling?

THE TINSEL TANGO by Best Selling Author Bonnie Edwards - She needs R&R. He teaches Tango. Or does he? Can love survive secrets & hidden agendas when a dance teacher is exposed as a wealthy tycoon?

WISDOM OF THE HEART by USA Today Best Selling Author Liz Flaherty - Best friends fell in love in high school. But life, families & distance happened along the way. Could they still be in love?

OPERATION SNOWBALL by Best Selling Author Kathryn Hills - Returning home to Dickens is hard for Army veteran, John Gridley. The last thing he expects to find is love with a pretty widow.

ANGEL KISSES AND HOLIDAY WISHES by Best Selling Author Peggy Jaeger - Sage left years ago, leaving Keith's heart in tatters. She's back as his grandmother’s doctor. Is there hope for them?

HOLLY’S WISH by Top 100 Author Kathleen Lawless - What if the girl who got away is standing right in front of you? Years ago, they shared one magical Christmas Eve. Is it too late for them now?

HOLIDAY HEART WISHES by Best Selling Author Lucinda Race - Vera picks up Tony, a stranded motorist, on her way back to Dickens. Will they discover their heart wishes can come true at Christmas?

SANTA’S WISH by Best Selling Author Jan Scarbrough - Will Christmas magic help them overcome the obstacles of her dashed career ambitions and his grief so they can find a second chance at love?

Since writing makes us hungry, we also compiled some of our favorite Christmas Cookie Recipes in IT’S A DICKENS OF A COOKIE.  Yours to download FREE.  https://books2read.com/dickens-cookie        Happy Thanksgiving All!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steamy or sweet, as long as there’s a romance, an alpha male or a cowboy Kathleen reads and writes them all One of her heroes, Steele, is a modern-day cowboy, so when she was dating on-line and met a man called Steel— Well, he’s not a cowboy but his is an alpha male and her forever hero. Which is why all of her stories end Happily Ever After. Not that she can ever stick to just one genre. So many stories to tell—never enough time. With close to 30 published novels to her credit, she enjoys pushing the boundaries of traditional romance into historical romance, erotic romance, romantic suspense, women’s fiction and stories for young adults. Something for everyone!

“A funny thing happened on the way to…” by Delsora Lowe

Funny is a word that can be interpreted in many ways.

Using Second Definition

About an hour after I arrived at work in the alumni office of a prestigious secondary school in the middle of Washington, D.C., my alma mater and my employer, my friend and classmate working as an executive assistant to a senior law partner downtown, called. “Did you hear?” She went on to relate the story of the first plane hitting the first tower in NYC. We couldn’t imagine how air traffic controllers and pilots could miss the warnings of a huge tower looming in the path of the airplane.

The morning quickly unfolded. Hearing about the second tower. Running downstairs to the main office to watch T.V. Hearing a plane just hit the pentagon, where my co-worker’s husband worked. Luckily, he was on the opposite side, but a father of an alumni wasn’t so lucky. Then within hours, streams of people walked from downtown three miles away past my office, on a warm September, blue-skied, perfect early fall day, trying to get home with no public transportation running. 

My view of the cathedral – looking at the long side on the left of the photo.

My building sat on top of a hill, on the third floor of an old stone mansion. My office window faced the towers of the Washington National Cathedral and the flight path from the national airport where planes took off every few minutes, from across the river in Virginia. I never realized until the planes started flying again, that the visual from my window looked as though the planes were headed directly toward the cathedral towers. After 9/11, I had to turn my computer away from my precious view to avoid the sudden lurch in my stomach every few minutes—every time a plane traversed that air space—and looked like it was headed into the towers. In actuality it was an optical illusion of planes many miles away as they flew away from the city up the Potomac River toward unknown destinations. 

My office in Zartman House, under the chimney on the right, with dormer on right roof,

and another window looking out the side toward Cathedral.

That day, the school lost a parent of an alumni in the Pentagon. My co-worker lost a friend in one of the towers, whose wedding he was to take part two weeks later. Another co-worker’s daughter-in-law would have been on the subway getting off that stop at that exact time, if she hadn’t had a dentist appointment that made her late for work. Another co-worker, driving to work near the Pentagon saw the flames when the plane hit. The mother of my friend who had called earlier, saw the plane hit the Pentagon as she watched from her apartment window. A co-worker of my friend knew a flight attendant on that plane. The fire department blocks from my home were first to respond to the Pentagon. All these connections to the tragedy, out of only nine people in my department.

I tell you this, not to bring you down, but to put in perspective my feelings at suddenly being in a job that had no meaning. And in which in a matter of hours, I was two degrees away from tragedy that hit so many people that day. A job where I brought people (our alumni) together to have class reunions and gather in cities around the country for alumni parties with people who had one thing in common—they went to the same school.

I wasn’t a paramedic or a police officer or a firefighter or a soldier or an ER doctor. 

I was ONLY a party planner. I was an intermediary who brought people of common interests together.

That is until I began hearing from our alumni, letting the school and others know their friends were all right, and tracking down those we hadn’t heard from. Bringing people together in joy that their classmates were fine and had made it through a collective ordeal. And bringing those same people together to mourn. And later, celebrating my classmate (yes, I am proud of my class) by bestowing a distinguished alumni award, for the man we later learned had held together the economy of our country that first week, by being a lone person who stayed in harm’s way near the capital, even when they thought a plane might be headed toward the center of D.C. I might add, that in a few weeks I will be at this same person’s home to celebrate the 50^th reunion of my class. And yes, this quiet, mild-mannered unsung hero, he is still our hero.
 
Now to the funny part.
 
As in definition number two: difficult to explain or understand.Through all that, I questioned everything I did. Part of my escape was to start writing. My first completed manuscript is lost somewhere, under a bed maybe. Poems I wrote got wiped out in a computer fix. But the feeling I got from using my imagination to weave stories, grew. I may not be a paramedic or in any of those other saving and protecting careers, but my gift to you, is to give you a place in which to escape to a world of make-believe. The world of happily-ever-afters, where hurts can be cured with the love of a special person.

And my gift on 9/11 and days and weeks to follow, was to bring people together, to connect them with friends, and to reassure them. To write their human-interest stories for the alumni magazine. It made me realize in the little spec of my world, that I had a talent to connect people and tell their stories. And that in this moment of history, that was important.

I no longer write non-fiction for alumni magazines. But that year marked the beginning of my fiction-writing journey. And for that I am personally grateful, as the writing saved me, made me strong enough to bring people together for fun and learning experiences, and understand that the small part I (and all writers) contribute to the world is important.

DELSORA LOWE

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~
 
Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine.

New Release - Blurb: The Prince’s Son 

A first meet, royalty and the nanny romance between a self-exiled prince with a royal chip on his shoulders and the local rancher's daughter who rails against any man who tries to tell her what to do. When she tries to tell the prince how to raise his son, tempers flare and sparks fly.

Ari Orula, a prince with a royal chip on his shoulders, has sworn off women.
Carla Peters, the rancher's daughter, has big dreams and it doesn't include listening to her dad, big brothers, or the new prince in town.
When the prince finds himself in dire straits and must find a nanny pronto, the last person he wants is his son's know-it-all ski teacher who insinuates he has a lot to learn about fatherhood.
The money the prince offers Carla for two weeks as a nanny will put a big dent in the cost of renovations for her new school, her life's dream. Does she dare risk working for the rancher her brothers think is trying to destroy their livelihood?
Despite best laid plans, two people at odds are brought together to rescue a child. At risk of alienating her family, Carla accepts the position. At risk of melting his stone-cold heart, Ari hires the rancher's daughter.
Will the sparks that fly torch Carla's dreams and inflame Ari's resolve, or ignite an everlasting love?

READ ME LINKS:

Amazon E-book link:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PZD3FNC/ref=sr_1_2?crid=32PO3EI3KDLQI&keywords=delsora+lowe&qid=1553611414&s=digital-text&sprefix=dels%2Cdigital-text%2C196&sr=1-2-catcorr  

Amazon Print Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1091276862?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

Books2read link, (includes Barnes and Noble and iBooks): books2read.com/u/b6xzr6

Social Media Links:

Author website: www.delsoralowe.com

Author FaceBook page: fb.me/delsoraloweauthor

Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Delsora-Lowe/e/B01M61OM39/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Books2Read Author page: https://www.books2read.com/ap/8GWm98/Delsora-Lowe

BookBub Author Page: 
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/delsora-lowe-93c6987f-129d-483d-9f5a-abe603876518

Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16045986.Delsora_Lowe 

Photo Credits:

Google Dictionary Definition of Funny:https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=GaFIXOmbE82m_Qan0IjIBg&q=definition+funny&oq=definition+funny&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.0j0i22i30l9.1737.6628..8852...1.0..1.411.3121.0j14j3j0j1......0....1..gws-wiz.....6..35i39j0i131j0i22i10i30._gTJ2m4HwHY

National Cathedral:  https://www.yelp.com/biz/washington-national-cathedral-washington

https://www.google.com/search?q=free+photos+of+washington+cathedral&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=KmJNT7Ax-Y0vkM%253A%252CVHfJH91BkT7QFM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kQc0SRYD86XEnTwtFcC88kfbQ_UuQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwibh7P37bbhAhWrmuAKHUVCBpEQ9QEwBXoECAkQDg#imgrc=KmJNT7Ax-Y0vkM:

Sidwell Friends School Zartman House:
https://www.weathermaster-window.com/portfolio/sidwell-friends-zartman-house/

TRIBE OF LOVE

By DianaMcCollum

Love comes in many forms. The love of parents, brother or sister or any relative, husband or wife, the love of doing something that is satisfying to you, the love of self. While many might think this is selfish to love yourself, but if you don’t love yourself it is hard to truly and completely love another. To love your self is to put yourself first. It is imperative you take care of yourself physically and emotionally. Put yourself first always so you can be the best friend, daughter, wife, husband, sister & member of the Tribe, etc.

Today I’m going to talk about my love of my tribe. We all have a tribe. You may not call it that, but it is that special circle of friends. The ones you can tell anything to and they don’t judge you, they help you if you need help and listen if that’s what you need. They are the ones who are there to help you up when you fall.

Of course that love goes both ways. You help them and listen to them too.

I love this quote:

 From Anne Lamott, ““One secret of life is that the reason life works at all is that not everyone in your tribe is nuts on the same day. Another secret is that laughter is carbonated holiness”

My tribe consists of my sister, Sarah in Mulino, my friend, Judith, in Portland, and my dear friend, Louise who lives in KS. They are the inter-circle of my tribe. I can, and do tell them about what’s worrying me or ask them for advice, and we also laugh together. They are my go to for personal advice. They are also, fun to be with.

The rest of my tribe are my writer friends here in Bend, OR. And my writer friends on the Rose City writing loop. We all encourage each other in our writing and share useful information we’ve found, and boost up each other when we get a rejection from an editor or agent, or a comment on a contest we’ve entered was harsh. After all, our books are our babies!

My Bend, OR tribe, which includes Paty our long distance member, and I get together a few times a month for coffee or lunch, and talk writing, share what’s, what with our lives, and we always have a few good laughs!

Laughter is the best medicine-this affirmation was first recorded this way in the late 20^th century. This is not a modern day concept. The same idea can be found in the bible in Proverbs 17:22, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”

I get so much love from all these ladies that are members of my tribe. I love them all dearly. I wouldn’t be the same without them in my life.

So thank you dear tribe, you all know who you are.

My wish for all of you out there in the land of internet is to live, love, laugh and be happy!

And hold your tribe close to your heart.

Do you have a tribe?

A Culinary Secret in Switzerland by Courtney Pierce

A Note from Courtney Pierce

Today I’m thrilled to join you as a regular Genre-ista on Romancing the Genres. With so many stellar writers on one blog, I’m honored at the invitation to make a contribution to the team. My novels and short stories tend to bend genres, but nest under what is now called Baby Boomer Fiction. My characters are products of the sixties, like me, and always include a trickster animal or two that steals the show. Some of my books have an element of magical realism; others are filled with humor and family drama. While I've just released my fourth novel, The Executrix, I pause and breathe to dash off a short story when a moment of inspiration strikes. I look forward to sharing some of them with you! Now, off to Switzerland for a bit of nosh . . .

A Culinary Secret in Switzerland

Switzerland holds wonders beyond soaring mountains, sheep bells on the hills, and waterfalls that appear to drop into infinity. For me, the wonder was cheese. Local cheese. Huge wheels of cheese. Take an extra cholesterol pill and plunge into a world of churned milk that holds a secret. 

Photo: Franky242

In 2001, my husband and I headed to Kanderstag, about two hours southwest of Zurich by speedy train, for a ten-day stay at a seventeenth-century chalet called Landgasthof Ruedihus. The bustling cityscape gave way to rolling hills surrounded by snow-capped mountains. The owners of the hotel met us at the station for the two-minute ride to a paradise that hadn't changed for over three hundred years.

Photo: Reudihus

After the required jet-lag nap, we stirred from our down comforters to the aroma of baking cheese. The invisible waft drew us down the creaky staircase to a low-ceilinged pub on the ground floor, filled with guests and locals exchanging tall stories. As we slipped into a booth, we spotted an enormous wheel of golden cheese under a heating element.

Ah-ha! The source of the delectable scent. My stomach growled, as if reaching out to the gooey scrape of the knife. After an inquiry―a beg, really―we found out the dish was called raclette: browned cheese melted under high heat and served with homemade bread. Oh my! I didn't need the menu. A point of the finger and a smile did the trick. We stared as our cheese bubbled and, with an expert sweep, pooled on the plate. 

Nutty. Smooth. A close-your-eyes experience to savor the flavor before swallowing. Now, I've had cheese. And I've had bread. But this combination awakened dormant taste buds.  

“Where did this cheese come from?” I asked the ruddy-cheeked server with a permanent smile. Of course she was happy. She called a quaint village in Switzerland home!

“Our neighbor makes it,” she said in perfect English. “His cows come down from the hill every day and line up to be petted at the fence along the main street.” She winked. “They love the attention. We make the bread here, fresh every day.”

I wanted to hug these cows. Could I buy cow toys in town as an offering of thanks? Maybe cud-flavored chews or a new bell? I became cheese obsessed.

The next morning, we hiked the hills for several miles around Lake Oeschinen to work off the dairy hangover and get ourselves moving, so to speak. As we came back into town, deep-throated clangs drew us forward―cow bells. Right on cue, several perfect bovine specimens lined the fence, a roadside attraction surrounded by locals and tourists with outstretched hands. These lovely beasts, patched jet-black and cream-white, were considered working pets that supported a farmer’s healthy living. Heads held high with doughy eyes, the cows stood proud of their heavy physique. Living cheese, udders full to make a contribution to the family.

The farmer gave three high-pitched whistles and a tap, tap, tap of his walking stick on the road. On cue, the herd lumbered in formation toward the barn. My cheese on the move.

“I’ll be right back,” I said to my husband and slipped through an opening in the fence. Enchanted, I followed the cows to their barn to catch up with their owner.  

Photo: JonathanTurley.org

“They’re beautiful,” I said in German, stroking my hand over one’s pristine hide. I offered my own pat, pat, pat of the ’ole gal’s hefty haunches. I believe her owner trusted me because I appeared to be Swiss: blue eyes, blonde hair, and fair skin.

“Ja, glüchlich Kuh. Gut Käse,” he said. Happy cow. Good cheese.
 

The barn was a timbered factory of cheese-making. Gigantic wheels of dairy gold lined four shelves on one side, aging and decadent, raclette-ready for the local restaurants. The prizes sat only steps away from their straw-bedded source. Farm to table at the highest level. 

I bought a raclette maker when we came home to Houston to stretch the experience. The flavor couldn't compare. Only in Kanderstag could I appreciate the treat. Cookers were universal, but only cows petted by hundreds of admiring hands held the secret of fabulous cheese. I think love seeps into the milk. 

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer in Milwaukie, Oregon, with her husband of thirty-six years and bossy cat. After a twenty-year career as an executive in the Broadway entertainment industry, she used her time in a theater seat to create vivid stories that are both humorous and poignant. Her fourth novel, The Executrix, brings together three middle-aged sisters after the death of their mother . . . and sparks fly with the baggage. But if you like estate sales, follow her boomer couple who find a magical artifact in an old trunk in the Stitches Trilogy series: Stitches, Brushes, and Riffs. An immortal legacy never had it so good. Follow Courtney on her website: www.courtney-pierce.com

Courtney's books are available at Windtree Press, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kobobooks.com, and local independent bookstores in the Portland area.

WRITING COLLABORATIONS: Serial Killing with Critique Partners

By Robin Weaver


There’s a crazy quote that goes:
A friend will help you move, but a real friend will help you move a dead body.

I’ve put my own spin on this adage:  
A critique partner will check your grammar and ensure there are no plot holes. My critique partners check for a pulse and dig the hole for the body.

Not literally, of course (at least not yet J). We did, however, spend an entire Saturday afternoon devising the twenty most unusual places to discover a corpse. We certainly got strange looks in the restaurant. While the ladies at the next table discussed gardening, the latest diet, and Ryan Gosling, we talked about growing herbs that double as poisons, the feasibility of a plot where all the skinny bitches turn up dead, and Ryan Gosling (hey, we might be morbid, but we’re not stupid).

Still, nothing unusual about mystery writers talking about murder and mayhem, right? What is unusual, though, is how extraordinarily nice these woman are when they’re not penning rising body counts and techniques for collecting on life insurance without raising suspicion.

One of my lovely critique partners is a vegan who runs a non-profit organization, volunteers in her community, makes bucket-loads of candy for her friends, and drops everything to proofread a manuscript because one of us stupidly forgot a blog was due. If you looked up the word nice in the dictionary, her picture would be there.  But do you know what she does when she gets her fingers on a keyboard????

 She kills people with fire ants, boils men in defective hot tubs, and runs over perfectly nice ex-FBI agents with motorcycles.

My other partner has a generosity that never peters out. Remember that song, I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke? That’s her, buying the world a GMO-free drink (NOTE: In case you don't know, GMO is genetically modified organisms). She’s a spiritual person with a heart of pure gold who tirelessly donates her time and energy to volunteer organizations, endlessly champions the underdog (be it individual or group), promotes other authors tirelessly (often at the expense of her own books), and offers words of encouragement to anyone who needs a little pick-me-up. In her books, the victims don’t die in scary, scary ways. Nope, what she does in a manuscript is worse.

She kills off nice people.  Yep, innocent yoga instructors, the person who just dropped in for a massage, and the groom (on the day of his wedding). Oh, did I mention she might hang the body in an orchid conservatory?

My third critique partner is like a drink of cold water on a hot day. She is so sweet bluebirds sit on her shoulder. When we went to the Moonlight and Magnolia’s Conference, the mice made her a ball gown—okay, not really, but I suspect they would if she asked.  Still, her name is synonymous with kindness.  When she writes…

Eh… she creates contemporary stories of hope and inspiration. Now that I think about it, she might be the scariest one of us.

I love these ladies, but you know what? I’m going to do my utmost to never, ever tick them off. How do such wonderful human beings write such gruesome stories?

The answer is simple, they have vivid imaginations. They entertain themselves, and you, by making up stories. Maybe if more people expunged their dark sides ONLY in their heads, we really could achieve world peace.

 

Follow Your Passions...

Follow your passion, and success will follow you.  ~Terri Guillemets

I'm passionate about a lot of things. My husband, my family, my cats, my friends, chocolate, and that's just for starters. One passion my husband and I share is for books. Both reading and collecting them. I was one of those kids who'd rather stay home and read than go out and play.

One of my brothers said it best. "Elaine, if you were down to your last five dollars and had to choose between books and food, you'd choose books." My reply was "Of course, I have enough friends and family to feed my body. Books feed my soul.

The happiest day of my life was when I got my library card. A building full of books to read? Yea! Then when I could cross the main street in our neighborhood, I could go to the library myself. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. 

I learned about wars and peace, queens and kings, airplanes, farming, and was introduced to some of my heroes, Eleanor Roosevelt, Florence Nightingale among them. I learned about religions, and saints, the fact that yes there are bad people in the world. However I also learned the good people outweigh them.

When we were dating, my husband and I used to spend our weekends searching used book stores. Yes, I married into a family of book lovers as well. My husband and his mother were both librarians in a previous life. Is it any wonder both my husband and I are writers?

I have a Dream...And still do!

Hi everyone

I’m waving madly from New Zealand. I’m one of your new monthly bloggers – Bronwen Evans. The lovely RTG ladies have reached across the world and invited me to entertain you romance junkies—of which I am proudly one.

They suggested in this blog that I introduce myself, so here is a little bit about me.

I’ve had plenty of life experience (that’s my way of saying I have a few (okay more than a few) years behind me.) I’ve never married and I have no children. I’m a twin, my sister Leigh is twenty minutes younger than me, making me the eldest. I have three other younger sisters and no brothers.  I have two nephews and one niece. My twin and one other sister live not far from me, third lives in Sydney, Australia and the fourth lives with her German husband in Germany. My parents are divorced and remarried. My mother lives about an hour away, and my father lives in Edmonton, Canada. I have only one living grandparent and in January she will be celebrating her 101th birthday!

Okay, those are the basic’s and not that interesting. What I really want you to know about me is that I’m a passionate person. Passionate in the sense that I believe in LIFE. Living life to the full and following your DREAMS.

I’ve lost very special people in my life, I’m sure we all have. The first, when I was twenty-five years old. Someone very close to me and very dear to my heart was killed in a skiing accident. At twenty-five you think you have your whole life ahead of you, and you have plenty of time. We all know that is not necessarily the case. On top of that my special friend, Jock, was battling with a debilitating illness and was not expected to live past thirty (see my dedication in Invitation to Ruin, my first Regency release.)

Both of these events brought home to me that life was over pretty quickly, and if I didn’t use my time on this earth wisely, I might get to the end of it and find out I'd missed something really special. At twenty-five I made the decision I’d never get to the end of my life and hear the words ‘I wish I had...”

So, whatever I decided to do I threw myself into it in order to ensure I achieved it.  I’ve started my own business and listed it on the NZ stock exchange, sold it and travelled the world, literally, and I’ve loved and laughed along the way.

Some advice – nothing worthwhile having, comes easy. You have to work, and work hard to succeed.

What’s my overriding dream, the dream I’ve worked on for years – to make a living by becoming a romance writer. Note my dream wasn’t to become published. My dream still is to MAKE a LIVING from romance writing. Two very different dreams and both very valid.

I knew that if I wanted to have a career in romance writing I had to work hard. I read ferociously, over 200 historical romances before I even started writing. I took many online romance writing courses (and still do – you never finish learning). I sought out like minded writers and formed a support group. I run a yahoo group called Book in 50 Days where we run, three times a year, exactly that. We challenge ourselves to write a book in 50 days. I found fabulous critique partners, and now beta readers. And I joined as many romance writing organisations as possible. Finally, I found and signed with an agent, Melissa Jeglinski at The Knight Agency.

And guess what, my hard work paid off. In January 2010, I signed a two book deal with Kensington. But that is only the beginning. I have to keep writing, keep improving, and keep delivering better stories. The pressure never eases and a two book deal does not make a career,  and a career is my dream. To be able to live solely off my royalties. So I can live where I want and work the hours I want. Here's a picture of the section I've just bought in the Hawke's Bay with the amazing view. It's waiting for me to succeed so I can build my house on it. A huge incentive.

So am I living my dream – almost. I work part-time as head of a private surgeons association and write at least twenty hours per week. That’s almost my dream.

I’m now about 2/3 way through book three, a new regency, and I will be asking my agent to shop it for me early next year. That will be crux time. Can I sell another book outside of my original deal? Gosh, I hope so. But this is a fickle and challenging business, in a strained economy with a business model that’s in upheaval, who knows what will happen.

But I can’t control that. I can only control what I do. And that’s write. And hopefully sell. Until then, I’ll keep writing, keep falling in love with romance and focusing on my dream. I have a dream...

What’s your dream and how will you make it happen? Leave a comment and one lucky commenter will win a copy of INVITATION TO RUIN.

For more about me visit my website www.bronwenevans.com or my blog http://regencyseductions.blogspot.com/

My books – Invitation to Ruin 1 March 2011 and Invitation to Scandal April 2012 – available in book and e-book from all booksellers.

Website:   www.bronwenevans.com

Facebook:    www.facebook.com/bronwenevansauthor

Twitter: @authorbevans

Invitation to Ruin Feb 2011 RT Book Reviews 4.5 Star