Let's see...where to start...how about...June 11 1976, 6 PM, I was born. Ta Da! Now with the natural progression of things... I learned to talk, walk, and think for myself. Quite quickly according to the parents. Now with that thread...
Let's fast forward to the year 1990; sophomore year in Junior High School. I had slept over at one of my best - friends, Tiffany's, house. The next morning we were hanging out in her room, and I noticed a row of red - backed books neatly sitting on a shelf. Upon closer inspection I noticed that they were Silhouette novels. Suffice it to say I was kind of surprised by this discovery, my friend was not one to read romance novels. My thoughts were proven correct by my next quarry to her when I asked why she had them. She shrugged and said that her friend had given them to her in hopes she'd get interested in them, but she'd never been, and thus never bothered. By that time I had pulled down a couple of the books and read the backs. Some of the stories had seemed interesting to me, so I asked to borrow them. She then proceeded to tell me to keep them. So I took them home, and read them, and thus began my affair with the romance novel. Truthfully, I wasn't much of a reader before I got into reading the romance novels. Pretty soon, the short Silhouette novels weren't enough, so I trekked down to Barnes and Nobels and headed to the romance section to find some thick books. The ones I picked was Midnight Masquerade by Ms Shirlee Busbee and Whitney My Love by Ms Judith McNaught. Two of my favorite authors by the way. Let's just say, that if I hadn't been hooked from the Silhouette books, I definitely would have been after reading those two. GREAT READING!! After that I was buying stacks of books every weekend, and reading the whole stack by the end of the week. I was reading a book a day! *sigh, if I only had time to do that now*
Let's move onto 1991, by this time I can assure you I had read plenty of book, all romance, and I started to get a germ of an idea for a story of my own. But, I never actually sat down, and put pen to paper, I fully admit that I was not confident in my writing abilities at the time! ^_^ But the premise of the story never left my mind, and was always lying dormant in the back of my brain, just waiting for a chance to emerge.
Let's move forward to the year 1992; sophomore year in High School. My best-friend and sister by non-blood, were hanging out in our usual spot. A municipal parking lot we lived near at the time. It was a Saturday, and the sun was just starting to set on the spring day. I remember the sky being alternately pink and orange, we were speaking of mundane things, eventually we got onto the topic of what we'd like to do with the rest of our lives. Jan was always steadfast and constant with her goal in life. I, on the other hand, was not as sure. I happened to mention that I had had this idea for a story in my mind for quite some time. She asked me what about? I shrugged and said it was a romance story. I told her that reading all the books I had, prompted me to think "hey I can write this stuff too!" The problem was, I never pushed myself to do it. Then Jan used 3 magic words "GO FOR IT!" she said. And that's all it took to start me on my writing journey. Thanks Jan! ^_^
So there I was penning the beginnings of my first novel. Since I didn't have a computer at the time, I took pen to paper, and started writing the traditional way. I admit I wasn't all that serious when I started writing. I wrote in huge letters because I never thought I would get very far with it. Not to say I had no faith in my writing ability, but because I didn't think I had enough ideas. Well! It took 2 years, but 570 handwritten pages and 38 chapters later I had completed my novel! The feeling of accomplishment you get when you actually finish something you set out to do is indescribable. But at least I knew I was capable in my chosen craft now. It's the best kind of feeling!
Since then, I've completed another novel, and have 4 others in various stages of completion. My completed novels are both contemporary romances, found here. 2 of the uncompleted are historicals, 1 is another contemporary, and the last is a fantasy-based novel that really has nothing to do with the romance genre, but has more to do with my love of the Role Playing Game. The story is more Lord of the Rings than Love and Lace. ^_^ However, as I've been working on it, I've come to the conclusion that I won't be straying too far from the romance after all. lol. I can see it already! You can learn more about these stories in my Gallery section of my page.
For my final entry on this page, for now until something happens that's worthy enough to put here, a couple of bits of advice for my fellow writers:
1. If you get writer's block, don't try to force yourself to write. Save your work, and turn off your computer. Don't even think about your story. The block will pass on it's own time, and then the words will flow like water once again. Don't ever get upset over a case of writer's-block when you could be off doing something constructive with that energy!
2. Always carry a pen and paper, you never know when you'll get an idea or inspiration for a current or future story. Sometimes the palm of your hand just isn't big enough to write on. ^_~ Good luck!
