1. How many books have you written? Have you always written for the same line?
I sold my first book in 1996 and I'm working on my 34th. I've also done three novellas for Silhouette – two e-reads and one in book format – as well as a couple dozen short stories that have been published in Woman's World magazine. My first five books were for Bantam Loveswept but I was extraordinarily fortunate to find a new home with Silhouette Intimate Moments when Bantam discontinued the line. Now I'm writing mostly for Silhouette Special Edition.
2. What was one of the most surprising things you've learned while writing your books?
Oh, this is a hard one. I know this isn't an original answer but I would probably have to say I really expected this whole writing thing to get easier. After more than thirty books, I kind of feel like I should know what I'm doing but I honestly feel like I have to re-learn the process every single time. The more I learn about writing the more I realize how very much I still have to learn.
3. As a child, what did you want to do (be) when you grew up?
Lots of different things. I wanted to be an actress at one time. I also thought about becoming a lawyer or a drama teacher. But after I took a journalism elective in high school and learned the magic that comes from telling a story, I realized I wanted to write. I have been a voracious romance reader since I was 12 years old and have always adored them. After I realized I wasn't a bad writer, I started to dream about writing one myself. I've probably had that dream since I was fifteen or sixteen but it's been so much a part of me for so long, I can't really pinpoint when it started. My BFF from high school often says how cool she thinks it is that I'm doing exactly what I always said I would!
4. Do you have a favorite kind of music? Artist?
My music tastes are so eclectic I can't say I have one favorite kind. My iPod has everything from OutKast to Allison Kraus to Miles Davis. My favorite music to write to is actually jazz from the 50s and 60s. Right now I'm listening to the DIMENSIONS IN JAZZ station from the Live365 radio network and it sets exactly the right tone for writing -- mellow and tasty and perfect! I also love creating my own radio stations on Pandora.com. Right now my favorite is either my Chris Botti station or my Classic Piano Jazz.
5. Is there a place you've set a book but haven't traveled to and would like to?
Yes! Costa Rica. My August 07 book HIGH-STAKES HONEYMOON was set in the rugged Osa Peninsula region of Costa Rica, mostly because I needed some kind of primitive rainforest setting for the story and that was the wildest place I could find. I completely fell in love with the area while I was researching the book. It's definitely on my "hundred places to see before I die" list!
6. What is your favorite aspect of the writing process?
I don't know if I can pin it down to just one thing. I really love the process of coming up with an idea for a story. It's like daydreaming with a purpose! I find something intensely magical about coming to know characters in my mind, fleshing out their backstories and their conflicts and motivations, their speech cadences, their peculiarities. By the time I'm a few chapters into a book, they feel like old friends. But I would have to say probably my favorite part of writing a book actually happens a few months after it's done, when I'm reading through the story again in one of the editing processes (before publication, a book is generally seen by at least two editors and I have a chance to go through it again to make changes after each edit). By the second edit, called the galleys or author alterations, I've been away from the book long enough that I often find myself caught up in the story as if I haven't read it before. What an astonishing thing to realize I actually wrote this, that I created this entire story – these real, vivid characters – out of nothing but my own imagination (and lots of hard work!). It's an incredible feeling!
