Friday Spotlight: Stephanie Burkhart

July 30, 2010 By 15 Comments

Ebooks and Ebook Readers

Ebooks are a growing market, not just in the US, but worldwide. With ebook readers becoming more popular and affordable, I thought I’d take a look at the ebook industry in this last spotlight.

The Hungarian, my paranormal romance, is available as an ebook. You can find it in the Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Sony ebook stores.

Pros to having Ebook reader include: saving space, you can have multiple books on them, they use EInk Technology with black printing on a gray background, and you can take an ebook reader anywhere. I have a Kindle and love it.

Cons – you can’t autograph it like you can a print book.

A Kindle supports the Amazon bookstore. They have a wide variety of books which can be wirelessly downloaded on a 3G free network, at the touch of a button. They just came down in price to $189.00 from $259. They have a text to speech feature that will read the ebook to you. Personally I enjoy this feature very much and I use it on my way to work and on my way back home from work. The Kindle is avail through the Amazon website and is being tested for sales in Target stores.

A Nook supports the Barnes and Noble ebook store. You can buy it through the online site or most Barnes and Noble have the Nook available in the store. The WiFi model is $149. If you have wireless Internet, this model should be able to download books with a WiFi connection (but WiFi isn’t everywhere). There is a 3G model for $199 and it downloads books at the touch of a button. The Nook also supports audio books.

The iPad is an ebook reader that Apple makes. Menoplay combines extracts equivalent to Wild Yam, Black Cohosh, and others to reduce order cheap cialis unica-web.com menopause signs and symptoms. Do best price tadalafil not wonder but women have sexual disorders then just don’t keep it within yourself. Several Online Pharmacy websites cialis 40 mg are also provided for the customers who really require these pills. You should follow your physician’s advice before putting the drug into your life. purchase cheap levitra They have a Kindle and Nook app you can use on it. They do have a bookstore supported through Libre Digital. It offers color and hosts other features such as allowing you to check email and surf the net. The lowest costing iPad is $499 and uses WiFi.

Sony has several different models of their ebook reader. The lowest model runs for $159 and it does not have WiFi or 3G. (But Sony does make more expensive WiFi and 3G models). For the $159 model you would have to download books from their store and upload to the ebook reader.

Borders has just opened the ebook store and is using the KoBo ebook reader to support it. KoBo became available on 17 June.

Ebook readers go around the world and they open up the international markets. Places like New Zealand and South Africa charge extra for print books to cover the shipping costs, but now books can be sold in those markets at an affordable price with an ebook reader.

I hope you got a “flavor” of what to expect from ebooks and ebook readers. If you’re thinking about getting an ebook reader, research it well. There are other models then the ones I mentioned. Things to consider when buying an ebook reader include what does it do, price, and what do you want to use it for.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on ebooks and ebook readers. Let me know which ebook reader you have and what you like the most about it. If you have apprehensions about ebooks, I’d love to hear them as well.

Last 5 Books I Read:

5 – Prime Suspect by Melanie Atkins (Romantic Suspense)

4 – Thin Ice by Liana Laverentz (Contemporary Romance)

3 – Knight of Glory by Nicole Zoltack (Fantasy Romance)

2 – No Other by Shawna Williams (Inspirational Romance)

1 – Outcasts by Gail Delaney (Sci-Fi/Speculative Romance)

Link to The Hungarian book trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZwaF8hAdow

Find me on the Web at:

Website: http://sgcardin.tripod.com

Blog: http://sgcardin.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/StephBurkhart

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Thursday Spotlight: Stephanie Burkhart

July 29, 2010 By 2 Comments

Hungarian Cooking

Hungarian cooking. Just the phrase hints at the exotic. We’ve all heard of paprika and goulash soup, but Hungarian cooking is very rich and heavy. Paprika gives it a distinct taste. Recipes favor sour cream, tomatoes, green peppers, lard, and onions.

In my book The Hungarian Matthias has a Hungarian cook, János, who has to prepare a specific diet for Matthias. Matthias, as a werewolf, has certain foods he can and can’t eat. Garlic is a big no-no for Matthias – it will make him sick since his body is so different. Sehat providing detailed information of CMC Vellore Doctors ( and best hospitals for cialis prices http://nichestlouis.com/cialis-1652.html better treatment You were diagnosed with ED. One of the first things people note when they start cipla cialis india adding Acai to their diet is increased energy – and this is much more common in men than women. You can just get over the problem of ED is one of the most interrupted conditions, because of which you are not supposed to increase or decrease the dosage without generico cialis on line reporting to the doctor. FDA approval can ensure that these drugs are absolutely safe to use and found to be 100% effective too. cialis prescription canada

One of János’s favorite recipes is pogácsas, Hungarian scones, favoring cheese or poppy seeds. Here’s a recipe for you to enjoy.

Prep Work:

Preheat oven to 400

Grease baking sheet
Ingredients

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

2 tbsp shortening

1 egg

¼ to ½ cup milk

cheese (I prefer cheddar) or poppy seed to taste

Mix together the dry ingredients and shortening.

Rub in the flour with your fingertips until it is coarse. Beat the egg until it froths, add milk and beat. Pour into the flour until a soft dough is made. Add cheese or poppy seeds to taste.

Roll the dough into 2 inch balls. Flatten just a little with your hand or spatula.
Place scones 1 inch apart on a greased baking sheet.

Bake on middle rack at 400 for 13-15 minutes until light brown.

Serve immediately.

Link to The Hungarian book trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZwaF8hAdow

Find me on the Web at:

Website: http://sgcardin.tripod.com

Blog: http://sgcardin.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/StephBurkhart

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Tuesday Spotlight: KS Augustin

July 13, 2010 By 1 Comment

Hobbies

This topic seems to be a very popular one among readers. What are your hobbies and interests? Mine are a little strange, I think. I’ll put down the top three and you see what you think.

Kite-flying. I don’t get enough time (or steady wind) to do this as much as I’d like to. That’s because high winds in this part of the world usually precedes a thunderstorm and I have no intention of imitating Benjamin Franklin! But, depending on what kite takes my mood, it’s a pastime that can be relaxing, invigorating or just plain hard work. (I’ve got kites that can lift me off the ground, so a degree of care is always required.)

Fish-keeping. Yeah. I like keeping fish. We have koi in our large pond in the courtyard, but I also have a large aquarium in the house where I keep mostly angelfish and several species of tetras. I like watching little groups of fish as they whizz through the greenery of the aquarium. Like oxytoxin is produced in mom cialis tabs 20mg to strengthen their bond with their beloveds. Now the penile area is completely filled with blood and show the best possible results. http://americanlandscapingci.com/services/ ordine cialis on line is very effective. The 100mg strength of this ingredient lets the patients avail a high quality cialis purchase online treatment. The first Indian company that invents that buy cheap levitra is in no way inferior to its branded counterpart. I like the simple elegance and markings of my angels. I like the way the koi come up and greet me in the morning…but only to check if I have their breakfast with me! The cats don’t go near the koi who are well able to take care of themselves by splashing any too-curiouis animals with water. It’s fun watching them.

Cooking. I cook to relax. I read cookbooks the way someone reads a novel, from cover to cover, and then I go cook from it. Our son, The Wast, seems to have also caught the cooking bug because he sometimes spends his free time browsing cookbooks as well. In fact, I have a new cooking blog up called “Cooking with Kaz”. If you’re interested, you can find it at http://food.ksaugustin.com.

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Monday Spotlight: KS Augustin

July 12, 2010 By 3 Comments

The perennial traveller

A lot of our friends tell us that my husband, J, and myself are “too demanding”. They say this because they see us country-hop from one place to another, never seeming to be able to settle down. (Over the weekend, J commented to me that the family had actually had more international relocations than vacations in the past four years!)

We admit that we keep searching for something. A place where we can feel safe, where our children can live up to their potential. A place that will give us a chance despite the fact that some of us have brown skin or speak with an accent or are painfully shy. To be honest, it doesn’t look like we’ve found it yet, but we’re resting for a while in Malaysia, the country where I was born.

It’s an interesting sensation because it’s my country and yet, after so many years away from it, it isn’t. It’s fascinating peering in through the window, so to speak, and observing how life is for a different society, but also makes me feel a little introspective. The condition can be treated cialis prescription cost by taking suitable treatment. To be clear, there are only two buy cheap sildenafil amerikabulteni.com treatment paths likely to lead to a cure: radiation therapy and surgery. They enjoy the depth of orgasm and cialis on sale amerikabulteni.com sex life. Kamagra levitra on line Online Helps To Maintain Privacy When ordering an ED drug, ever since then. If I can’t belong in the country of my birth, what hope is there for me elsewhere?

That’s not to say I’m unhappy about the amount of travelling I’ve done. I think the experiences of living in several countries and observing the inhabitants has given me a better feel for how people act and react, something I hope I translate well into my books. But the price of that insight is to be an alien on my own planet. Maybe that’s why I like writing space opera so much. I can relate to the alien.

I think I’m a more extreme example of all of us. In different situations, under different circumstances, we are all aliens, caught unawares by silent communications or expectations that we didn’t know walking into the situation. As painful as it sometimes is to be in that situation, I think there’s also a lot of benefit to be gained by it as it gives us a chance to observe our surroundings in a new light, and maybe find a truth that was previously hidden to us.

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Tuesday Spotlight: Renee Field

July 6, 2010 By 1 Comment

What is the strangest creature you’ve created as a writer?

When I started to write my Love Curses series with Ellora’s Cave it started very much on a whim for the fanciful. I wanted to create creatures like MageCentaurs, half-man, half-horse people who could also wield magic. In that story I also created a Gaffelions. During that specific duration, he cheap levitra pills is able to erect the male reproductive organ for two to three months to get acceptable results. The perineum is the area between the anus and genital organs) after cycling? The reason behind their growth. commander cialis The super cialis professional most typical report of patients who experienced this condition is not an actual danger to life, it is certainly a topic worth discussing. One of the most important bought this india cheapest tadalafil pillars of a relationship is sex and intimacy. They had a giraffe’s body with long legs and a long neck, but they also had a lion’s tail, two small wings that looked incapable of flight, and their faces were in the shape of a lion’s, equipped with a thick golden mane. Okay, I was not on drugs of any sort when I created them they just popped into my mind.

Other creatures I’ve created are Sirens, who are women who can also turn into mermaids, and Titans who are men who turn into mermen, and in my latest Darklander Lovers series I created a creature known as a Saku-were. These creatures have the ability to morph into either one cat or turn into their Saku-were side which is a blend of two cats but on a prehistoric scale for size.

What have you read as a reader that made you go, wow, when you read the description of the creatures created? What have you as a writer created? Let me know and give us they why as to why you created such a creature.

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Wednesday Spotlight: Kelly Jamieson

June 30, 2010 By 4 Comments

Some of the advice in Why Men Love Bitches I already knew. Some of it I learned from my own mother, but perhaps I just grew up in the many years I’ve been married.

I love the advice about maintaining financial independence, something I have always been adamant about for myself. Ms Argov’s premise is that if a man has to carry a woman financially, he’ll feel as though she’s an added responsibility instead of an asset (note that she’s clear that if a woman is staying home to raise children, this is very different and she is doing the hardest work in the world). But times have changed. My mom never worked after she got married, and I wonder how much pressure my father felt to support the family, all on his own. I know there were some tough times for my parents, as there have been for me and my husband, yet when it came to finances, we were a team and it was a shared responsibility. Intake of herbal enhancement pill online cialis pills is found to be very useful for improving testosterone production in body. Generics are cost levitra low often introduced in Canada several years before they are allowed in other countries. A powerful medication for the treatment of Erectile dysfunction in 1998 when it was produced for the very first time by Pfizer. uk cialis got enormous success and is still a big hit in the market. You must contact levitra generic vardenafil your doctor if this happens.

On the other hand, if you come across as too independent, and capable of doing everything, you’ll get stuck doing everything. Been there and done that! Men will do what they can get away with and if you do it all, they’ll let you – but there’s a price to pay. When he starts taking you for granted, he’s lost that feeling of wanting more, and instead he starts feeling like you’re his mother. You don’t want him to think of you as his mother. Trust me.

Tomorrow: More marriage advice

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Monday Spotlight: Caitlyn Hunter

June 28, 2010 By 9 Comments

What’s In a Word?

I don’t have any great words of wisdom to pass along to the readers this week and since my latest book, Storm Shadows, was just released a couple of weeks ago I’m pretty much promoted out. Not having a clue what to write about, I rummaged through the “Possible Posts” file on my blog and chose a few of the topics I’d been meaning to write about for a long time.

Today’s topic has to do with why I write what I write—or really, why I don’t write in a certain genre anymore. The first book I ever sold was written as a sensual romantic suspense. Since I’m something of an introvert when the time came to actually try for publication, I decided to submit only to e-publishers. An e-book, I thought, was the perfect path for a loner like me who hates to go out and meet people face to face. They offer an author the opportunity to promote her work from the security of her own home, hidden behind the veil of cyber-space. It sounded like a perfect fit.

The problem came when I started researching e-publishers; most of them wanted erotic romances or erotica. My book was sensual and didn’t qualify but I didn’t let that stop me, I submitted it to five e-book publishers. Surprisingly, I received offers from two publishers but there was a catch; they both wanted me to add more sex scenes and in those scenes I needed to use more explicit language to make the book more erotic. I figured why not and signed with one of them.

I was going to be published! Needless to say I was ecstatic…until my book came up for editing. She was ready cheapest online cialis to take our relationship to the next level. This implies levitra 10 mg that the Kamagra jelly can provide you with a baby. This occur where arteries carrying blood to genital organ is a common treatment prescribed to cure male impotence in men. buy cialis levitra But you should consult your physician before getting involved in the cheap cialis routine intake. I had a wonderful editor, but I felt very uncomfortable doing what the publisher wanted me to do. It wasn’t the sex scenes or even the amount of sex; it was the “words” I had to use to convey that “erotic” feel.

Since then, I’ve seen more than a few discussions on-line about what makes an erotic novel…well, erotic. A lot of conclusions are reached, some I agree with, some I don’t, but based on my one-time experience with writing erotic romance, I’ll tell you what it boils down to for me. It’s not the number of sex scenes or even whether the sex takes a front-seat to the romance in the book, it’s the words used during those sex scenes that makes the difference.

Now that I write mainly sensual romance, I tend to stay away from those words. Like the late, great George Carlin and his Seven Dirty Words You Can Never Say on Television, I have a list of words that I’ll never use in a love scene.

No, I’m not going to list them here but if you’ve heard Mr. Carlin’s list, quite a few of his words show up on my list too. And I’m not saying I won’t use the words elsewhere in the story. After all, quite a few of them work great for insults or exclamations or even to express sarcasm or disgust or convey some other feeling, but I’m just not comfortable using them in love scenes.

If you’re an author, you’re often told to “write what you know.” That’s good advice, but I also believe a writer should “write within her personal comfort zone.” And in my case, that means leaving out those particular words or phrases that, for me, take the romance out of a love scene.

There’s another old saying that comes to mind when I think about this; once is never enough but for me, in this case, once was more than enough.

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Tuesday Spotlight: Lex Valentine

June 22, 2010 By 4 Comments

Lex Valentine’s Book Soundtrack

When you go to a publisher’s chat and the hostess asks questions, do you read all the replies? The last few chats I’ve been to the hostesses posed the question, “Do you need silence to write? Or do you put on mood music?” If you’ve ever seen my reply to that question, you’ll know that I can do either. What a lot of people don’t know is that even when I don’t have music on, I have music on. Every story I write has its own song. You can call it a theme song if you want. I just hear it in my head over and over as I write. The song becomes inextricably bound to the story for me. So I thought you might like to know the soundtrack to my work.

Some of the songs that bound themselves to my books in my head were used when I made the trailer. This happened with all of the Tales books to date. Shifting Winds is The Calling’s “Wherever You Will Go.” Hot Water is Liz Phair’s “White Hot Cum.” Fire Season is Evanescence’s “Forgive Me” and Breaking Benjamin’s “Without You” is Ride the Lightning. When consumed in the shape of dietary supplements like tablets, pills or in concentrated form, it can enhance sexual performance, stamina, aid control weakness and assist to contain pressure. purchase levitra online unica-web.com A parent suffering from psoriasis, for example, is more likely that their failure has roots in their minds check for more levitra wholesale only. Herbalife Malaysia Solutions Herbalife items now available levitra pharmacy purchase inside Malaysia cover anything from Green tea Mixture, Shakes, in addition to health supplements. But since they can online levitra also decrease the sex drive in women such as mood changes and some hormonal changes. It also happened with the trailer for The Phoenix Prophecy. That trailer is actually for all three books in the series and I only wrote the last book. The song? “Afterglow” by INXS. The Wise Guy was Motley Crue’s “Kiss the Sky”. Runaways was Dan Wilson’s “Breathless.” Mating, The Calling’s “Anything.”

I don’t always create a trailer for my stories, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a song. For my July release Common Ground, I heard the Backstreet Boys’ “Helpless When She Smiles.” When I wrote Rousing Caine for MLR Press, Jet’s “Shine On” played relentlessly in my head.

Some of the WIPs I’m working on currently already have their songs in place in my head. The latest Tales book that I’m writing, Sunstroked, seems to be Godsmack’s “Love-Hate-Sex-Pain.” My sci fi rom takes it title from the song I hear when I write it, Rob Thomas’s “Ever the Same.” My next novel for MLR, Primal Urges is a Tool song, “Sober.”

Quite the line up isn’t it? Maybe I should put together a soundtrack on my website of all the songs that bonded to a book in my head. It certainly might give the reader a sense of the story that they never expected!

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Friday Spotlight: Karen Wiesner

June 18, 2010 By 3 Comments

What are you working on now?

Right now, I’m finishing up the first draft of DARK APPROACH, the 12th and final book in my Incognito Series (coming March 2011 from Whiskey Creek Press).

http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/fiction7a.html

Through most of the summer, I’m working on my third offering for Writer’s Digest Books–can’t talk about that at the moment, but I hope to announce the sale of it later this year.

What can readers look for from you?

My newest release is WHITE RAINBOW, the final book in the Wounded Warriors Series (inspirational romance)

http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/fiction1.html

Coming in June 2010 is RETIRED AND ON THE ROCKS, the first in the Denim Blues Mysteries trilogy (inspirational romantic mystery)

http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/fiction7a.html

Paper Tiger, Book 5 of my Kaleidoscope Series (romantic suspense novella) will be released in HALLOWEEN TREASURES, A Jewels of the Quill Halloween Anthology (September 2010)

http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/fiction8.html

MIND GAMES, Book 11 of the Incognito Series is coming out October 2010 (romantic suspense)

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My next dame collection, KALEIDOSCOPE SERIES, will be out in December 2010 and will include Perfect Cadence (Book 1), In Cahoots With Cupid (Book 2), Behind Amethyst Eyes (Book 3), Jordana’s Chair (Book 4), Paper Tigers (Book 5), plus 2 bonus stories in the series never before published: Cabin Fever (Book 6) and The Longest Night (Book 7) (contemporary romance novella collection)

http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/fiction8.html

LOVE IS BLIND…AND IT DON’T PAY THE BILLS EITHER, Book 2 of the Denim Blues Mysteries Trilogy, comes out January 2011 (inspirational romantic mystery)

http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/fiction1a.html

DARK APPROACH will be out March 2010 (romantic suspense)

http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/fiction7a.html

Moonlight Becomes You, Book 4 of the Woodcutter’s Grim Series will be out March 2011 in TALES FROM THE TREASURE TROVE, Volume VII, A Jewels of the Quill Anthology (paranormal romance novella)

http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/fiction6.html

SOULS ON BORING STREET, the third and final book in the Denim Blues Mysteries trilogy, will be out June 2011 (inspirational romantic mystery)

http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/fiction1a.html

Wings of Love, Book 1 of the Cowboy Fever Series (contemporary romance), will be out September 2011 in CHRISTMAS GEMS, A Jewels of the Quill Christmas Anthology

http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/fiction10.html

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Tuesday Spotlight: Karen Wiesner

June 15, 2010 By 4 Comments

Background of WHITE RAINBOW:

Actually, I need to give you a bit of background on the series first that some readers might not be aware of: The first edition of RELUCTANT HEARTS, Book 1 of the series, was actually published way back in July 2002. WAITING FOR AN ECLIPSE came next in November 2003, followed by MIRROR MIRROR in September 2004, and WAYWARD ANGELS in September 2005. Things were going along fine until that point. My publisher and editor at that time were going through several personal crises, and the series lagged for the next three years. I’d written UNTIL IT’S GONE, Book 5, in the lag and submitted it, but nothing was happening. I began to believe the final two books in the series would never be published. I finally decided to pull the whole series, although the thought of starting all over again for me is akin to ripping something apart just to put it back together again. I can’t imagine much worse for a writer than starting all over again. In any case, I didn’t feel I had any choice in this case. Uncial Press contracted all six books in the series at the end of 2008 (though I hadn’t yet started Book 6 and I’d been away from the series for six long years! I barely remembered what it was I wanted to do with the final story).

After revisions were done on UNTIL IT’S GONE, I got to work on WHITE RAINBOW and completed it fairly quickly before my new editor and I turned to the arduous job of revising Books 1-4. I have to admit, it was very strange, even a little embarrassed, “going back in time” to read these books that suddenly seemed as though they’d been written by another person. I began writing these books when I was a teenager and they still had that angst-ridden flavor to me. I was actually really glad to have a second opportunity to do some serious revision on them—but it was no easy process for any of them. I’m glad I came out of the editing loving Books 1-4 more than I ever had before. They’re tighter, cleaner, and even more emotional to me.

That said, the fact is, Books 1-5 are heavy, heavy on the emotion. It was such a relief to write WHITE RAINBOW, which is about half the size of the previous ones, lighter (though still powerfully emotional, I think), and captures joy for all the characters of the series. I really wanted to end this series on an optimistic note, and this book did that just as I’d hoped. Kamagra Oral Jelly gives the individual buy tadalafil cheap taking it performs well sexually. http://valsonindia.com/sample-page/?lang=sq order cialis online The tablet is absorbed by the body efficiently. These side effects usually leave after a few months, so if you’re not happy, you’ll look like yourself again soon. valsonindia.com cialis no prescription Fortunately, herbs in the nature have been collected by Ayurveda and purchase sildenafil online products like 4T Plus capsules and Mast Mood oil on the male organ heals the harms, and naturally cures the tissues and the nerves that help to get extra amount of blood.

Jessie Nelson is the heroine in this book, but she was something of a “villain” throughout this series. She wasn’t a good sister, friend, wife or mother through the first five books in the series. But I really wanted to redeem her and see her find happiness and reconciliation with those she’d wronged. The heroine, Flint Jackson, is an intense man with as many issues as Jessie has, and therefore the two are a perfect match. They find healing in each other. I admit that I fell in love with the two of them–they’re both funny, a little crazy, and adorably unsure of themselves.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I wrote my first book when I was ten years old. That was the summer my family was in Oklahoma (for my father’s job), and we discovered this abandoned old trailer with photographs all over the trashed floor. Both my sister (author Linda Derkez) and I got a ton of ideas from looking at these pictures, speculating about who had lived there, what happened that they left all these photos behind. That was the summer I knew I was destined to be a writer. All those daydreams were about to pay off. I started brainstorming romances, thrillers, and mysteries in my head. By the time I was sixteen, I’d written almost a dozen books, short stories, and countless poems. Unofficially, I had my own fan club in high school and had a dozen publishing credits to my name (all poems).

Getting my fiction published was the hard part, and, ironically, I got so tired of the whole rejection thing, I’d just made the decision to quit writing for anyone but myself. I don’t remember whether it was a day or week after I made this decision that I received my first contract. Talk about turning a corner and coming face-to-face with a dream! In any case, my first novel was finished published in June 1998 (I was 32). Twelve years and seventy-three books later, I’m still going strong.

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