| I'm currently living in Winston-Salem NC with my husband and son. I've written over 600,000 words in concepts and books. The story: I was a stay-at-home-mommy! My son needed his mother but I was going stir crazy. I baked, sewed, cleaned, shopped, and read everything in my house. In telling my sister everything I'd read, she told me to try romance. I laughed...(trust me this comes back...and back...). The next day I went to a new Mexican restaurant, and next door was a little bookstore with "Romance Books" in big letters on the window. I went through their used section and took home ten. A few days later, talking again to my darling sister, I laughed and told her I could do better than the books I'd read so far. "So, do it!" I laughed. Then I thought long and hard about it. Why not? I wrote when I was in school. I enjoyed it. It wasn't half bad. That book is still in editing. But I was writing. I learned a lot with that book and reading Claire's work, yes that's my sister. Then I hit inspiration. Driving across the Mid-Atlantic states, my mind was wondering. It does that at times. It wandered across what-ifs and possibilities. I got home and spent three days sitting at my computer typing, skipping sleep, forty-thousand words poured out and Badeaux Knights was born... And the story goes on-- After editing and cleaning up Badeaux Knights I continued to write, working on concepts that came from anywhere I could get them. Then Claire found a contest. We entered it with the thought of getting feedback, alright... fine... publication would be cool but feedback, right. Claire did very well in the contest, I received much needed feedback and we met our future publisher. Well I'll get to him. We started a critique group (Well Claire started it) with almost ten romance writers with promise. Watching these fine writers receive rejections from agents or big publishers was painful and so, one decided no more. "I'm going to start a publishing company." We laughed. He added crime and mystery authors and started putting out books and Second Wind Publishing was born. Then it grew. And the story goes on-- "I want a bookstore to sale our books in." Again we laughed at him."I want wine in my bookstore." laughed harder. A year later I sat in a different state than the story started in helping to open a bookstore. And the story goes on-- |
