There was a time when I wrote but never even liked to talk about writing. I just liked to do it. After reading different topics in Kindle Forums, I've had more interest in hearing what other writers think, their philosophies, and what works in their view.
The following is the most recent profile I wrote for Amazon. The photo isn't with it but just playing around with black and white and it seemed like a good one for a writer profile.
A good romance is like a wonderful song for the way it carries the reader along with highs and lows, tension and release, action and waiting. These are the kind of stories I aim to write and also the ones I want to read.
When I have created a story of two people coming together for the first or even second time, finding their connection and also the places they have to let the other go, falling in love and then working out a relationship, I feel a real satisfaction. That's what I hope my readers find also.
A good romance book is being able to reclaim the moment we fell in love through someone else's experience. We want to go along with the roller-coaster ride they are on. My favorite books have elements (sometimes a lot of it) of danger to add to this emotional high. I call mine hybrid romances because they also explore other things that fascinate me which might be art (I am a painter and sculptor), history, science, metaphysics, etc.-- whatever fits the situation these characters have entered into.
When I write, I try to apply the craft I learned from my teachers but also the inspiration I received from all the authors I have ever loved. I edit, re-edit and edit again leaving slack times between to get fresh perspective. I try to cut out anything not needed. I want my stories to make their point, not be everything that happened, but everything important. I want them to have pace and a destination that leaves the reader and me the writer satisfied. My goal is to provide the wheat and not the chaff, to write a story of yin and yang, darkness and light, softness and hardness and the rose with the thorn.
When defining myself I am an animal, nature loving, rural living woman who is fascinated by both people's stories and their choices. 'Why?' has been a big part of my life. I was born into the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, grew up in the front yard of Sasquatch with wilderness out my backdoor and a gravel road out front. Schooling began in a 2 room country school which meant a mile and a half walk to school along a gravel roads where in the spring I could watch pollywogs turn into frogs.
Today I live on a small ranch in the foothills of the Coast Range of Oregon where my husband and I raise cattle and sheep. The grandchildren come to visit when they can and they are also being raised to love nature, animals, and the outdoors. I don't see my life even now mapped out or where it might be next year. I have always liked living with changes possible.
This is all reflected in my stories which are of love, of men and women finding relationship, and struggling with all the things humans do. Perhaps romantic love has not always been so available but has been in the hearts of men and women from the time they first became recognizably human. We don't have a breeding cycle as so many animals do; so there has to be something to draw us together, make us willing to sacrifice, and that something is not simply lust but a far deeper connection that goes into our souls and some call soul mates. I love to tell the stories of these soul mates.
