 It’s hard for me to imagine that I’ve been writing romances for over twenty years now! I started at the young age of 21, just after I got married. Reading romances, and then writing them, came about as a result of having too much time on my hands. When I first married my husband Don, I was working a regular nine to five job and he worked swing shift, from four in the afternoon until midnight. It wasn’t an ideal schedule for newlyweds, and in order to pass those hours when I was alone I started reading romances, and eventually tried my hand at writing them.
The road to publication wasn’t an easy one. It took me five years and dozens of rejections to make my first sale, which was to Harlequin for their “Stolen Moments” line. THE FAMILY MAN, written under the pseudonym Danielle Kelly, was one of the twelve novellas published in 1993 for this promotional line.
It took me another two and a half years (and more rejections!) to sell my second book. HEAVEN’S GIFT (written under my own name) was published in October 1995 by Leisure Love Spell for their “An Angel’s Touch” series. Another two years passed of collecting even more rejections before I finally sold to Harlequin Romance and Harlequin Temptation. At the time, writing for both Temptation and Harlequin Romance provided me with a wonderful creative outlet for both my modern, ultra-sexy stories, and my warmer, traditional romances. But as the years passed, I realized how much I enjoyed writing the sexier stories and streamlined my career accordingly so that I was no longer writing the sweet traditional romances, and instead focused on the hotter, sexier stories for Temptation and Blaze.
After writing over two dozen books for Harlequin, I decided to branch out. I wanted to write anthologies and single titles, and came up with an idea about three sexy brothers with the last name of “Wilde”. Little did I know that those Wilde brothers would become such a sensation with readers. In the second Wilde book, WILDE THING, four Wilde cousins were introduced, and readers started writing in for their stories, too. It’s been a joy and pleasure to write each of the Wilde stories, and I want to thank everyone for purchasing those books and putting them on the USA Today Bestseller list!
I’ve been a full-time writer for years, which consists of being deep in deadlines, writing proposals (growling at the husband to fix a glitch in the computer so I can get back to work!), perusing contracts, line-edits (stressing over a scene that won’t work or characters that just won’t talk or cooperate with my plans for them!), galleys, art-fact sheets, promotion, and other publishing paperwork. Admittedly, I wouldn’t trade all the craziness in for pantyhose, rush hour traffic, and a nine-to-five job again. Writing is hard work, but I find the rewards are well worth the effort. Fan letters are one of those priceless rewards, and can keep me on a high for days! I’ve met the most wonderful people through my books, some of which I now consider good friends.
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 What is the best part of being a writer? The worst?
 I love setting my own schedule (ahem, what schedule? ). I love being at home with my kids during the summer, and being a published writer has enabled me to be a stay-at-home mom instead of working a 9-5 job outside of the house. That, by far, has been the greatest thing for me. The worst/hardest part has been setting my own schedule (it’s truly a double-edged sword!). Being at home, it’s so easy to find other things that need to get done, or to play on the internet when I should be writing! Also, writing is such a solitary profession, and I sometimes miss not having the kind of direct interaction and mental stimulation you get when working at a regular business or office.
How do you write when your life and things around you aren’t cooperating?
Unfortunately, when life is crazy, I don’t write. And that’s not good. I’ve been trying to set a daily schedule for my writing, but haven’t found anything that truly works! But writing is a job, and it’s all a matter of sitting my butt in the chair and putting those words on the computer, even if it’s only one paragraph at a time. Somehow, someway, it all adds up!
How do you come up with hero and heroine’s physical attributes when writing a book? What influences your choice for hair and eye color, etc?
Pictures easily triggers ideas of how my characters might look - - most from a magazine, the internet, or the movies. Also, I find that most of my heroes tend to be dark haired, rather than blonde. Not sure why - - though I personally prefer dark haired man and I’ve learned that blonde haired heroes on the cover of a book just don’t look as good as dark haired men, LOL!
If you could write for another genre other than romance, which would it be, and why?
I absolutely love reading and writing romances. I can’t imagine writing anything else and I’ve truly never had any desire to do so. I like my stories with happily-ever-after endings!
What do you feel is the demographic of the readers of your books? Describe who you think your reader is.
I think my demographic is anyone who enjoys reading about romance and happily ever after - - whether that might be a college student, a housewife, or a grandma who still likes to read the sexier books. I think that romances span all age groups and demographics.
How do you handle the nature of your material when it comes to your children and their desire to read what you’re writing? How do you explain that what you write isn’t appropriate from them to read until they are much older?
I have two daughters, ages 14 & 16, and both have known from a very early age that I write romance books. For years, neither of them were interested in reading what I’ve written, but recently my 16 year old asked to read some of my books. So, I started her out with the Harlequin Romance books that I wrote, since those are “sweeter” and more traditional. There are love scenes in the books, but they aren’t explicit. I also told her that if she had any questions whatsoever after she read the stories that we could talk about it, which we did. She really enjoyed them, and after reading a few of those books I think her “curiosity” was satisfied. She’s a teenager that enjoys paranormal and vampires more than romance, so it’s not as though she’s anxious to read my sexier stories. As for my 14 year old - - she’s expressed no interest whatsoever, even when I asked if she wanted to read one of the Harlequin Romances, and that’s okay with me!
Are you a seat of the pants type writer, or do you plan and plot your books before starting the writing process?
I’m a bit of both. Before I start a book, I do need to have the storyline and plot lined out. The characters need to be defined in my head and on paper. I need to know that I DO have a story, even if it might change during the course of actually writing the book. However, once I’m into the story, the characters and plot usually take on a life of their own that doesn’t always match my outline. That’s when I have to switch into “panster” mode. I usually have the overall picture of the story, but the actual scenes develop as I’m writing.
Have you ever been dissatisfied with a book title or cover?
Most of the titles I didn’t like were the titles “assigned” to my Harlequin Romances, when I was writing the sweet, traditional stories. At that time, Harlequin was certain that any title with Bride, Baby, Cowboy, Mother, Father, Dad or Wedding was certain to be a best-seller (uh, not according to my records they weren’t, LOL!). Some of the titles I got stuck with were: Ready-Made Bride, Bride Included, A Dad for Daniel, Substitute Father, The Wedding Bargain, The Wedding Secret, and The Baby Surprise. Uh, do you see a theme here? LOL. Most of my Temptation and Blaze titles I’ve really liked, even if they did come from my editor, and all my single title and novella titles have been my own. As for covers - - yeah, I’ve had my share of less than spectacular ones. Like Christmas Fantasy, which featured a guy (solo) on the cover with a goofy grin and ears as big as Dumbo’s. Oy! And then there was Pure Indulgence, where my heroine had TWO ears on one side of her head. But other than that, I’ve been fairly lucky with my covers.
Do you get to offer any input for the covers of your books?
Harlequin always asks for an author’s input. However, that doesn’t mean you’re going to get what you suggest! With Berkley and my covers for the Wilde series, they asked for input on the first book, I told them I’d like a “couple” and what the couple looked like, and they went from there. I love what they came up with, and they’ve decided to keep the same kind of look for future Wilde books, which I’m very happy about. However, there are some authors who don’t have input at all on their covers and they get what they get!
If you could have one of your books turned into a movie, which book or series of books would it be?
I think it would be fun to see my Harlequin Blaze, HEAT WAVES, made into a movie. It was such a fun book to write, with a sexy radio DJ plot to it. The characters had a lot of depth, and overall I think it would translate well into a movie. If I had a second choice, it would be one of my Wilde books. Any one of them would do - - I would just LOVE to see one of those Wilde men come to life on the big screen!
Do you ever wish you could go back and rewrite an already published story?
I can’t say I’ve ever wanted to go back and rewrite an already published story. Once the story is done, “it is what it is”, and I don’t know that it would have turned out any differently had I taken less time to write the story, more time to write the story, or any other component of writing skills. Some books are a breeze to write, and others are a struggle from chapter one. But, in the end, through edits and revisions and a critique partner’s guidance (for me, that would be Carly Phillips!) I do believe that the story “is what it is”, and you just can’t agonize over it, or else you’ll end up mentally and creatively blocked.
What’s amazing to me, is that a lot of times a book that I angst over the most and feel as though it’s pure BLECH, it’ll get the best reader response and reviews, LOL. Then, I’ll write a book and personally love it and think it’s one of my best, and it’ll get the opposite response! I think that’s a big part of the reason why I’ve learned, and accepted, that a book will be what it will be in the end, and there’s no telling how the book and story will be received/judged by readers until it’s out in the bookstores.
Now, like most authors, I would love to be able to go back and rewrite continuity mistakes within a book or series I’ve written. I know I’ve made some continuity errors in my Wilde series that readers have written to me about, and it’s times like those that you want to stop the presses and fix the mistakes before any more books are distributed, LOL! I try my absolute best to keep track of every aspect of my characters, story, and plot, but sometimes I do goof up!
What one specific piece of advice would you give a would-be writer trying to kick start a writing career?
Despite rejections and setbacks, don’t quit writing! Start something fresh and new and keep submitting. The next book you write could be the one that will get bought and published! |
I’m also lucky enough to have friends close to home who are always willing to give me a break from writing just when I need it the most. They’re wild and crazy and are always up for a good time. Take this picture for instance. Here we are in Las Vegas for my 40th birthday, hence the pink boas and the birthday crown on my head. See those half-naked men above our heads? Well, that’s how we spent the evening, at the all male revue, Thunder Down Under, having a great time watching gorgeous men strip. Pictured from left to right is: Julie, Lydia, Debbie, Me, and Laurie.