News

Lots of News All of the Sudden…

Got an article in the RWR this month on mentoring. Check it out!

Sabotage is out  Barnes and Noble.com

Life and Faith Tour is coming to Richmond in June and I’ll be part of a big author signing including Karen Kingsbury and Lynette Eason. I hope you’ll join us. Click here for tickets and more info.

It’s time to sign up for ACFW Conference.

Fund Raiser for Local School

I’m really looking forward to the Blessed Sacrament Huguenot night at the Chesterfield Town Center Barnes and Noble. It’s November 12 from 5:30-8:30 PM. Please come out and support a great school. NY Times Best Selling Author Cathy Maxwell will be signing books (me too). And lots of stuff going on for the kids–Snow Queen reading. Hope to see you there.

Sabotage

My next novel from Love Inspired Suspense,  June 2010.

RWA 2009 Conference Awards Presentation

Can you believe it? He goofed my name. And he said Steeple Hill wrong. Oh well…Congratulations to Kelly Ann Riley!

Awards:

2008 RWA Golden Heart winner for Best Inspiration Romance

2008 JRW Runner-up Best Unpublished Novel

Recent Interviews:

1. With Romance Writers on the Journey (interview by Keli Gwyn)

2. Article with Chesterfield Observer : Romance is all in the Words

3. With Get Your Word On (interview by Laura Jones)

Your novel Protector’s Honor is a double winner. It won both the Best Unpublished Manuscript Contest and the 2008 Golden Heart for Best Inspirational Romance. Now you have a contract for publication in September 2009. What has been the most unexpected benefit of these successes?

A: Actually, I was runner-up in the Best Unpublished Novel Contest, but that was great enough. I was pretty excited last April about my name printed in Richmond Magazine and my $200 winnings. And, now, yes, I just signed a contract with Harlequin Enterprises for this same story, which they are publishing next September in their Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense Line. I suppose my biggest surprise over this last year has been the supportive attitude of other authors, their willingness to answer questions and offer guidance as I take these first steps to becoming published. They’ve been encouraging and positive, always.

You lived through a bout with Guillian-Barre disease. Will your next book plumb the depths of what it means to face a life and death situation such as the one you lived through?

A: Well, since I write romantic suspense, I can’t really avoid the life or death thing. But, no, I don’t plan to mirror my own experience in my next book. My heroines tend to be very physical. I’d have to do a very different sort of story to incorporate a character who’s confined to a hospital bed unable to move anything but her neck. But, perhaps in the future…who knows? Right now, I’m still healing, still trying to gain perspective on what I went through. Hopefully, the experience will enrich my craft, especially in allowing me to reach deeper inside my characters for more emotion, more growth.

How long did it take you to write Protector’s Honor and did you have help along the way?

A: It took me three or four months to write the first draft. Afterward, the manuscript underwent two major revisions, which took another two months with a long break between (as I wrote another story). So, altogether I spent at least a year working on it, off and on. And, help? Yes. I have an indispensable critique partner who’s not afraid to tell me when something doesn’t work. And, my retired parents also don’t mind reading for typos, which I greatly appreciate. Yes. Lots of help.

What is your most productive time of day and why is it the best time for you?

A: I’m a morning person. I love to get in a couple of quiet hours in the AM. But, I also have two young children, so things don’t usually go like that. I often follow them around with my laptop. I’m definitely a mom first and a writer second. There’s not a lot of “me” time which is one of the reasons I choose to write category length fiction. But I suppose my schedule will change a lot in the next few years as my children become school-aged. Hopefully, I’ll gain some more mornings to myself.

Can you sum up your life in six words?

A: Mon Dieu, mon amour, mes enfants.