| A voracious need to read had me staying up past midnight, reading beneath the covers with a flashlight finishing one book after another. I know my Mom got tired of hearing me ask, "Can I read just one more page?" before I started my chores. Reading has always been a way of life for me. Though my tastes have changed over the years, I am still a huge fan of Romance novels. I'm addicted to the HEA...Happily Ever After.
I've been writing and receiving rejections for over a decade. Perseverance and the support of three amazing writers groups, RWA, NJRW and PASIC, kept me from giving up on my dream of publication. My first book, THE MARSHAL’S DESTINY, was published by Avalon in 2001, winning The Lories 2002 Award for Best New Author Historical. The next book in my Irish Western series, THE RANCHER’S HEART, was published by Thomson/Gale's Five Star Expressions on February 14th. THE LORD OF MEREWOOD KEEP, a medieval romance, was published by The Dark Castle Lords on March 15th at www.darkcastlelords.com and PATIENCE, a Regency-Era romance, is coming soon from The Wild Rose Press at www.thewilderosepress.com.
My love for the written word is a gift from my parents, but the need to write was instilled by my 7th Grade English teacher. Ok, so I admit it, I wrote really bad poetry and dedicated it to an early high school crush, but I didn't start writing novels until a decade ago. I had just finished reading another novel, when my husband asked why I didn't write one of my own. Funny, it never occurred to me before, but once the seed was planted, it was like having a door inside me unlocked and all of these words pouring through me. Creating characters is a joy, and plotting the book pure pleasure... but revisions and edits ... well, that's another story. *g*
One of my writing quirks is that I love to include bits and pieces of my ancestors and ancestry in all of my books. In THE MARSHAL’S DESTINY, my main characters were named after my great-grandmother, Margaret Mary Flaherty, and my youngest son, Joshua. In THE RANCHER’S HEART, you’ll find the lyrics to my brother’s song, “Off to Amerikay,” written for our Irish immigrant ancestors and a reference to my husband’s grandmother, Nellie Mae Flynn. According to genealogical research of my mother's maiden name, my fourteenth century Purcell ancestors were powerful Barons of Loughmae Castle in County Tipperary in Ireland...Loughmae Keep, Lady Jillian's family holding in THE LORD OF MEREWOOD KEEP, is named for the stronghold of those brave ancestors.
In PATIENCE, my hero is named for my oldest son, Phillip. Stay tuned, because the next installment in my Irish Western series is finished and the 4th book is one of my current works-in-progress.
Fate, destiny and love at first sight will always play a large part in my stories because they also played a major role in my life. When I saw my husband for the first time, I knew he was the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with. Four years of dating and 28 years of marriage have not dimmed the love I feel for him. Each and every hero I write about has a few of Dave’s best qualities, his honesty, his integrity, his compassion for those in need and his killer broad shoulders (I’m such a sucker for a man with broad shoulders *g*). We’ve been blessed with three wonderful children (adults now), two sons and a daughter in the middle. Life is good.
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