I am a writer and want to share with you what inspires me to write my books in the hopes it will inspire YOU with your creative passions.
I believe I was born with the muse whispering in my ear.
As a young child my Aunt scolded me for telling my younger cousin that our dolls came alive at night and played together. I wove elaborate adventures that took place in the garden between our houses. I created a world she believed. She wanted to be a part of that world so many nights she got out of bed, running into the yard, hoping to catch them at play. My cousin, Linda, was my first fan.
In High School the teachers scolded me for “Day Dreaming” in class. I couldn’t help myself! Scenes and characters spouting dialogue ran through my head like a movie until I created the perfect happy ending. One story would end and then another immediately burst into life, filling my thoughts with how to help these characters reach their happy ending and so it would go day after day.
As I was leaving for college my Grandmother advised, “Stop day dreaming. Write down the stories in your head.” Freedom! The world became big, bigger, biggest! Now no limitations to my daydreams except the breadth and depth of my imagination.
Only one of my novels have seamlessly gone from my pen onto paper – it was exhilarating to know exactly the right words for that novel – my editor only changed 3 words in the entire manuscript!
That book was THE RAKE’S REDEMPTION, my first Regency novel. I love the manners, clothes and men of the Regency period and apparently so does the world given the global success of the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn. The men of the Regency period ARE irresistible!
I loved Juliana and Dominic, the Marquis of Aubrey, the moment they came to life in The Rake’s Redemption. However, I didn’t realize I would fall so madly in love with his half-brother, Jules, Comte de Saville, I HAD to give him his own book, SCANDAL’S CHILD, and a love with Kat, who matched his passion and spirit.
The glamorous Regency period and the machinations of cupid are an irresistible combination for me.
The Battle of Waterloo was such a defining moment in the Regency period I felt compelled to bring to life Lord Matthew Blackwood, an idealist with the heart of a lion. His whirlwind marriage to Miss Serena Fitzwater and their relationship when he returns from battle wounded and a changed man reveals the complexities of true love in, A SOLDIER’S HEART.
It was not until Serena confronted her brother in-law, Richard, soon to be the Duke of Avalon, with “it is my fondest wish that when your tiny heart is finally given, the lady crumbles it to dust” that I knew what his story and Mary’s must be in THE DUKE’S DECEIT. Two very different brothers each fighting their demons and the women who give them the strength to succeed.
The stories in my head continue to be about heroines and heroes who face adversity and come out the other side fuller and more complete human beings. And always I find their happy ending.
Once one of my books was up for an award at a Readers Conference in California. As I walked into the lobby the first person I saw shouted at me, “I am really upset with you!” I stopped in my tracks and asked the stranger, “Why?” To which she replied,” Because I stayed up all night reading your book. Here, please sign it for me.”
It was music to my ears and my muse whispered, “I know writing is blood, sweat and tears, but “having written” makes it all worth while.
Follow your passion and I am whispering in you ear….”it will be worth while.”
