What fascinates me about love stories is the drama that surrounds people when they lose their hearts to someone else. I’ve never seen a romance in real life that ran smoothly in the beginning because with great love comes great vulnerability. The question always in my mind is, when two people get rattled like that, how do the pieces come back together? How are they united in spite of the forces, internal and external, which threaten to tear them apart?

I could continue to ply my hours in lawyerly pursuits but I’d rather reach out to people who likewise have a passion for romance. The pastel roses were a great backdrop on that summer day long ago but I didn’t need them. What I needed was an author who could spin a tale out of the ether and let me live a little in the divine drama of two people falling in love.

So maybe I am a heartless lawyer. When I’m in my black suit and up to my elbows in corporate work, my heart’s not in it. Give me a key board and a ream of blank paper, though, and I’ll show you a woman of passion!

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I get asked why I write romance novels a lot. Maybe that’s because I’m a lawyer and I look like one (I have a dozen different black suits which I wear to the office and dark, serious glasses). I assume people think I should be turning out non-fiction or maybe they’re surprised that I’m aware love exists in the world. On occasion, I also get hit with the back slapper that lawyers are great at screwing people so the sex scenes must be a breeze for me. (They aren’t.)

I write everyday and I’ve been doing this for about three years straight. It doesn’t matter if it’s only 20 minutes or it’s for six hours, the important thing is to sit myself down and get those fingers moving. Right now, I’m working full time so it can get tight but as a friend of mine pointed out while I was gripping about stress, it’s not work to do something you love, is it?

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I was talking to another romance author the other day and she and I both agreed that we felt lucky to be able to write. There have always been stories and characters dancing in my head and I have to say that I’d much rather be with them than a lot of people who happen to be ‘real’ in the three dimensional, living and breathing, meaning of the word. Getting a chance to let my imagination run free on a regular basis has been one of the great blessings in my life.

I really like to talk with writers. Because writing is such a solitary endeavor, I find it helps to check in with others to get reassurance that you aren’t crazy- although I suppose it’s a little like asking another inmate in the asylum if it’s okay to hear voices in your head. I hope you’ll email me with your own successes, trials and tribulations!

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A Man in a Million is wonderful. Strong, cocky funny hero who didn’t have the easiest past falls for beautiful woman who also didn’t have the easiest past. Our hero Spike is leery about trying a relationship with any woman since he’s had a couple of hard knocks, and understandably. I think he should have given Mad more credit, but then I also think Mad should have given him a little trust…if you read it, tell me what you think. Mad is one of the heroines who doesn’t understand she’s gorgeous~this isn’t always the easiest thing to work into the story, but in this, it worked very well.

She’s tall. And I don’t mean a little tall, she’s like 6 ft tall. That can make men self conscious, plus she’s a pro athlete. Another thing that is going to make men feel kind of uncertain around her. Her father told her she wouldn’t amount to much and all of these things added up to a very believable uncertainly in the heroine.

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