I know a lot of people who want to be novelists when they grow up. It’s a dream they’ve had for as long as they can remember. I am not one of them. I didn’t passionately want to be a writer until a couple of years ago when, on my way to a book signing by Diana Gabaldon in October, one of the women I was with mentioned this contest called the National Novel Writing Month, which takes place in November.

I had been playing with a novel before this. It was an action adventure romance, and I was enjoying writing it, but it wasn’t consuming. When Heather mentioned NaNoWriMo to me, an idea was born, and I couldn’t shake it. It began to overtake my thoughts. Scenes started writing themselves in my head and it was all I could think about. I realized I had to get this novel out of my head and on paper or I would be driven batty. So, that November, I took fingers to keyboard and typed out a 51,515 word novel titled On The Morrow. It was based on Mary Bennett from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and I loved every minute of creating her story that started after the weddings of Elizabeth to Darcy and Jane to Bingley.

I was hooked.

On the Morrow has since changed to characters that didn’t already exist, but Jane was the original inspiration. After that, I got another idea and another story developed. I thought I could save it for the next NaNo, but it was January. The voices started having dialog with each other and I knew again that I had to get them out of my head. So my first full-length novel was completed less than a year later, a contemporary romance titled Who Wants to Marry a Cowboy?

I have a bachelor’s degree in public relations, and that covered a lot of writing. I work as a technical writer/editor, and that also covers a lot of writing. I write a monthly article for a local parenting magazine. I attend a local writer’s group. I talk writing with coworkers. I go home from work and spend my evenings writing. I’ve turned into a novelist.

I do have a life outside of the writing side. I’m a wife and a mother. I participate in community theater, though it’s been a long time since I’ve been onstage or back stage. I play the violin. I take classes in Scottish country dancing. In the past year, I was treated for breast cancer. I’m really tired of the color pink, but I am enjoying my newly thick and curly hair. The breast cancer thing is a whole other story, but does make an appearance in my Cowboy novel, as the heroine’s closest friend has just finished her treatment and is on her way to recovery.

So, browse and enjoy, and I hope to hear from you.