ARCHIVED FEATURE: LOVE: An Anthology

LOVE: An Anthology
by Barbara Baldwin, Marsha Briscoe, Barri Bryan, Judith Fox, Crystal Inman, Giovanna Lagana, Kristy McCaffrey, Janet Mills, Katherine Smith, Daniel Wilder, Diane M. Wylie

Genre: Romance
Format: PDF, HTML, Trade Paperback
ISBN: Print: 1-59374-514-1 Electronic: 1-59374-513-3
Publisher: Whiskey Creek Press

Bind an aristocratic, shipwrecked man to the lonely, widowed woman who saves him from death's clutches.

Save the life of one brave soldier and endanger that of another with a deep secret.

Render a woman recovering from a car accident oblivious to the love of someone close and helpless to a vindictive attack.

Bring a muse and an aspiring author together to write a bestseller and contemplate a bold and selfless sacrifice.

Uncover the secret passages in an old house and reveal the love of a mysterious man.

Set a headstrong young female to save a wayward stallion from a handsome cowboy.

Make a boyfriend do whatever it takes to impress his new girl's protective and overpowering family and friends.

Allow a sister and a husband to bury someone they hold dear and possibly open the door to a painful past affair.

5 Coffee cups
"...Along with the wonderfully sweet prose in this anthology, also comes beautiful poetry with three poems that have been beautifully interwoven in this collection. Ms. Marsha Briscoe contributes two of her best works to the book, along with a breathtaking ballad by Mr. Daniel Wilder. The masterfully written stories, combined with the amazing poetry, make this book a must for anyone who maintains a lifelong love affair with love. I was chained to the chair, waiting for what came next in this tearfully romantic book. All the contributors are masters of their trade and are to be commended for such a wonderful piece. Love is definitely a book to be purchased and read again and again."

Sue F.
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance

"The authors and poets of Whiskey Creek Press have joined together to create an anthology that is a testament to the strength and beauty of love. LOVE, AN ANTHOLOGY contains ten stories and three poems that are sure to remind readers just what love means. There is a little something for everyone in this book...this anthology is a thoughtful, touching read."

Reviewed by: Amanda
Fallen Angel Reviews

Marsha Briscoe:

Marsha Briscoe lives in southeastern Kentucky with her life-long soul mate husband and three dogs. An award winning published poet and novelist, she has over the years taught a variety of college English courses including advanced composition, Honors English composition, British literature, and world literature in addition to various high school Advanced Placement English classes.

Currently the Senior Editor for the Whiskey Creek Press, Marsha has been a fiction editor since 2001. She has authored two published novels, both of which are deeply rooted in her background of teaching literature. A Still Point in Time, a PEARL Award finalist, is a paranormal romance whose past life characters are loosely based on the historical Victorian poet/Pre-Raphaelite artist, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and his beloved model Elizabeth Siddal.

A Family Matter, Marsha’s second novel, brings the rudiments of an ancient Greek myth into a 1990s eastern Kentucky coalmining area setting. Both of these novels are available from Whiskey Creek Press and both have been #1 Bestsellers. (Each of these books has been alternately on the Whiskey Creek Press Top Ten Best Seller List: A Family Matter during January 06 and A Still Point in Time during February 06. As a matter of fact, Marsha’s A Family Matter was a RomanceReaders.com Featured book in December 05 and is now archived for a year on the romancereaders.com website. J

Two of Marsha’s award-winning poems (sonnets) appear in the highly acclaimed LOVE Anthology, available now from Whiskey Creek Press.

Marsha is a member of the promotional groups All Star Scribes, Books We Love, and Authors Unlimited. The proud mother of three grown sons, she lives in Kentucky with her lifetime soul-mate husband and three dogs. In her spare time, she enjoys tennis, golf, and piano.

Visit Marsha’s author website at http://www.marshabriscoe.com

Barri Bryan:

Barri Bryan is really two people, Billie and Herb Houston. They have been writing as a team since 1990. To read more about Billie & Herb and to see pictures of them through the years go to http://www.barribryan.atfreeweb.com

Judith Fox:

Judith Fox decided to give up her 9 to 5 work as a legal secretary and her painting and studying art history temporarily. She has been seriously writing in several romance genres and has found paranormal light romance to be her favorite at the moment. She’s been published in anthologies over the past few years and short stories in various magazines. One of her novels was a rejected requested full from Silhouette Bombshell. Writing published movie reviews are a relaxing pastime for her together with reading, painting, walking and when she has time, spending time with her family and friends. Her website is: http://www.freewebs.com/judefox/

Giovanna Lagana:

Giovanna Lagana has been married for the past twelve years to her loving husband, Ghislain, and is the proud mother of three beautiful children, named Mathieu, Nicholas, and Isabelle. She has been writing for several years and has published several of her poems and short stories in magazines, e-zines, and anthologies. She's also an Editor for Whiskey Creek Press. When she isn't busy playing with her kids, writing, or editing, she spends her time reading.

Her horror/ romantic suspense novel With Black & White Comes The Grey—The Battle Of Armageddon—Book 1 is available at Whiskey Creek Press. She’d love to hear from readers. Her website is: http://giovannalagana.wcpauthor.com/

Kristy McCaffrey:

Born and raised in Arizona, Kristy McCaffrey's love of writing emerged at a very early age. She kept exhaustive journals, corresponded to dozens of pen pals around the world and wrote short stories, most of which she never shared with anyone. Setting aside her desire to write, she graduated from college with two engineering degrees, married and had four children. But dreams have a way of persisting and writing soon became the perfect fit for a schedule geared around her kids. She currently resides in Pennsylvania, penning historical western romances in salute to her old West upbringing. Her debut book, The Wren, was a 2003 CAPA winner for Best Author Traditional and a 2004 HOLT Medallion Finalist for Best First Book. The Dove, the second novel in the series, was released in March 2005. Both books are available from Whiskey Creek Press. Visit her online at www.kristymccaffrey.com .

Janet Mills:

Janet Mills is an avid reader who began writing stories in early childhood. As she grew up, her interests changed from mysteries and science fiction to the happy endings found within romance novels. She writes western historical romances, contemporary romances, and romantic short stories. Her website is: http://www.janetmills.net/

Katherine Smith:

The author of over a dozen novels in both romance and mystery, Katherine Smith lives in the Midwest with her husband and three children. Her hobbies are reading and cooking, with an emphasis on the first! She is an 2006 Eppies finalist in both mystery and historical romance, and her novel, Wayward Sun, was a Write Touch Reader's Choice finalist in 2005. Visit Katherine at www.katherinesmith.net

Daniel Wilder:

Daniel Wilder is an Information Technology professional with degrees in Computer Engineering Technology and Technical Education. His love for space started as a child with some Time-Life® books that his parents purchases in the late 1960’s. In high school, he majored in science and has ever since been an amateur student of physics and astronomy. Daniel’s love of writing started in high school with poems and short stories. It wasn’t until the early 1990s that he got the bug to write a novel. His love of space and unique people led him to create the science fiction adventure novel Impact Vector.

Daniel lives with his loving wife in Kentucky Appalachia. He currently instructs high school students in PC repair, networking, and programming.

His website is: http://www.danbug.com/

Diane M. Wylie:

Diane Wylie loves books that will take her on an emotional roller coaster ride. What better genre than romance to do that? She has always particularly loved historical romances for their dashing heroes and beautiful heroines.

Since watching Gone With the Wind as a child, she has had an avid interest in the American Civil War. This interest comes to bear in her acclaimed novel, My Enemy, My Love, and short story, "A Soldier to Love" both published by Whiskey Creek Press.

Diane makes her home in Maryland with her husband, Ed, a former racecar driver, and two wonderful children. During the day Diane is an award-winning technical writer for a scientific instrument company in Delaware.

She is a member of the Romance Writers of America and the Maryland Romance Writers chapter, as well as a member of the Society of Technical Communication.

Visit Diane’s website: http://www.dianewylie.com to learn more about her and her upcoming novels.

Honors for MY ENEMY, MY LOVE:
Bestseller list at Whiskey Creek Press
Recommended Read at Fallen Angels Reviews
4 and 5 star ratings by romance review sites
April 2005 True Confessions Magazine contest pick
Featured in July 2005 Pages Magazine
September 2005 Book Cover of the Month
Featured in February 2006 Suite Magazine

“…Diane M Wylie has created characters that are so lifelike that the reader is dragged into all of the agonies and joys as they occur.” Fallen Angels Reviews

“…Diane Wylie’s premier book, My Enemy, My Love, is the kind of love story the reader will want to sit and savor.” Love Romances

“…Diane Wylie is one of those up-and-coming authors we should keep our eye on.” Romance Junkies

“..Diane Wylie is a new voice in historical romance who will please many fans with her fresh perspective..” The Romance Studio

When his ship is run aground, Adrian Keitly, Duke of Northallerton, does not expect to be plucked from the sea by an angel disguised as a lovely young woman. Injured and far from home, he discovers that despite his wealth and title, his privileged life might just be a farce and he has much to learn from his heaven sent rescuer...

Widowed and lonely, the last thing Sarah wants is to suddenly find she has to care for a handsome and enigmatic stranger. What is worse, she is attracted to this dark, mysterious man, trading her future for a night in his arms and finding an unexpected paradise...

Together, Adrian and Sarah find that social rank does not matter, but the heart most certainly does...

There's a serial killer on the loose and he has targeted policewoman, Adrienne Wilcox, as his next victim. Regardless of Adrienne's rebuttal, the chief assigns the handsome detective, Justin Murray, to be her stake out. Little does the chief know something happened between Adrienne and Justin at the Christmas party that Adrienne wants to forget.

But after getting a direct order, Adrienne accepts having the handsome detective as her guard. With the sexual tension between her and Justin at an all time high, will they be able to control their emotions long enough to nab the killer, or will the killer use their sexual attraction as an Achilles' heel and strike when they least expect?

Penelope Curtis travels back to Salal Island twenty years after she lost her true love. She applies for a job tutoring and caring for a small child. At a majestic mansion on the island, she finds her love for Brent Eden has not changed. But the barriers she must conquer for him involve ghost-like memories and murder in the dark lush forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Why did Daddy have to die in this hole of a town in Georgia and leave me alone and penniless? Christine Lawson is desperate. With no money and no place to live, that forty dollar enlistment fee to join the Confederate Army is sounding better and better...too bad she is a girl.

A surprise attack, one cold night in the Alleghany Mountains, lands Private Ryan Bishop flat on the ground and thankful to be alive. But his savior turns out to be someone he never expected and finds he cannot forget.

Lynn would never learn. Left at the altar by a man she didn't love, she jumped into her car and changed her life. The accident scarred her face, but her new reality scarred her heart. It was her fiancé's brother, Max, who Lynn started to care for. But when she went to talk to him, another woman was there in his bathrobe.

It was easy to listen to Jerry and hear him profess his love for her. But it never felt right. And when Max walked up to her on the day of her wedding and told her Jerry wouldn't be there, she felt sorry for Max. It was the woman in Max's bathrobe that left with his brother.

After the accident, Max took Lynn into his home. But did he feel sorry for her? Or did his feelings run deeper?

A Petrarchan sonnet deeply rooted in classical Greek mythology: Just as Marsha's novel, A Family Matter, renders the ancient Greek Phaedra myth encompassing the love triangle of Phaedra, Hippolytus, and King Theseus in a contemporary setting, so too does this sonnet "Of Eros and Psyche" draw upon classical mythology and transport those mythical figures to a modern setting. Marsha's two sonnets included in this Love Anthology are taken from her collection of poems entitled Erato and Euterpe. It is fitting that Erato was one of the nine Muses and the patroness of Love poetry. Euterpe was another of the nine Muses and patroness of lyric poetry.

Marsha's title "Of Eros and Psyche" draws upon the archetypal Eros, who was called Amor or Cupid by the Romans, and Psyche, the bride of Eros. To go a bit deeper, Eros was the attendant of Aphrodite and often inflicted the wound of love upon mortals and deities. When Psyche was accused of betraying Aphrodite and of keeping the identity of her lover, Eros, secret, she said something that caused him to flee and not return. In order to gain Aphrodite's forgiveness and to be reunited with Eros, Psyche traveled to the underworld to seek counsel from Persephone. Eventually Eros and Psyche were reunited and dwelt together in heaven.

-EFFUSION OF DAWN by Marsha Briscoe

An Elizabethan sonnet rooted in classical mythology that deals with Aurora, the goddess of the dawn and the lover and seizer of handsome young men. Known also as Eos, Aurora presents as a charioteer with two steeds closing off the sky's darkness by heralding in the light of dawn. The sonnet's title word, Effusion, connotes an unrestrained, overflowing expression, an expression of love.

-THE ARRANGEMENT by Crystal Inman

Brendan Wardlow is a writer. That translates into questionable sanity at best. But he really starts to question himself when he finds a beautiful woman who assures him she is sent for him. Mara declares she is a Muse. His Muse. And when she's around, Brendan writes the story he has always dreamed of writing. But then he finds himself falling for Mara in a most unexpected way. She not only touches his writing, she touches his heart. But her term is temporary, and she will move on to another writer. It is the way of her people.
Brendan wants to keep her in his life. But will he give up his most cherished dream?

-FROM THE HAND OF GUINEVERE by Daniel Wilder

A contemporary Ballad depicting the early temptation of Lancelot by Queen Guinevere, wife of King Arthur, Lancelot's best friend. The growing love affair between the once chaste and pure Lancelot and his King's wife created pandemonium in Camelot. All the world knows of this forbidden love which eventually leads to Lancelot's banishment from Camelot, Guinevere's fall from grace and her final days spent in a convent, and the ultimate dissolution of King Arthur's Round Table.

-RESTORATION OF A BROKEN HEART by Barbara Baldwin

Molly Bonner, a middle-aged divorcee, decides to restart her life in the small town of River Bluff, where she buys an Ante Bellum mansion to convert to a Bed and Breakfast inn. Her contractor, Joe Austin, not only has the knowledge to restore the mansion to its former glamour, but he has the heart to help Molly regain her self-esteem and learn to love again.

-ECHO OF THE PLAINS by Kristy McCaffrey

Ecacusayet. Lightning flash. The renegade stallion known as Echo has eluded capture ever since he escaped the Ryan homestead shortly after birth. Seventeen-year-old Eli Ryan plans to change that. As his search narrows to the location of the horse's hideout, Eli nearly runs down Cassie Callahan in the Texas desert. Although an intriguing diversion, not even her compelling green eyes will deter him from his goal. But her stubborn protection of the legendary stallion just might steer him off course.

-WORTHY HEARTS by Janet Mills

Alicia Cortez lives with three men who watch over her like brothers. If he can safely navigate the gauntlet of questions Ali's friends and family inflict on every potential boyfriend, Trey Whitlock just might have a chance to win her heart.

-WHERE THE HEART IS by Barri Bryan

When Angela Murray left Paul's Valley ten years ago in the wake of heartbreak and rejection, she vowed that no matter how uncertain her life became, she would never again return to this place. After all these years of self-imposed exile, the finality of death has done what the uncertainties of life could not-it has brought her home once more, to her sister's funeral and to face her brother-in-law, Dan, who is the only man Angela has ever loved. Can she hope to mend a broken past and heal old wounds or has fate conspired with circumstance to once more snatch happiness from her grasp?

Marsha Briscoe:

QUESTION: I noticed your have 2 sonnets in this LOVE Anthology. Can you tell us a bit about your poems?

ANSWER: I have written a lot of poems and my two sonnets in the LOVE Anthology ("Of Eros and Psyche" and "Effusion of Dawn") I consider some of my best poetry. As a matter of fact, it is my sonnet "Of Eros and Psyche" which earned me the honor of being voted one of the Top Ten Best Poets in the 2001 P&E Voting Polls. That was really a thrill for me. :)

QUESTION: Why do you choose to write sonnets?

ANSWER: All my poems are written as traditional metrical poetry. Some of my poems are written in heroic couplets, others in various metrical forms. But it is the sonnet that I enjoy the most and consider the most challenging because of its compression into 14 lines, its rhyme scheme, and its meter (iambic pentameter). I write both Petrarchan (Italian) and Elizabethan sonnets. In this LOVE Anthology, one of my poems is a Petrarchan sonnet and the other is an Elizabethan sonnet. I am and always will be a traditionalist. I suppose the influence of my having taught so many college literature classes plays a big role in my choice of metrical poetry. I certainly do not discount other verse forms that are non-traditional; those have their place and speak to people in various ways. Two of my favorite poets are T.S. Eliot and William Butler Yeats. I wrote my M.A. Thesis when I was 20 years old (too many years ago to count) on "Metaphorical Structure in the Poetry of T.S. Eliot."

Playing around with imagery in poems is another of my favorite activities. Who can ever forget the opening imagistic line in John Keats' poem, "The Eve of St. Agnes": "St. Agnes Eve -- Ah, bitter chill it was!" That line from Keats' poem has been called the coldest passage in English literature. Reading Keats' poem often necessitates wrapping a blanket around oneself in order to ward off the chill. Yet it is ultimately a tale of romantic love in a rich medieval setting, remarkable for its sensuous appeal.

Finally, I love writing poetry because I love to experiment with the evocative sounds of words, the connotative power of words-especially words that evoke love in all its most meaningful forms. And I enjoy harkening back to the Greek myths because those myths, in the words of the immortal Carl Gustav Jung, embody archetypes, which as Jung so adroitly put it, tap that collective unconscious of the racial memory-"the basement of our minds".

One of my favorite poems that I've written is entitled "My Last Lover". This poem is a satirical take-off on Robert Browning's famous poem, "My Last Duchess". I wrote "My Last Lover" in heroic couplets and it has been published in various "little" magazines in past years.

A few of my poems appear in my paranormal/reincarnation romance, A STILL POINT IN TIME. The past life characters in this book are based loosely on the historical Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his beloved but doomed model, Elizabeth Siddal. Rossetti was a Victorian poet and leader of the Pre-Raphaelite movement in art. The present day 20th century hero and heroine in A STILL POINT IN TIME find themselves unwittingly intertwined in their past lives, yet they try to deny such an existence. Until, that is, the 20th century hero discovers his own uncanny writing abilities and both he and the heroine gradually accept the fact that not only their past karmic debts but also their present lives bear resemblance to the lives of an artist-poet and his beloved though doomed lover-model-wife who lived in the 1800s.

Barri Bryan:

1. What do you believe is required for strong characterization?

A: I like to think of fictional characters as imagined entities created by writers to inhabit works of fiction. Just as all elements of a real-life character are present and visible in that living, breathing entity, all elements of fiction -- point of view, plot, theme, tone and mood -- meet in the central characters of a work of fiction.

2. What is it like to write a book as a team?

A. Team writing is even more complex and demanding than writing alone because it involves collaboration which is the sharing of thoughts and beliefs and the merging of intimate feelings and personal views. There are two definitions for the word collaborate .One means to work together. The other means to cooperate with the enemy. When you team write there's a chance that you may engage in both.

Judith Fox:

1. How did you get the idea for the story "Remember"?

Living on the Pacific Northwest in the coastal city of Vancouver, Canada, I have always loved the beautiful Gulf Islands we have here. For many years I had close friends who moved to one of them. I was lucky enough to be a constant visitor to their home amongst the beautiful evergreens and mountainous terrain. Though they no longer live there I have fond memories from that time.. I feel sentimental about the islands and "Remember" depicts some of that life.

2. What are you writing about now?

My ideas for writing are not only from memories. They're also from everyday occurrences in my life. A lot of these inspirations seem to keep moving my writing back into paranormal which was also in "Remember". I have started to write a novel that is a paranormal mystery/romantic suspense. The setting is in an actual historical old mansion in the City of Vancouver. I love the old mansions in Vancouver. The mansion in my present work in progress inspires me as did the mansion in my story, Remember. The characters in these mansions are also partly creations of memories I keep.

Giovanna Lagana:

Are you working on any other stories at this time?
Only short stories for the WCP anthologies and Book 2 of "With Black & White Comes The Grey". But I am also working on a second picturebook in The Rickie The Raccoon series. This one involves teaching kids about understanding traffic lights. Angela Cater is the talented artist on this project. Once it is complete, it will be available at Writer's Exchange E-Publishing and an animated Flash version of it will also be available to teachers, libraries, schools, parents, and kids at www.mightybook.com

What's the most memorable review of your work?

There isn't really one. All the reviews have been memorable. I especially love it when a reviewer or reader writes me a personal e-mail stating that my work was a real page-turner that they couldn't put down and that they want to read other stories of mine. Who could ask for more.

Kristy McCaffrey:
Who's your favorite author?
Kristy: When I was younger my favorite author was sci-fi/fantasy writer Anne McCaffrey (no relation). I loved her Dragonriders of Pern series. My favorite romance author is Elizabeth Lowell. I named my youngest daughter after the heroine in her novel Pearl Cove--Hannah.
Why write westerns?

Kristy: Living in Pennsylvania for the past 16 years made me homesick for the west. Writing westerns gave me a great excuse to go home and do research.

Janet Mills:

Q: Are any of the characters in "Worthy Hearts" based on real people?

A: I have a dear friend who grew up with mostly males as close friends. She said it was a challenge to find a guy who would not be intimidated by that and could accept those male friendships. The idea for the heroine in "Worthy Hearts" came from this friend's experiences.

Q: How is writing short stories different from full-length novels?

A: In short stories, the author has to condense what she wants the reader to know into a much more concise format. There isn't the space to develop the characters as deeply as in a longer novel, so every word is important.

Katherine Smith:

1. When do you do most of your writing and where do you do it?

Answer: I get up very early (5:30 or so) and write until nine o'clock most days, do my housework, etc. and then write again until mid-afternoon. I like the early hour because my teens are all still in bed and the house is quiet. I write at my desk by the fireplace, with a long window to my right that overlooks Woods Lake, where we live. When I get stumped, I look out at the beautiful scenery.

2. What do you think modern writers do well...and what do you think they don't do as well as some of the classic authors we know and love?

Answer: My response to the first part is plot, plot, plot! I would categorize almost all the classic fiction I have read as character-driven (my humble opinion only) and readers now demand action more appropriate to our fast-paced modern lifestyle. I think, however, there is something to be said for the descriptive stylized writing that depicted scenes and characters so well that you fell in love with them, and their varied worlds.

Daniel Wilder:

Q: How did you decide to write this ballad?
A: I have always loved the King Arthur tales and I had just learned some new techniques on writing poetry, so I tried my hand and out came this work that people seem to like. I tried to depict a moment where Lancelot was fighting the primeval forces of passion that eventually overcame him.

Q: What other love poetry have you written?
A: Just a few simple things for my wife. Nothing that compares to this work. I'm really a science and technology nut who prefers to write stories. I have a few short stories that I would like to develop further, and I have a published novel from Whiskey Creek Press entitled IMPACT VECTOR. Currently, I'm more interested in creating sequels, and even a prequel, to this novel.

Diane M. Wylie: (Choose any two from these below for Diane):

1. Can you tell me a little about yourself?

Well, let me see... I consider myself to be a scientifically-minded romantic, if there can be such a thing. I received my Bachelor of Science from Cook College at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Yes, I am originally a Jerseyite, but now live with my husband and two children in Maryland. I have been a veterinary technician, cancer research technician, high school biology teacher, but now I am a technical writer for a scientific instrument company. So that is my science side.

I must have inherited my romantic side. My father was always a hopeless romantic, so I guess it rubbed off on me. My romantic side also comes from the loving relationship I have with my husband of 25 years. He is very supportive of my writing and I will always be grateful to him.

2. How long have you been writing and why did you start to write?

I have been a technical writer for 23 years, but only began writing fiction five years ago. As my children grew older and demanded less and less of my time, I began to read more and more. Gradually it occurred to me that I could do what these authors were doing-or at least I could try-so I did.

3. I know you write historical romance. Why did you choose this genre? Do you write in any other genres?

I chose to write historical romance primarily because it is one of my favorite genres to read when done well. Although they are harder to find, I think that romances dealing with American history are the best kind. I like to learn a little something when I read as well being entertained.

I have also written romantic suspense. In fact, if any of your readers are interested, you can sign up for my newsletter at my website (http://www.dianewylie.com) and receive my first novel, a romantic suspense, for free. I am offering serialized installments of free novel is called A DIFFERENT KIND OF OUTLAW and features a hunky racecar driver.

4. Tell me a little about your book -MY ENEMY, MY LOVE.

My first published book, MY ENEMY, MY LOVE, brings us back to the topic of historical romance. It is the book of my heart. The Civil War period has been a favorite of mine since I first saw Gone with the Wind. I have done a lot of research on the time period, visited battlefields, and attended reenactments. But most of the Civil War romances I read left me slightly dissatisfied. The primary emphasis always seemed to be on the Southern Belle. What about the soldiers, the ones who went into battle and gave their lives for their country? So I set out to write a story that told of the soldier's emotions and heartache along with a woman's agony over the potential loss of her beloved. As anyone who has read the story of David and Jenny will tell you, I go deeply into the emotions of both characters through their struggle to survive this devastating period in their lives and find love for each other.

5. This is probably a question most people ask - but what comes first for you - character or plot?

What if I were to tell you both? When I write it is like a movie is running through my head. Scenes and backgrounds, characters and dialog, actions and emotion all come into view as the story progresses. I have no idea when a new character or a plot twist will occur until it happens.

6. What's your biggest challenge when writing - hooks, sagging middles, other?

My biggest challenge is the end of a book. Sure, romances need a happily ever after kind of ending, but to me these characters take on a life of their own...and, as everyone knows, the story of someone's life doesn't end...it continues with their children and grandchildren. So, I have a hard time letting go of the characters and ending the story.

7. Do you have a routine for writing? And if you do can you share it with us?

Since I work full time during the day, most of my writing is done in the evenings or on weekends. After the dinner dishes are done, I'll pull out my laptop, power it up, and start writing with a cup of green tea beside me, usually surrounded by printouts and books on the Civil War.

8. How do you fit in reading, research, online lists, etc.?

I read for pleasure when I am not in the mood to write or when sitting in a waiting room or other places where there are short periods of down time.

I do my research as I write. If I need to know what the men ate in Andersonville Prison, for example, I stop writing and go find out, either through my books or the internet. I can't continue the story until I get the facts straight.

I am addicted to email, I'll admit it. Whenever I need to stretch my legs, I run upstairs to my PC, which is connected to the internet, and read and respond to emails.

9. What kind of books do you enjoy reading? And who are your favorite writers?

My favorite books are historical romances and romantic suspense. My all time favorite authors are Diana Gabaldon, Suzzane Brockman, and LaVryle Spencer.

10. Do you spend much time marketing? And what do you feel works best for you?

I am still learning the marketing aspect of the business. There are many things that I have been trying to see what will work.

11. For all those aspiring writers out there who are looking for that magic formula - do you
have any suggestions for them?

I wish I had a magic formula for aspiring writers. All I can tell them is, don't give up. Keep learning and keep submitting. Somewhere, sometime it will happen for you.

12. What do you do for fun and relaxation?

Remember, I work all day with scientists and engineers, so reading and writing romance is my means to escape the everyday world. I also like to garden, take walks, go to auto races with my family, and meet my friends someplace fun. Shopping, flea markets, and craft shows are also lots of fun.

13. Is there something about yourself that you'd feel comfortable sharing with your readers that maybe, not many people know?

Not too many of my author friends and readers know that I am an identical twin. Maybe someday I will write a novel about twins. Every piece of fiction that I have read so far, with twins as characters, really doesn't do justice to the experience. My twin sister and I are very close. Nobody understands my inner workings like she does. I wish that everyone could experience the special kind of bond that I have with my wombmate...there is nothing like it.