[close] Let’s start at the beginning.
I never used to read romance novels. I didn’t read my first one until after I had completed a degree in English Literature and was extremely burnt out from reading heavy classics for three years. It was my own fault of course. Novel study had always been my favorite part of my English education (as opposed to poetry or plays), so in my final year, I foolishly signed up for mostly all novel courses and found myself in the impossible situation of having to read a “big” classic almost every week. Needless to say, I needed a break, and my cousin, Michelle, handed me a very appetizing-looking book and said, “Here, try this.” It was “Dawnfire” by Lynn Erickson, which I devoured in two days, and I’ve been hooked on romance ever since.

(Looking back on it now, I realize that my heart was always destined for a love affair with the romance genre, though in my scholarly days I didn’t know it. As it was, my decision to major in English was all the fault of a dark and brooding hero named Rochester. Charlotte Bronte was perhaps my most effective guidance counselor ever.)

After two years of trying to find myself - or rather, trying to find a career that would make me happy - I decided I should have a “real job” so I went back to university to study something practical: Accounting. I completed a degree in Business Administration and went to work for the Office of the Auditor General (with the Canadian government) while I continued to work towards a Chartered Accountancy designation.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t cut out to be an auditor. I just didn’t care enough about those numbers matching up. That’s when I decided to try to write a romance, because hey, it had to be easier than Corporate Income Tax, right? (I was wrong, but that’s another debate....)

So I sat down a month before my wedding and wrote the first paragraph of a book that never sold, which took me a year to write because I was lugging my laptop home from work and doing it only on the weekends (while avoiding studying for that Corporate Tax course I mentioned earlier).



Romance Writers of America came into the equation shortly after I finished that first book. I saw best-selling author, Jo Beverley, on a local television show in Ottawa, where I was living at the time, and she was president of a romance writers’ group. I called the number on the screen right away, and that’s when my education really began, and my goal of becoming a Chartered Accountant began to fade. Quitting that career path -- after so many years invested -- was a tough thing to do, but my husband, bless his heart, was supportive and wanted me to be happy.

I quit my job, took a whole year off to do nothing but write and learn to write, then we moved and bought a house and a baby was on the way, so I took another year off and finished another manuscript (two weeks before going into labor) and that manuscript, I’m happy to say, did sell. Prairie Bride was my first published novel. I’ve been a happy, fulfilled stay-at-home Mom and a devoted romance writer ever since.
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