What do you write?

I’m beginning to think about this question. Odd for someone who’s been writing for (cough, cough, cough) years and has been published since 2004! But as I’m beginning to pull my marketing weight for the new anthology in which I’ve got a story, I’m thinking about this question.

The anthology, Tales From The Mist, is filled with horror and paranormal stories. It’s loads of fun, a really great read (I can say this because mine is only one of twelve amazing stories). Some of the stories are spooky or a little creepy. None are really horrific, but they’re all amazing in their own way.

Considering that all I’ve ever published and shown to the world are Regency romances, the story I’ve got in Tales From The Mist is really different. I mean, really, really (as Shrek would say – sorry, I’ve been watching that movie too much lately, but that’s another story). My addition to the anthology is the story of Lilith, Adam’s first wife. Could you get any further from Regency romance? Yes, as a matter of fact, you can. It’s written in the first person, from Lilith’s point of view. And she’s got a really strong, different voice, I can tell you. If you’ve read any of my books, you know what my voice sounds like. This sounds nothing like that because Lilith’s got such a strong voice.

This is one reason why I had such a great time writing this story. It just poured out of me. It was so different. So much fun. I got to inhabit (or was inhabited by) this strong, decisive woman who knew her own mind and acted on it. She left Adam! She told him to f*&^ off and left the Garden of Eden (oh, yes, she uses foul language). She moved in with the demon, Samael (ok, she didn’t know he was a demon when she moved in with him, but still…). When I say she’s strong, I mean it – she shows only a few moments of weakness is the whole story. This is not to say that the heroines of my Regencies are weak. They’re not. Some are very strong. But there’s something about Lilith that’s very different. You’re just going to have to read it once it comes out (on October17th).

The point is, although my heart lies in the Regency, I’m more than just a writer of Regency romances. I’ve got a trilogy of young adult stories set in medieval times that I’ve been trying to finish for nearly a year now – the first two are finished, the third is stalled. L But they are, again, not Regency. They’re not even romances, although there is a romantic element in the story, it’s not the focus. They’re young adult fantasy, pure and simple.

So what is this? Why aren’t I sticking with what I know? Why don’t I continue writing what I’ve already proven I can write? Well, for the same reason why I rarely read two books of the same genre right after each other. For the same reason why I don’t eat the same type of food day after day (tonight’s dinner may be Italian, tomorrow Chinese, the night after that Indian). I get bored. I get bored of reading (or eating) the same thing. I crave variety.

And so, too,  with my writing. I write different things. Different genres or different takes on the same – as my last Regency has a paranormal element to it. Am I moving in a definite direction? I don’t know. Maybe. I’m definitely writing more fantasy than history, but then again, I’ve got the sequel to Magic In The Storm brewing in my head and that’s definitely history (although, with the same paranormal twist).  Who knows which way my interest will take me next. I’m curious to find out.