I thought readers might be interested in tracking the evolution of my brand new series. I’d been happily writing the Caribou Crossing Romances, set in the interior of British Columbia, but after eight titles I was ready for a change of scene. Where better than my favorite spot for boating, the Gulf Islands near Victoria, British Columbia? I developed a series concept, with synopses for the first two books. Then, to give my pitch punch, I created a “one-sheet,” even including photos of the locale. Here’s what it looks like. My pitch centered on a fictional island that I called Destiny—Where finding love is a matter of destiny! Here’s what I said about the setting. Destiny, a tiny island in the Pacific Northwest, is blessed with craggy bluffs, forested hills, secret coves, and meadows dotted with wildflowers. The locals are individuals—make that eccentrics!—reflecting the island’s history of aboriginal people, loggers and fishermen, African-American and Japanese immigrants, hippies, artists, boaters, and escapees from the city. The picturesque town of Blue Moon Harbor provides the necessities of life for residents as well as attractions for tourists. When you meet your love on Destiny, life will never be the same. Well, my editor…

Military heroes are the twofer of romance. They fit the bill of a romantic lead with their alpha ways, rugged good looks, and heroic ways, and provide the double whammy of bad-ass protector. And yet despite the box we attempt to put them in, there are lots of different versions and interpretations of them. So, who would be my favorite military heroes? You would think picking them would be easy, but it wasn’t. Here goes: First up would be Kimberly Kincaid’s Kellan Walker from SKIN DEEP, the first in her Station Seventeen series. He is a scorching hot hero who is a tough-as-nails former army ranger. I love this story because of Kellan’s continued commitment to service through his dedication to his community as a firefighter once he leaves the military. When he’s not fighting fires, he’s fighting his attraction to for the sexy detective who he thinks botched a case that was supposed to keep his sister safe. But as with every great romance, nothing is ever as simple as it seems, and Kellan has to work with her to stop a ruthless killer, despite the sparks that fly between the two of them. If you love Keanu Reeves…

The Infinity Division series follows a group of teens who have the ability to travel between dimensions via a very special device. Each place they go is Earth—generally within their own town of Wells—but a different reality. The differences are sometimes minor—sometimes monumental. The best part of doing a series like this is the variety. The setting is always changing. I can work within the same town, yet have a completely different set of rules. The characters are always changing. Some of my favorite moments from Omega are when the main cast encounters alternate versions of people they knew back home. In some cases they’re so hilariously different. In other instances, it’s almost heartbreaking. There’s more dimension hopping—or, skipping, as Cade would say—in Omega. There are an infinite number of realities, and unlike in Infinity (which took place solely on Kori’s world), our heroes visit multiple ones in this book. The ideas for these different realities came to me from various sources. Some were worlds I’d love to see—like the world where everything was flavored with chocolate or the one with no cars. Everyone got around on horseback, yet they were all sporting massive computer tech. Others came from conversations…

It’s time for me to make a confession: I hate writing villains. As an author who delights in heists and capers and romantic suspense-y twists, you’d think nothing would make me happier than to create a big, bad villain for the hero and heroine to take down. Good triumphs over evil! Love rules the day! Happily ever after for all! While I do love a good HEA and the thought of a bad guy getting his due, this is a part of the storytelling process I struggle with quite a bit. Usually, it’s because I grow to love all my characters too much—even the dastardly ones. (Most of the time, I especially love the dastardly ones.) I like to think this is a natural side effect of writing realistic, compelling villains. Instead of just being an incarnation of evil, they have motives and feelings and flaws, are three-dimensional characters in their own right. In fact, every villain should be the hero of his own story…it’s just that this particular book isn’t his story. Yet. It’s not just my own books I feel this way about, either. Some of my favorite book, movie, and TV characters of all time rest on…