I love writing. I mean, except when it’s killing me, but deep inside, there’s something potent and powerful that keeps moving, and keeps me writing, and keeps me loving it. I also love readers. And not just ‘my’ readers, the readers who written to say they’ve loved my books and the ones who’ve loved them in silence, although I have to admit, I have a special spot in my heart for you. But I’m talking all readers. I love readers. I love that just the idea of a good book excites a reader. I love how she absolutely must share her favorite books with others; it’s like a little treasure hunt, and there’s that little sense of pride when she’s the one who can turn her friends on to it. I love how she is willing to be so moved by written words, how she lets the words and ideas and emotions slip into her like steam. I love how she’s willing to be immersed. I love how her face shifts and moves as she reads, reflecting the emotions of the story. I love how readers keep giving themselves over to Story, again and again. It’s such a generous thing…

In his memoir, I WANTED TO WRITE, Kenneth Roberts, famous for his bestselling historical novels of the American northeast, pointed out (quite rightly) that: “Historians have a great advantage over a novelist in that they can state a supposed fact without explaining it…An historian can announce that a hitherto unmentioned Indian suddenly appeared in the ranks of a lost and bewildered [army] detachment and guided it to safety; he is not required to explain how the Indian got there, or who he was, or why he hadn’t acted as a guide before the detachment was lost. The novelist can’t be so mysterious. “An historian can state that an army has provisions for only fifteen days; then coolly permit that army to exist for twice that length of time without explaining the miracle. A novelist must find out how the army escaped starvation, and explain it to the complete satisfaction of the reader. Otherwise his story doesn’t, as the saying goes, hold water. Each omission is a hole in his tale. Most histories are filled with holes and leak like sieves.” Filling these holes can be one of the greatest challenges I face when writing a book like THE WINTER SEA,…

Some things in life age well. Wine. Scotch. Men and women with good bones and healthy physiques. Well-crafted furniture. Master paintings. And books. Yes, I said books. As I’ve been updating seventeen of my backlist titles for reissue in the coming year, I must say with shameless lack of humility that my books do age well. Going back to my first novel published in 1994, THE RELUCTANT VIKING , I have been reviewing them page by page, looking for errors, modernizing the content (Hey, Dolly Parton would not be considered the epitome of sexy lady today; nor would Kevin Costner, nor, God forbid! Mel Gibson, appeal to the younger reader). In the process of these new readings, I have been remarkably surprised at how enjoyable they are, even after all these years. And one added plus is that I get to make changes I deem necessary which has resulted in a major do-ever. I am “unkilling” two secondary characters in MY FAIR VIKING (now retitled THE VIKING’S CAPTIVE, January, 2011). Selik and Rain were the hero and heroine of THE OUTLAW VIKING, but I had them die in MY FAIR VIKING a few years later. Readers were outraged. So, voila!…

Awhile back, in the course of a fairly long series for Steeple Hill Love Inspired, I introduced some Amish minor characters, wondering what my editor would say about that. She responded, “You know that Amish thing? Do that more.” So, since I’m in the habit of saying yes to editors, probably in reaction to all those years when they were saying no to me, I agreed. It wasn’t difficult to write about the Amish, since my family is of Pennsylvania Dutch heritage and I’ve spent my life in rural Pennsylvania, where the Plain sects are very common. I also have several friends who grew up Plain, and I welcomed the opportunity to showcase that world in my fiction. Why is Amish fiction so popular? That’s the million dollar question. Based on the letters I receive from readers, I’d say that the books help feed a longing for a simpler lifestyle. Haven’t you ever wished you could get rid of the constant pressure and demand for interaction posed by e-mail, Facebook, cell phones, twenty-four hour news channels, and all the rest? The books allow readers to visit a society which gets along very nicely without all those things. It’s also a…

Shhh. Come closer, I’m going to tell you a secret. My next book isn’t a romance. And it’s not erotic. And it’s not also “new”. PRECIOUS AND FRAGILE THINGS began its life as a book called Three Months, and I wrote it long before I wrote anything most of my readers would be familiar with. In fact, I wrote it when my own children were the ages of the heroine’s children, (two and five), and now I have a teenager and a pre-teen. So while it might seem like a real departure or something brand-new to readers who’ve been good enough to follow me so far, the truth is that I’ve always written books that weren’t romance or erotic — they just weren’t the books that ended up being published. Well, until now. I’m thrilled to see PRECIOUS AND FRAGILE THINGS finally reach the shelves. It’s a book that had a lot of personal meaning for me both when I wrote it originally and later when I revised it for publication. Sometimes authors talk about the &mquot;book of their hearts,&mquot; and Precious and Fragile Things certainly meets those requirements. I wrote it before I had an audience, a blog, a…

As a kid, I shared a bedroom with three siblings. The other three wanted the hall light turned off at night, I wanted it kept on because I was afraid of the dark. The solution was for me to lie awake every night until the other three fell asleep, then go turn the stinkin’ thing on. I was that afraid of the dark. In fact, I slept with a light on well into adulthood. I used to say I had a wonderful imagination for terrible things. Growing up, we didn’t have a TV until I was well into school age, and then the rule was no TV on school nights. This was a good thing on general principles, most especially because “Lost In Space” and “Dark Shadows” kept me sufficiently terrified. There is no telling what I would have done with “Twilight Zone” re-runs or late night helpings of “Creature Feature Theatre.” I knew I shouldn’t watch those shows, but again, one TV, six siblings, and most of them older than me… So I spent a lot of nights being afraid of the tree branch shadows on the bedroom curtains. They looked like dinosaurs and demons… I was afraid of…

When writing a series, fresh is definitely the name of the game! WOLF FEVER has just been released so for the blog tour, that’s my focus. But at the same time, HEART OF THE HIGHLAND WOLF is up on Amazon for pre-orders (book 7) and I’m waiting approval for DREAMING OF THE WOLF (book 8), plus I’m working on book 9 right now, THE WOLF AND THE SEAL. While I’m writing all these books, I continually think about how each can be a really different story so that readers hopefully won’t be shaking their heads and saying: same story, changed character names, but nothing new and different. As an author of a series, we have to really strive to make each of them unique. In the making of WOLF FEVER, I wanted to write Carol’s story since so many fans loved her in DESTINY OF THE WOLF and asked to see more of her. She’s strong and courageous and sensitive—trying to save others at risk to herself. And smart and determined, too, as a nurse who won’t back down to anyone. She’s caught the eye of a gray wolf leader, Chester Ryan McKinley, from another Colorado town. Now he says…

LIKE CLOCKWORK, a novel containing murder, mayhem, espionage, inventions, romance and steam. The term steampunk is a wide umbrella these days that encompasses many types of stories. Some lean more toward the paranormal, others toward alternate history with gadgetry. The elements that seem to be essential to classifying a story as steampunk are a sense of Victorian style, make-believe inventions based on steam power and intricate gadgets with a lot of moving pieces. At least that’s my interpretation. There are plenty of articles out there which are more in depth about what defines steampunk. When I decided to try to tackle the genre, I wanted to focus on how an amazing new invention could wreak havoc on society by eliminating jobs and causing an even greater schism between the classes. I came up with the idea of mechanical clockwork people taking the place of the laboring class. One of my favorite romance themes is a couple overcoming social barriers. The idea of a radical extremist kidnapping a scientist to draw attention to his cause was born. In order for this romance, which begins with a kidnapping, to be believable I knew Victoria Waters would have to be a very special…

“We’re working on a murder together…” Lady on a Train, 1945 I’m not sure why but, for me, romance and murder go hand-in-hand. That’s probably the result of a youth misspent watching a lot of black and white movies. You know the kind of thing. Lots of snappy dialog and meaningful looks, great clothes, wonderful old cars, and a certain freewheeling attitude where the law was concerned. In fact, sometimes the line between the good guys and the bad was fascinatingly narrow. Anyway, very few of those vintage mystery films were without some kind of romance — even if it ended very badly indeed. Not that romance isn’t exciting all on its own, but it does certainly up the ante if you’re running for your life or accused of a crime you didn’t commit or faced with the most perplexing puzzle of your life. It’s not that most romance novels just don’t have enough plot for me — well, maybe that is what I’m saying. I know that’s not true, because I’ve read plenty of romances that are stuffed with plot and conflict, both internal and external. Maybe it’s because I personally have trouble of thinking of a plot that…

The Christmas season is one of my favorite times of the year, so I was thrilled when Harlequin Intrigue published my latest book, THE SPY WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS. Of course, as an Intrigue, THE SPY WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS puts a very different spin on the season. More gunfire than mistletoe, more car chases than sleigh rides. No matter what the season, Harlequin Intrigue promises an action-packed thrill ride, with an equal focus on two characters in danger falling headlong into love. Passion in all its forms. I wanted to fulfill that promise by putting a twist on the traditional things that mean “Christmas” to me. First and foremost, that’s family. Children bring the magic to the holidays. They are the sparkle. They’re the tinsel on the tree, the happy note in the carols, the whipped cream on the hot chocolate. People say that scent is the sense linked most closely to memory, and that’s certainly true for me when it comes to the holidays. Whenever I smell bread or cookies baking in the oven, I’m immediately brought back to my childhood Christmases. Something about the toasty flour aroma mingling with the hint of caramelizing sugar makes me feel warm and…