Hey everyone! I’m really excited to be here blogging with you! I thought it might be fun to reveal to you the top three questions I’m most often asked by readers. Starting at number three: What made you want to become a romance writer? The answer is, my love of books. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love books. As a kid I loved Nancy Drew. Thanks to Nancy I wanted to solve crimes, travel to exotic locations, and find a guy like Ned Nickerson—smart, loyal, and heroic. I also loved the Cherry Ames series. Thanks to Cherry I wanted to join the Army and be a nurse. Then came Vicki Barr, the airline stewardess (bet you can’t guess what I then wanted to be??). Then I graduated to Agatha Christie and my family was grateful that those books didn’t inspire me to become a criminal, although reading about Miss Marple did inspire me to learn how to knit—not with very good results, I’m afraid. I managed to eek out one very crooked, bunched up scarf and half of an argyle sock. (have you ever tried to knit an argyle sock??? There’re like 12 bobbins hanging off the needles—nothing but knots, it gave me cramps and stress and ugh—awful. But I digress:) .
As a teenager, I discovered romance novels, which inspired my romantic imagination. I spent hours lost in the glamorous worlds those romance authors created. Even my favorite mysteries soon became the ones that had a romantic element weaved into them. Looking back, I can see how all these book influenced by future career choice. As a teenager, I was a candy striper at the local hospital for four years—a very rewarding experience that proved beyond any doubt that I did not want a nursing career. I spent two years during college in Army ROTC. A rewarding experience that proved beyond any doubt that I did not want an Army career. (are you seeing a pattern here?). After college, I spent the next ten years working in the airline industry—thank you, Vicki Barr–not as a flight attendant, but I still got to visit those exotic locales Nancy Drew had planted in my mind. And even though I never dated anyone named Ned, thanks to my romantic notions, I did manage to find that smart, loyal, heroic guy. After loving romances so much for so many years, a light bulb finally blinked on in my brain and I wondered if I could actually write one myself. Turns out—after much trial and error—that I could.
The number two question readers ask me is: Where do I get my ideas. The answer is: everywhere—TV, newspapers, radio, songs, overheard conversations. Everything is fodder. Don’t say you haven’t been warned. 🙂
And the number one question I am most often asked by readers is: What is the best thing I’ve ever written. I always answer this question the same way: The best thing I’ve ever written is “the end.” For the writer in me, there is no greater sense of accomplishment than typing those two words 400 some-odd pages later. It’s a euphoric feeling (always accompanied by a boatload of tears!) of Yes! I did it! Unfortunately, soon after that euphoric feeling, reality thumps me on the head and I recall that now that I’ve typed “the end”, I’m going to have to do some laundry because my family has named the mound of accumulated dirty clothes “Mount D’Alessandro.”
Well, those are my top three questions—and I’m hoping you’ll have more for me! And I have three for all of you: 1) What was the first romance you ever read? 2) What are your top five fave books of all time (doesn’t have to be romance), and 3) If you could have dinner with any person (be they dead or alive, famous or not), who would it be?
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