I’ve been writing for a long time now and have been published with Harlequin/Mills & Boon since 2012. I write contemporary romance – and even with deadlines and late nights and the occasional staring at a blank page – I truly love every word I get to write. What I adore about the romance genre is the diversity in the storytelling. The cultural diversity, historical diversity, books with elements of faith, the suspense, medical romance, the paranormal, fantasy…there is so much to choose from as a reader, and so many ways to be a storyteller as an author. I write for Harlequin Special Edition – a home and heart series that has a strong focus on the central couple, but also on the sense of community within the pages. There can be minor characters – like the meddling mother, the cute kids who want their parent to find a happy-ever-after, the nosey neighbor who wickedly stirs up trouble, and even a four-legged character who adds another dimension to the story. But at the core, is a love story about two people who simply have to be together. Whenever I start with an idea for a new story, I usually start…

I was at my day job the other week and got talking to someone about dreams. And goals. He asked me what I did outside my day job and when I told him I was a romance author he quickly started asking me questions—how long had I been writing? Was it hard to get published? How did it feel now I was published? This gentleman was now retired but had worked in customer service all his life and he said very quietly that it was never his dream job. I asked him what was and he stilled for a moment, tilted his head and said, “I would have liked to make furniture.” He said he’d loved carpentry since he was a boy. He said he loved spending time in his workshop, but then admitted that when he started crafting a piece he never finished it. He said his workshop was cluttered with half made tables and chairs, hall stands and a carved four poster bed. I asked him why he didn’t finish his pieces and he couldn’t tell me. Which of course made me curious and I dug a little deeper and before I knew it we were having a…