UPDATE: The winner is…Cindy!
*~*~*

Although I wrote my first romance in the eighth grade, I didn’t take up a pen seriously until ten years later.  In my senior year in university, I enrolled in a creative writing class.  I was in my literature phase and wanted to write a series of short stories for a collection.  Classic Canadian dramatic and dreary short stories.  My professor said, “No. You must write a novel.”

I was like…huh?

Interestingly, my friend had introduced me to Harlequin the year before, sharing some of her favorite books.  At the time, I didn’t realize those two passions would meld—writing and romance.

I never finished that book I started all those years ago—although I haven’t given up on it.  In grad school the next year, I started a different book.  Then, while working as a cinema manager, I started my next book. When I was working at a call center, I came up with another idea and started that book.

Another decade passed.  I was nearly forty and had a bunch of half-started manuscripts and a dream to write a book for Harlequin.  I said to myself, “If not now, then when?”

That became my mantra.

Another decade has passed.  I still haven’t landed a Big 5 contract.  Instead, I’ve carved out an amazing career as a hybrid author.  I write for a small press that nurtures me, publishes my books, and works with me to get them into the hands of readers.  I just signed my fifteenth contract with them, so something must be working.

I write a lot of words each year, though, and I realized quickly they couldn’t publish all of them.  I also had half a decade’s worth of completed, but unedited, manuscripts.  I found an amazing freelance editor whom I basically keep on retainer because she’s pretty much always got something of mine on her desk.  With the help of some friends at The Creative Academy for Writers, I learned about indie publishing.  Now, more than half my projects are self-published.

So, what does that mean?

18 novels, 15 novellas, 19 short stories, and 15 audios published in five years.  Now, some of that was written before I published my first short story in June 2019, but many of those words have come in the years since.

Basically, I love writing. I take great joy in sitting at my desk, with my puppers by me, and creating worlds.  I adore connecting books—through series, locations, and across pennames.  I’m happy to sign up for charity anthologies, shared worlds, and themed books.  I write MM, MMM, MMF, FFM, FF, and MF.  In other words: love without limits. I write steamy, erotic, mid-heat, and sweet.  I’ve written contemporary, paranormal, and historical.  I have yet to meet a challenge I haven’t tackled and conquered.

I know I have fewer years ahead of me than behind, but I intend to keep creating stories that connect with readers.  Sharing my passion for all flavors of romance.

Contest

Comment for a chance to win a download of my first Gaynor Beach book, Hugh, or another backlist book if you already have that one!