The Sequels

Before Stolen Destiny, my first novel I plan to publish, I wrote a few other stories and one complete book.  That one is sitting patiently waiting for me to return, but that might just be the book that is supposed to just be and nothing else.  When I began that book, I didn't have any plans other than to write down what had come to me one night.  And that's exactly what I did.  The story just flowed out of me, and I enjoyed completing that book a great deal. 

But then one morning as I was taking a shower an idea for a sort of beauty and the beast type story came to me, and I quickly raced out of the bathroom, soaking wet and dripping all over the place, to jot down some ideas that had been dancing around in my head as I washed my hair.  (I know.  It's a bit weird, but this is the way things come to me, even concerning my day job.) 

From those jottings came the book Stolen Destiny.  It didn't end up as a beauty and the beast variation, but that's how it started.  And that book flowed even better than the first had.  I would get home as quickly as possible from work to get back to it because I'd have ideas popping around in my brain all day while I was supposed to be teaching freshmen history.  I could barely keep up with the ideas!

As I was finishing the book, I knew I wanted to write a sequel that would focus on one of the characters who didn't get a HEA.  He was so wonderful to write because he was the villain that I couldn't just let him fade away into the sunset, so I planned on getting back to him later.  First, I had another sequel idea that I wanted to get to.

But anyone who knows me can tell you that I rarely am able to just do one thing at a time and before I knew it, I had ideas for both sequels.  So now, almost three months later, sequel two is about half way completed, and sequel three is about 2/5 completed.  And each day the ideas keep coming so I race home to write, just as I did with Stolen Destiny.

Paranormal Romance

There are many types of romance, but paranormal has become very popular recently.  I know I love a good vampire story, but I've also been enjoying stories about angels too. And a good shapeshifter is always welcome. 

I chose to create a new race of beings because I had an idea but didn't see how it fit with any established being.  However, this has made some people think my stories, Stolen Destiny and the two others I'm writing-Broken Destiny and Destiny Renewed-are fantasy or science fiction.  They definitely are not! 

Paranormal romance is focused on the romance and has elements of the fantastic included.  Fantasy is focused on what could happen in this world or any other world, while science fiction is focused on what can happen based on the available science and its applications.

There is no science in my books, but there is a lot of romance.  There are elements of the fantastic in some of my characters, particularly since one possesses the power to manipulate time and others have the powers of telepathy and teleportation.  But those powers are never the focus of the story.  They are simply part of the characterization.  In addition, my characters live numerous lives through reincarnation.  This allows me to create a history for each character that is limited only by where I want to take them.  So one lived a life in the Roman Empire and 18th century England, while another lived in 19th century revolutionary Mexico. While these experiences are shown only through their memories, it allows me to create layered heroes and heroines (along with villains!) who are so very interesting.

What's at the heart of my stories is the relationship between two people, who while they aren't human, are very similar to human beings.  They live their lives, searching for happiness, and dealing with the issues that all people deal with. Well, not just like the rest of us since this is romantic fiction. ;)

I find for now the paranormal sub genre of romance is where I like to write.  I enjoy being able to place my characters in situations that allow the use of the supernatural because while they are extraordinary, they are still very easy for readers to relate to.

My blog

Welcome to my blog!  This is where I plan to discuss my writing. I write in the romance genre, specifically paranormal romance for now.   I have completed my first novel and am currently working on my second.  (Actually, I've written a number of stories, but these are the ones I feel ready to release to the world.) Now it's a matter of which way to go with publishing.  That I haven't decided yet.  But I'm loving the responses I've been getting from readers so far, so I feel very good about this, no matter how I choose to go about publishing my book.

My first book is entitled Stolen Destiny and is a romance that's set in a number of locations but mainly in a small town in New York called New Hope.  I've created a group of characters that would be considered paranormal because they live longer than humans and have mates they're drawn to, in addition to some of them having abilities above and beyond human abilities. 

I first considered writing about vampires because I enjoy them so much, but the idea for these books came to me one night in a dream last year. (I know.  A bit cliched, but it really did happen that way.)  I woke up one morning and felt like I had to write the idea down. I never write anything from my dreams down when I wake up, but this seemed important.  And within weeks, I was deep into the story.  I finished the first book in November, and then I began writing the current one. 

So now I find myself carving out time to write where I thought I had no time before.  It's strange how when you find something you love there is suddenly all the time in the world for it.