I’ve been accused as writing as many other people, and most of those people are really good writers, so it was so gratifying! How I wish I were so prolific! But no . . . it’s just me alone writing my Shannon McKenna novels. No mystery extras.

I sold my first novella in 2001. So exciting!

Well—if you mean favorite formative romance books, I would have to say that Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick/Jayne Castle, Linda Howard and Elizabeth Lowell are the three authors that made me want to become a writer. They saved my bacon when I was in my twenties, lost and drifting and more or less penniless. I would hang out in bookstores and read those authors’ romances straight through while standing right there in the aisles, just to get that endorphin hit so I could make it through my day.

I wanted to pay it forward, give that magic back. I feel like I’ve succeeded when I get one of those wonderful letters from a reader saying that I helped her through her mastectomy or helped her through a terrible divorce, or whatever. That makes me happy and proud. I’m so grateful to those writers and many others for performing that mood-lifting sorcery for me over the years! It’s true magic. I’m delighted to deal professionally in magic. It’s what I dreamed of as a kid. I just never dreamed that it would be such hard work.

Then there are favorite all-time books from my childhood. Anne Of Green Gables, the entire series by L.M. Montgomery, Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings trilogy, and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, hands down. I re-read those books all the time. They make me cry every time.

I sure do—I’m married to a guy there! Check out the romantic tale right here.

Well, let me first just say that I wish for the sake of all you lovable readers who have responded with such warmth and enthusiasm to my books that I could shower more of them upon your heads right now! I swear, I’m not being coy. I just have a cumbersome process that involves a lot of handwriting. I keep trying to upgrade myself, but nothing seems to work like a juicy black ballpoint pen, a nice, slippery, leaky one. My scribbling chair is covered with ink-stains and so are my favorite jeans. I do keep trying to speed this process up, though, because there are so many stories that I want to write!

I take your impatience as the compliment that it truly is. It energizes me. So thanks.