Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Bio

It's hard to believe that 24 years--over two decades!--have passed since I first told my husband, "I'm going to finally try to do it: I'm going to try to become a published author."

At the time I was 30 years old, a young wife, and the mother of a 5 1/2-year-old and a 2-year old, plus a secretary at a brokerage house. We were living in Union City, New Jersey. Total newby, I didn't have any idea what I was doing, only that I'd loved to write and tell stories since I was a kid, and I really wanted to share my work with readers. I proudly bought my first copy of THE WRITER'S MARKET and used it daily.

For the first five years I sold nothing. Nada. Kept writing, collected oodles of rejection letters, some very impressive, cried a lot, got to know (and stalked) our wonderful mailman, Joe. I wanted to quit just about every other day, but by God's grace, I just kept going.

Then, in 1995, I sold my first story to True Confessions magazine. A sale to True Love followed. The writing bug really bit me then, and in total the magazines published somewhere over 100 of my short stories. I was later hired by one of the editors and became the Associate Editor of True Romance magazine, a job I loved and that ultimately prepared me for the day when I would become--well, getting ahead of myself.

In 1997, I got "The Call" from Avalon Books, which published my first book, RUMOR HAS IT. Two years later I sold AND THEN CAME YOU to Kensington Publishing's Bouquet line. The book was nominated for the 1999 Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for Best Bouquet. I also was one of the first authors for Kensington's Encanto, their Latina romance line, as Consuelo Vazquez. SALSA KISS, the first of my Encantos, was serialized on Univision.com. SEA SIREN, which I have obtained the rights to and republished, was among my Encanto books, as well as LEADING LADY, SECOND CHANCE FIANCE and IN YOUR ARMS.

Along the way, I also became a YA author--seeing the publication of THE GHOST OF LITTLE BAY, a middle-grade ghost mystery, and SUBURBAN VAMPIRES, a romantic comedy with teenaged vampires. New Concepts Publishing published THE COP & THE MERMAID and other romances, and I also have had the pleasure of working with Melange Books.

Then, in 2011, I self-published GLIMMERS OF HEAVEN, my first Christian/inspirational romance. That was a turning point for me, the year I became an indie author/publisher. Since then, I have written and published 'TWAS THE SPY BEFORE CHRISTMAS, THE LARKSPUR VALLEY SERIES, CHAMPAGNE TASTE, ONE SWEET DAY and several other novels and novellas. With a lot more to come, too.

I look back at this journey that I began 24 years ago, at how much publishing has changed since I submitted my first story, and all the doors of possibility that indie publishing has opened to me, and I count myself as being very blessed to be a writer in this time in history. In retrospect, I wouldn't change one day of it, and I give the Lord the glory for bringing me this far. Looking very forward to writing and publishing much, much more, continuing to grow in my craft as an author, and hopefully bringing much reading pleasure to my readers!

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