Questions I'm Asked
Of the books you've written, which ones are your favorites?
I'm one of those writers who write regardless of circumstances. If there's a hurricane, a flood, a death, an illness, I write through the experience. It's how I cope. I can point to each one of my books and tell you if I was undergoing some trauma at the time. The book itself has become a catharsis, and consequently, I feel a special bond to it. Those books are Tapestry, My Beloved, After the Kiss, and The Scottish Companion. But that's not to say they're my favorites. I don't have one. Or perhaps my favorite is the one on which I'm working.
Why do you write such "dark" books?
I like throwing my characters into the deep end. Conflict is one of those components of a novel that I adore. Just think about how much conflict we have in our daily lives.
I also tend to write books about people who are flawed, but not whiners. The women don't expect a man to rescue them and the men don't blame women for everything wrong in their lives.
Hopefully, my characters always have a deep core of beliefs, but they do not always act in perfect ways. In other words, they're like real people.
Why do you write Romance?
I write romance because it most closely identifies with how I feel about life, love, and the pursuit of happiness. In one of the darkest periods of my life, reading helped me survive. It transported me to a world of fascinating people who, despite all their problems, were guaranteed a happy ending. Frankly, I never knew I wrote romance until my first three books were sold. I just wrote stories I would have liked to read.
Will you be writing a contemporary? Or a paranormal?
I cannot tell a lie - Vampires simply do not interest me. The one time I had to write a story about vampires, I nearly drove myself nuts. Frankly, the idea of drinking blood just wasn't romantic to me. But I finally figured out how to do it - it's my story in After Midnight - my one and only (and hopefully last) anthology about vampires.
As far as a contemporary, I've written five, and they're in various stages of being reviewed, etc.
Why do you write about Scotland?
It was a marketing decision I was asked to make a few years ago. I decided that I wanted to get out of England, and my choices were limited. I adore Scotland's history - the 19th century, especially, is filled with fascinating events.
I don't always write about the Highlands. I really like Perth, Dundee, the border area, and so many other areas of Scotland.
What advice would you give to a new writer?
1. Use your common sense. 2. Learn to bend. When your editor tells you to change something, shut up and change it. 3. You're not pre-published. Ever. That's like being pre-pregnant. 4. You're not published if you have to pay someone to do it. 5. Do your own research. Don't ask anyone else to do it. If you care enough about your own work, then research the question/industry/time period yourself.