Read Online A Valentine for Harlequin's Anniversary by Catherine Mann - Free Book Online Page A

for me, and for those nurses, for those mothers trying to make it through just one more night. So that’s how it really began, with that second book, before the first one was sold. It was that second book that told me, yes, you have a chance for a career here. You can do something for yourself that just might make somebody else’s day a little brighter. It sounds hokey, but that’s how it happened…
    A quarter of a century later, I am writing my 100-and-some novel for these same people. I want to believe, do believe, I bring smiles, I bring hope, I bring the CHANCE of happiness; not a promise, not a certainty, but the CHANCE. I know, have learned, that one of the best ways to keep your sanity is to escape reality every once in a while.
    — Kasey Michaels
www.kaseymichaels.com

    #40
    I heard a hugely overweight comedian the other night. Someone asked him how come he breathed so hard. His response? “I want to live.” I chuckled and went back to my knitting.
    Writing is like breathing to me. I can’t imagine my life without story. I view almost everything in my life as story—it’s how I experience the world. I see; I feel; I create.
    People ask what keeps me writing and generally joke and say, “Two house payments.” The truth is, I don’t think I could stop if I had to. God gave me this talent and I expect He intended me to use it and I am.
    — Debbie Macomber
www.debbiemacomber.com
    #41
    There was never a time when I wasn’t writing.
    Even before I could read or even form letters, I was telling stories and making my mother write them down.

    So clearly, my first writing mentor was my mom.
    She still is, in a lot of ways. (Thanks, Mom!)
    Grade three was a pivotal year for me, writing-wise. I moved from manuscript printing to cursive writing (a magical moment) and declared to my teacher that I was a writer. “Fine,” she said, “you go write a book.” And so I did. She was the kind of teacher I wish every child could have, showing a total belief in me that I still remember. (And she still reads my books, although due to low vision, the audios work better for her these days.) Thanks, Mrs. Green! And Mom, being Mom, saved that first effort:

    Throughout high school and college, I went underground. I sensed that my stories wouldn’t be well received. Too commercial, too sentimental. So I kept them to myself. And then in graduate school, professor Roland Barth at Harvard told me I was a good writer and even my master’s thesis “reads like a novel.” I took this as a compliment rather than a suggestion that I’d made it up.
    When I started writing fiction, my mentors were my writers’ groups and to this day, they are the most powerful influences in my writing. If I don’t have those weekly pages to show my group, I can barely stand myself. I belong to one group that meets on the mainland, across the water, and when the weather is nice, I commute by boat.
    This group includes Lois Faye Dyer, Sheila Roberts and the writing team of Susan Plunkett and Krysteen Seelen.

    I also founded a group on the island where I live. As you can see, we are very quirky. Our members include Anjali Banerjee, Carol Cassella, Sheila Roberts, Suzanne Selfors and Elsa Watson.

    My editor and editorial director:

    My incredible agent:

    Booksellers everywhere and most of all, my beloved readers:

    Conclusion: Any writer will tell you that simply having a mentor or many mentors is a powerful motivator, but you still have to bring yourself to the page, every day (or night), all alone. At some point, everything falls away and you’re on your own, bringing your story to life.
    Happy reading!
    — Susan Wiggs
www.susanwiggs.com
www.susanwiggs.wordpress.com
    #42
    Sometimes I think it’s a primordial urge. I joke in my bio that in the sixth grade a teacher made me write a “theme” to explain my less than stellar performance in the preceding semester and that I enjoyed stringing just the right words together to rationalize my