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Haley Hughes
I remember the first romance novel I read. It was
the early '80s, I was in sixth grade, and I was into historical
fiction, Indians and horses.
One day when I was looking for a new book to read, I found an historical novel with an Indian on the cover. Perfect.
I had no idea what "Defiant Ecstasy" meant, I just knew I was hooked.
Scores of books and a couple years later, this love affair with historical romance turned into a new career goal: I would become a romance writer.
So I drafted a few first chapters using an old typewriter. The first was set on the American frontier, the second in Scotland. Then I ran into a problem: I was only 13, I had no idea where to start the historical research, and I couldn't conceive of the perfect heroes for my heroines. So I packed away the chapters and pursued a career in journalism.
A decade later, while I was working as a reporter at a community newspaper, I covered the Romance Writers of America conference in Chicago. That conference was a reawakening that rekindled my desire to write romance.
Time passed, I became engaged to her high-school sweetheart, Dave, and continued to be busy in my journalism career. I joined RWA and started plotting a novel. It would be a time-travel, the heroine would be a reporter, and there would be horses and Indians in the story.
But my life persisted with all its pleasant distractions. I married Dave, switched fields to technical writing, adopted two dogs, had a baby, then became a stay-at-home mom.
But that romance novel never left me; it turned into my first manuscript "Prairie Fire," set on the 1832 American frontier, and the start of my second manuscript, "Witch's Fire," set in 16th century Scotland.
Hmmm. Books set on the American frontier and in Scotland?
It seems that more than 20 years after I discovered romance novels, I'd figured out the historical research and can finally conceive of the perfect heroes for my heroines. Those books I started writing while in junior high school never really left me.
One day when I was looking for a new book to read, I found an historical novel with an Indian on the cover. Perfect.
I had no idea what "Defiant Ecstasy" meant, I just knew I was hooked.
Scores of books and a couple years later, this love affair with historical romance turned into a new career goal: I would become a romance writer.
So I drafted a few first chapters using an old typewriter. The first was set on the American frontier, the second in Scotland. Then I ran into a problem: I was only 13, I had no idea where to start the historical research, and I couldn't conceive of the perfect heroes for my heroines. So I packed away the chapters and pursued a career in journalism.
A decade later, while I was working as a reporter at a community newspaper, I covered the Romance Writers of America conference in Chicago. That conference was a reawakening that rekindled my desire to write romance.
Time passed, I became engaged to her high-school sweetheart, Dave, and continued to be busy in my journalism career. I joined RWA and started plotting a novel. It would be a time-travel, the heroine would be a reporter, and there would be horses and Indians in the story.
But my life persisted with all its pleasant distractions. I married Dave, switched fields to technical writing, adopted two dogs, had a baby, then became a stay-at-home mom.
But that romance novel never left me; it turned into my first manuscript "Prairie Fire," set on the 1832 American frontier, and the start of my second manuscript, "Witch's Fire," set in 16th century Scotland.
Hmmm. Books set on the American frontier and in Scotland?
It seems that more than 20 years after I discovered romance novels, I'd figured out the historical research and can finally conceive of the perfect heroes for my heroines. Those books I started writing while in junior high school never really left me.
1/15/2010
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