• Judith McNaught
• Teresa Medeiros
• Brenda Novak
• Carly Phillips
• Julia Quinn
• Barbara Samuel
• Christina Skye
• Kerrelyn Sparks
• More Authors...

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Romance Author Roundtable Romance is more than hearts and flowers for this group of authors. As writers of a genre responsible for more than 50 % book sales it's big business. Mary Lynn Baxter, Jo Beverley, Shirlee Busbee, Candace Camp, Leslie Carroll, Gaelen Foley, Dorothy Garlock, Rachel Gibson, Judith McNaught, Teresa Medeiros, Brenda Novak, Carly Phillips, Julia Quinn, Barbara Samuel, Christina Skye, and Kerrelyn Sparks discuss creating and sustaining ongoing characters, writing love scenes and their thoughts on the romance genre in the world of publishing.

Judith McNaught Regarded as one of the most beloved writers of all time in popular fiction, Judith McNaught is the author of thirteen novels with more than 30 million copies in print. The last eight of her novels have been international bestsellers and have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, most recently Night Whispers, which debuted at #1. The press has had glowing praise for Ms. McNaught's work. USA Today has said, "When it comes to writing romance, Judith McNaught is in a class by herself." The Chicago Tribune said "Judith McNaught comes close to an Edith Wharton Edge," and The Houston Chronicle wrote "Judith McNaught's novels transcend all boundaries of the romance genre." Ms. McNaught's first book, Whitney My Love, was published as a paperback original in 1985, and won the Romantic Times Award for Best New Historical, becoming an instant classic. Double Standards and Tender Triumph, which had been published prior to Whitney My Love, were immediately re-issued upon the tremendous success of that book. Double Standards was Ms. McNaught's first contemporary romance, and Tender Triumph was selected as the Romantic Times Critic's Choice Award for Best SuperRomance. In 1987, Judith McNaught published Once and Always, which was selected as Good Housekeeping's "Novel of the Month" (January 1987), won the Affaire de Couer Golden Pen Certificate, and was the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award winner for Best Historical Romance. Ms. Naught achieved her first #1 New York Times bestseller in 1988 with Something Wonderful. Each novel that followed has hit the New York Times bestseller list; they include: Kingdom of Dreams (1989); Almost Heaven (1990); Paradise (1991), which was a thirteen-week New York Times bestseller, and the first romance novel ever selected by Book-of-the-Month Club as a main selection; Perfect (1993), with which Ms. McNaught began her campaign for literacy, to which she remains committed; Until You (1994); Remember When (1996); and Night Whispers (1998) which marked Judith McNaught's entrée into writing romantic suspense and appeared at #1 on the New York Times paperback bestseller list. In the August 1999, the beloved favorite Whitney My Love was published for the first time in hardcover. Someone to Watch Over Me, Judith McNaught's new novel, will be published by Atria Books on February 18, 2003. Prior to her career as a writer, Ms. McNaught enjoyed success in the fields of radio, motion pictures and finance. Among her varied experience, she was the first female executive producer at a CBS radio station, assistant director of a film crew, a comptroller of a major trucking company, president of a temporary employment agency and president of an executive search firm. Judith McNaught lives in Houston, Texas. Judith McNaught's Website Simon & Schuster Browse Judith McNaught's books on Amazon.com. Back to top. Teresa Medeiros New York Times bestseller Teresa Medeiros wrote her first novel at the age of twenty-one and has since gone on to win the hearts of both readers and critics. All thirteen of her books have been national bestsellers, climbing as high as #12 on the New York Times bestseller list, #20 on USA Today, and #14 on Publishers Week. She currently has over five million books in print. She was chosen one of the "Top Ten Favorite Romance Authors" by Affaire de Coeur magazine and won the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award for "Best Historical Love and Laughter". She is a five-time Rita finalist, two-time PRISM winner, and two-time recipient of the Waldenbooks Award, recently garnering the "Bestselling Hardcover Debut" award for The Bride and the Beast (June 2000). Her July 2001 hardcover, A Kiss to Remember, was chosen as one of the "Top 10 Romances of the Year" by Booklist magazine, the official publication of the American Library Association. Teresa is a charter member of the Romance Writers of America Honor Roll, Kentucky Romance Writers, and Novelists, Inc. She lives in Kentucky with her husband and two lovably neurotic cats. Her next book, One Night of Scandal, will be released by Avon Books in August 2003. Photo © Shannon Butler Teresa Medeiros' Website Avon Books Browse Teresa Medeiros' books on Amazon.com. Back to top. Brenda Novak Most writers say they've had stories running around in their head since they can remember, but that wasn't the case for Brenda Novak. She grew up thinking she didn't have a creative bone in her body. She considered herself "left-brained," with talents in science and mathematics, and even went to school for business. It wasn't until she was 29 and married with three kids that she discovered writing - and if not for a difficult situation that prompted her to find a way to make money from home, she might not have started even then. Brenda was a loan officer for a mortgage company when she caught her in-home daycare provider drugging her children with cough medicine so they would sleep during the day while Brenda was at work. They had trouble sleeping and would wake up several times throughout the night and she couldn't understand why. But once Brenda found the medicine in her baby's bottle, she suspected the baby-sitter had been doing this for several months. No longer able to trust someone else with her children, Brenda quit her job to stay home with them - but with her husband's business failing, she needed to find some way to help him financially. That's when she decided to write a book. Although it wasn't the "quick fix" the Novaks were hoping for, it did introduce Brenda to something she loves to do more than anything else. It took her five years to finish her first novel, which was published in November 1999. Many of her books have won or placed in contests such as the National Reader's Choice, the Bookseller's Best, The Write Touch, the Award of Excellence, and the Beacon Award for Published Authors. Publisher's Weekly says Brenda's novels are filled with "energetic prose and appealing characters." And Romantic Times says, "Brenda Novak skillfully blends richly developed characters and emotionally intense issues to create a powerful romance. This is an author destined for stardom." Now Brenda has five children - three girls and two boys - and juggles her writing career with softball and soccer games, field trips, carpool runs and homework sessions, and trying to keep up with her active husband, Ted, who has since launched a much more successful business. Fortunately, her family is as involved in what she does as she is in their activities. Her husband and children will sometimes attend writers' conferences, handle postcard mailings when she has a new book comes out, and they cheer her on at every book signing. Brenda grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and graduated from Chandler High School. Today, she and the family reside near Sacramento, California. Brenda Novak's Website Harlequin Browse Brenda Novak's books on Amazon.com. Back to top. Carly Phillips New York Times Bestselling author Carly Phillips is an attorney who has tossed away legal briefs in favor of writing hot, sizzling romances. Her first single title contemporary romance, The Bachelor (Warner) captured a spot as the third pick of the "Reading with Ripa" book club on "LIVE" with Regis and Kelly. The announcement launched Carly into the number one slot on both Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com within just a few hours and propelled her to a six-week stay on the New York Times list where she ultimately tied for the #4 slot wit romance mega-star Nora Roberts. Carly also writes novellas, for St. Martin's Press, and short contemporaries for Harlequin, one being sizzling Blaze anthology. Her upcoming releases include the Chandler man sequels, The Playboy (1-03) and The Heartbreaker (7-03). In addition to her hit on the NYT list, Carly has had prolonged stays on the USA Today, Publisher's Weekly and Waldenbooks Bestseller lists. She has also received numerous accolades including Waldenbooks Bestselling author and a multiple nominations for Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Awards and the Bookseller's Best Award. She has also placed and won in numerous RWA chapter sponsored contests. Since her first sale to Harlequin Temptation in 1998, Carly has sold a total of twenty-one books. She has also written for Zebra Bouquet under the name of Karen Drogin. She currently lives in Purchase, New York with her husband, two young daughters and frisky soft-coated Wheaton terrier who acts like their third child. When she's not spending time with her family, Carly is busy writing, promoting (and playing online). Carly Phillips' Website Warner Books Browse Carly Phillips' books on Amazon.com. Back to top. Julia Quinn During her senior year of college, Julia Quinn (better known in cyberspace as JulieQ) realized that she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life. This depressed her. In fact, the only thing that saved her sanity during this dark, dreary time was the fact that none of her friends knew, either. So she sat down with a big tub of Ben & Jerry's and a good book and decided to figure out what to do. Getting a job seemed too difficult. She wouldn't mind HAVING a job, but she certainly didn't know how to get one. Law school seemed too annoying. Everyone hated lawyers, and Julie liked to be liked. Business school was not an option. They only took people who had been in the work force for at least two years, and, as noted above, Julie didn't know how to get a job. The only option left (this shows you how narrow her world-view was) was medical school. "Aha!" she thought. "I could be a good doctor." She quickly picked up the phone and ran this idea past her parents, who were understandably baffled, since her degree was in Art History, but being the cool people they are, they said, "Great!" Julie hung up the phone, blinked a couple of times, and said aloud, "Okay, so I'm going to be a doctor. Cool." Then she pulled out a pad of paper and proceeded to figure out how long this would take. It turned out that it would be over two years before she could even ENTER medical school since she had to take all those pesky science classes in order to apply. Clearly, she needed to find something to do during that time, since she knew from experience that she probably wouldn't be studying as much as she ought. That's when she looked at the book next to the tub of now-empty Ben & Jerry's. It was a romance. "I could write one of those," she thought. And so she did. Two years later, just as Julie was deciding between Yale School of Medicine and Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons, her agent called to tell her that her first two books, Splendid and Dancing at Midnight, were the subject of a fierce bidding war between two publishing houses. So she put off medical school for a year and wrote Minx. Then she put off medical school for another year and wrote Everything and the Moon. Then she got a little nervous and thought that maybe she ought to give med school a try and so she picked up a scalpel, starting dissecting cadavers, and learned more about the citric acid cycle than anyone (including most med students) wants to know. A few months later, however, she realized that she must have experienced a bout of temporary insanity and she withdrew from medical school and wrote Brighter than the Sun. This was followed by To Catch an Heiress and the critically acclaimed How to Marry a Marquis. Julie's writing has quickly earned a reputation for warmth and humor, and her dialogue is considered among the best in the industry. Each year brings more accolades; in 1997 Romantic Times Magazine nominated Everything and the Moon for Best Regency Historical, and the Bookstores that Care network nominated Brighter than the Sun for Best Historical Love and Laughter. To Catch an Heiress was named by amazon.com as one of the ten best romances of 1998, and that honor was repeated in 1999 and 2000, with How to Marry a Marquis and The Duke and I, respectively. She is currently a finalist in Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA Awards for both The Duke and I (short historical) and The Viscount Who Loved Me (long historical). She made her debut on the New York Times bestseller list with An Offer from a Gentleman, a July 2001 release from Avon Books. She currently lives in Colorado with her family. Julia Quinn's Website Avon Books Browse Julia Quinn's books on Amazon.com. Back to top. Barbara Samuel Barbara Samuel is a multiple RITA award-winning author with more than 25 books to her credit, both historical and contemporary romances and women's fiction. She first gained attention as Ruth Wind, writing novels, including the highly acclaimed In the Midnight Rain, that grappled frankly with contemporary issues such as domestic violence, post traumatic stress syndrome, and a wide variety of cultural and ethnic questions. As Barbara Samuel, her real name, she has written a number of historical romances and fantasy novellas, including the RITA-award winning Heart of a Knight, and contributing to Irish Magic with Susan Wiggs, Roberta Gellis, and Morgan Llwelyn. Now writing women's fiction Barbara's first hardcover novel, No Place Like Home is on the shelves now. Her second, A Piece of Heaven, will be released in hardcover in February 2003. Bookreporter.com -- Falling In Love for the First Time Barbara Samuel's Website Ballantine Books Browse Barbara Samuel's books on Amazon.com. Back to top. Christina Skye Award-winning author Christina Skye lives on the western slope of the McDowell Mountains in Arizona. She has authored such popular titles as Going Overboard, My Spy. Hot Pursuit is her seventeenth novel. Photo © Blanche Mackey Christina Skye's Website Random House Browse Christina Skye's books on Amazon.com. Back to top. Kerrelyn Sparks Kerrelyn Sparks won her first writing contest at the University of Houston and then went on to teach French and History at a Houston magnet high school. After the birth of her youngest child, Kerrelyn became a full-time Mom. But when the joys of laundry began to ebb, she became obsessed with the idea that perhaps, someday, she could write a book. Two and half years later, she had completed two historical romances and sold her first book. For Love or Country won nine awards under its original and infamous title, Insatiable and Saucy, including First place-Colorado Romance Writers' Heart of the Rockies contest and Second place-Magnolia State Romance Writers' Dixie contest. Kerrelyn is a member of the West Houston and Northwest Houston Chapters of RWA and a long-distance member of Lake Country Romance Writers in central New York and Rose City Romance Writers of Portland, Oregon. Kerrelyn Sparks lives in Katy, Texas, a suburb of Houston, with her husband and two children. Kerrelyn Sparks' Website Forge Browse Kerrelyn Sparks' books on Amazon.com. • More Authors... Back to top.   © Copyright 2003, AuthorsOnTheWeb.com. All rights reserved.

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