Nora Roberts
Certainly the plagiarism, and dealing with the fallout of it, was the most difficult thing I've ever faced since I started writing.
Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, delight the heart. And they both take practice.
Aren't most romance heros, or heros in fiction of any kind, generally superior to real men? Same goes for heroines and real women.
In the summer of '80, Silhouette bought my first book.
I'd always loved to read - and come from a family of readers - but I never thought about writing as a career.
I loved the process of writing.
I decided to write category romance as I'd recently discovered them, and enjoyed them.
For over a year I continued to submit mss, and have them rejected - the last few with rejection letters indicated the story was pretty good, but I was American.
I long for typical days, but rarely get them any more.
Action, reaction, motivation, emotion, all have to come from the characters. Writing a love scene requires the same elements from the writer as any other.
I find I use the Internet more and more. It's just an invaluable tool. I do most of my research on the Net now - and certainly do the bulk of my communicating through email.
I've gotten to know a number of readers from being online, and really treasure the time I've spent with them.
I don't think you can write - at least not well - if you don't love stories, love the written word.
One of my greatest pleasures is falling into a story someone else has written.
I read a lot - and I read a variety of genres.
Mary Stewart will always be my goddess. I can pick up one of her early books - one I've read a dozen times - and still slide right into the story.
If you write in category, you write knowing there's a framework, there are reader expectations.
I don't believe for one moment you can write well what you wouldn't read for pleasure.
I believe strongly in writing groups such as Romance Writers Of America that offer support, information and networking.
Every writer has to figure out what works best - and often has to select and discard different tools before they find the one that fits.
You don't find time to write. You make time. It's my job.
I do indeed write on the road. My laptop goes with me everywhere.
Every single book is a challenge.
And each book has to receive your best effort every single time. No slacking.
I need to write to be happy.
My own sense of family, where I came from and what I made for myself is an important part of my life.
I generally write a first draft that's pretty lean. Just get the story down.
I don't fiddle or edit or change while I'm going through that first draft.
I would hope that my writing's cleaner than it was when I started.
I don't base any character on a real person, and really don't do composites either. I make them up.
Actually, I find it great fun to develop family series with lots of characters.
The most important aspect of any story, to me, is character.
If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place.Collection: Inspirational
Nothing ever seems too bad, too hard or too sad when you've got a Christmas tree in the living room. All those presents under it, all that anticipation. Just a way of saying there's always light and hope in the world.Collection: Light
When you find nothing... it means you're eliminating what surrounds the something.Collection: Mean
know what you want, work to get it, then value it once you have it.Collection: Want
The very young and the very old often saw what others could not. Or would not.Collection: Saws
Some things in life are out of your control. You can make it a party or a tragedy.Collection: Party
Magic exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars? Anyone who has loved has been touched by magic. It is such a simple and such an extraordinary part of the lives we live.Collection: Inspirational
If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place.Collection: Motivation
Anyone that has character leaves a mark on another. Would you like to leave the world without making a ripple?Collection: Character
Feeling too much is a hell of a lot better than feeling nothing.Collection: Empathy
Life is never as long as we want it to be, and wasted time can never be recovered.Collection: Long
We make destiny with every turn, every choice.Collection: Destiny
Luck is luck ... What we do with it determines whether it's good or bad.Collection: Luck
There's no reward without work, no victory without effort, no battle won without risk.Collection: Effort
People and relationships never stop being a work in progressCollection: Relationship
Life has very little even ground.Collection: Littles
I hate patience. Slows everything down.Collection: Hate
There are no dead ends, just detours.Collection: Detours