Hi! Pleased to meet you! And welcome to my first Romantic Inks post.

If you know me from my Erica Writes blog or the Manuscript Mavens blog, you know I’m usually a stickler for keeping my posts writing-related.

If you don’t know me, (or if you want to know me better,) this is your chance! For one post and one post only (said in my best informercial voice) you can ask me anything. As in, ANYTHING. No question too dumb, no question too technical, no question too personal. (I do, of course, reserve the right to be as locquacious or as taciturn as I choose, when penning my responses. *g)

First, I suppose you want to get to know me a little professionally. Herewith, a bio:

My love of books began before my first memories formed. According to my mom, I started reading (at a Dr. Seuss level) around age three or so. Throughout my childhood, my parents’ most effective punishment was when they’d take away my books. I also don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to write. (I admit: for most of my elementary school years, it was a three way tie between being an author, being an illustrator, and being a paleontologist.) I would fill spiral notebooks with continuing stories, poetry, plays–anything. (Yes, I put on plays in the schoolyard. I made my classmates audition for parts during recess. I was a holy terror.)

I also started a school newspaper with a couple other pals when I was around nine, complete with stories I wrote, news I reported on, and an “anonymous” advice column. The secretary let me make copies in her office, which I then hawked at recess. (I guess I had the entrepreneurial bug then, too!) When I was in seventh grade, one of my stories (the first in a three-part continuity series spanning multiple spiral notebooks) was stolen by a classmate who read it and didn’t want to give it back. (A backhanded compliment?)

In high school, I got involved in art and theatre and newspaper and yearbook and completely let my writing slide.

I moved out when I graduated, and on my 18th birthday, a house fire destroyed everything I owned. This jaded me against picking up a pen or a paint brush for almost a decade.

I still kick myself for all that lost time.

In the fall of 2005, I decided I’d mourned the loss of my creative memorabilia long enough, and decided to try and write. My first completed novel was a Regency-set historical called Unmasked. Although the story managed to final in a contest, agents Pam Hopkins and Jenny Bent very intelligently passed after reading the partial, and I had my first taste of rejection. It was just what I needed to galvanize me to try harder.

I joined RWA and various local and specialty chapters, became active in various critique groups, and tore through the inter-library loan program’s supply of books on craft. My second novel, Witness, finaled in the 2006 Golden Rose. It was targeted for Harlequin Intrigue, to whom I sent a requested full. They, too, passed, although they sent me an extremely positive rejection letter, suggesting I try again. I did not. I had learned that romantic suspense was not my calling.

For my third novel, Touched, I went back to Regency-set historicals, although this time I wrote a paranormal whodunit. I never did query that puppy. Instead, I fell off the writing wagon for a good two months, for various reasons.

In December of 2006, anonymous agent Miss Snark held a “hook” crapometer. I decided to enter, even though I wasn’t currently writing. I realized I loved the paranormal aspect of Touched and the ease of writing contemporary. Keeping in mind the fireman/arsonist advice, I fired off a blurb for what would eventually become Trevor & the Tooth Fairy. Despite her infamous unhookability, she liked it and asked for the first two pages. I wrote them during an airport layover. She liked those, too. I figured, if it was good enough for Miss Snark, it was good enough for me, so I brainstormed Nether-Netherland with my CPs, and wrote the first book.

I am now a little over halfway through the second NNL book, Dorinda & the Demon, and have an overabundance of ideas for future books. I love writing funny paranormals.
Latest update: After a six month spell without entering any contests, I submitted my three most recent stories to the TARA Contest, and found out this week that I’m a triple-finalist.

My heart is still beating like a hyperactive monkey in a coconut tree!

Okay, enough long-winded About the Author mumbo jumbo. =) To get to know me a little on a personal level…

Things I like to do in my free time, in no particular order:
* Read/write blogs
* Write stories
* Read books
* Plot with my CPs
* Travel the U.S.
* Travel other countries
* Learn languages
* Take photographs
* Scrapbook
* Attend sporting events
* Attend theme/costume parties
* Play piano
* Play guitar
* Go to concerts
* Sing
* Snuggle
* Draw with charcoals
* Shoot pool
* Go hiking
* Go on adventure
* Play games (card, board, etc)
* Visit theme parks and fairs
* Visit museums, zoos, aquariums
* Zipline canopy tours
* Hang with my friends
* Hang with my family
* Get a massage
* Solve brainteasers
* Drink good wine
* Drink good coffee
* Eat holiday food
* Try new things
* Play with babies
* Read to toddlers
* Do magic tricks for kids
* Dance
* Stand in sunlight, eyes closed, face tilted up

Get to know me–ask me anything! And turnabout is fair play: I showed you mine, now show me yours! If you write, what was your path to where you are now? Even if you don’t write, what do you do when you do what you want?