The most important aspect of any story, to me, is character.

Every single book is a challenge.

I don't fiddle or edit or change while I'm going through that first draft.

I don't think you can write - at least not well - if you don't love stories, love the written word.

I don't base any character on a real person, and really don't do composites either. I make them up.

Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, delight the heart. And they both take practice.

Certainly the plagiarism, and dealing with the fallout of it, was the most difficult thing I've ever faced since I started writing.

If you write in category, you write knowing there's a framework, there are reader expectations.

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 read a lot - and I read a variety of genres.

I do indeed write on the road. My laptop goes with me everywhere.

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.

In the summer of '80, Silhouette bought my first book.

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 loved the process of writing.

The most important aspect of any story, to me, is character.

I believe strongly in writing groups such as Romance Writers Of America that offer support, information and networking.

One of my greatest pleasures is falling into a story someone else has written.

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.

I decided to write category romance as I'd recently discovered them, and enjoyed them.

I'd always loved to read - and come from a family of readers - but I never thought about writing as a career.

You don't find time to write. You make time. It's my job.

I generally write a first draft that's pretty lean. Just get the story down.

I need to write to be happy.

I would hope that my writing's cleaner than it was when I started.

My own sense of family, where I came from and what I made for myself is an important part of my life.

I've gotten to know a number of readers from being online, and really treasure the time I've spent with them.

I long for typical days, but rarely get them any more.

And each book has to receive your best effort every single time. No slacking.

Actually, I find it great fun to develop family series with lots of characters.

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 don't believe for one moment you can write well what you wouldn't read for pleasure.

Aren't most romance heros, or heros in fiction of any kind, generally superior to real men? Same goes for heroines and real women.

Knowing isn't always believing.

know what you want, work to get it, then value it once you have it.

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.

Two women cant share a house comfortably no matter how fond they might be of each other. Its got to be one womans kitchen.

Be yourself. Be true to that to your heart. Patience. See what happens if you step back instead of bounding forward.

If people let other people alone people would be better off. Its always people that screw things up for people anyway.

When something comes easy you usually let it go the same way.

You cant just hope for happy endings. You have to believe in them. Then do the work take the risks.

Good fiction creates its own reality.

Grudges are bridges with faulty spans. Falling off one is a lot more rewarding than getting stuck on the other side.

I think those who have impact and influence over us are often unaware.

Ireland is a land of poets and legends, of dreamers and rebels. All of these have music woven through and around them. Tunes for dancing or for weeping, for battle or for love.

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.

A woman with romance in her life lived as grandly as a queen, because her heart was treasured.

Decisions made quickly were almost always regretted quickly.

Love is not enough. But, it is the rock on which all else stands.