A: I love Nora Roberts (and J.D. Robb) because of the way she portrays families, especially men. A partial list of other favorites include: Christine Feehan, Susan Grant, Meryl Sawyer, Jonathan Kellerman, Robert B. Parker, Lori Foster, Janet Evanovich, Kay Hooper, and Andrea Kane. Before I started writing, I read even more than the ten books a month I average now.

Q: What type of books do you write? Is there a reason you write (for instance) historical romance rather than science fiction?

A: I write contemporary and fantasy romance, and there's definitely a reason why. First of all, I demand happy endings when I read (or watch TV or a movie), and that goes double when it's a story I'm creating. I know that life doesn't always work out the way it should, but in fiction, I want the bad guys punished and the good guys to live happily ever after. As far as the contemporary and fantasy aspects of my writing, I concentrate on those sub-genres because I'm not particularly interested in what life was like several hundred years ago. I'm very glad I live right now--I don't want to give up microwaves or indoor plumbing, nor do I want to make my characters do it. Even my fantasy stories are based on today's world, only with a few important differences.

Q: What one thing do you like the most about being a writer, and why? What do you like the least?

A: The part I like best is when I know the basics of what's going to happen, and I can sit down and write the story. There's usually a point in the writing of a book where that happens, and I'm a very happy person for the next several weeks or so. The part I like the least is struggling to get the story to fit together. I'm a very linear thinker--thing A happens, and that leads to thing B, which leads to thing C, and eventually somewhere around thing Z, we get to the happy ending with all the loose ends tied up. Finding the right thing A is critical, as well as figuring out exactly who the major characters are, deep inside. I can easily spend months getting this combination right. For example with Healing Magick, I knew the basic setup for months. I knew Sulis and Llyr, and I knew about the message from the California Magick Bedrock. I knew I wanted Healing to be very important in the book. But I didn't know the nature of the evil facing the characters. Until I figured that out, the book just meandered around, never getting anywhere. Once it was clear in my mind, I sat down and wrote the whole thing in six weeks. That six weeks was fun. The six months preceding it was not.

Q: Do you ever use real people as the inspiration for characters in your books? If so, why do you choose those particular people?

A: No, I don't use real people. But I do use real cats. The cats in my stories are all based on my real life cats, and I try to portray their personalities as accurately as possible. Princess in Celtic Knot was based on Raz, my Abyssinian female; Katie in Welcome to Nash's on Katie, my Siamese female; Mr. Bill in Magick and More Than Magick on Mr. Bill, my black-and- white male; and Tosh in Healing Magick on Tosh, my Abyssinian male. Sadly, only Mr. Bill is still with me in real life, as the others died at advanced ages over the past couple of years. They'll live forever in my books, though.

Q: Tell us about the first time you got the call or the email from a publisher wanting to publish one of your books.

A: In my case, it was the email. In late June 1999, I received a message from Kathryn Struck saying she wanted to publish Martha's Madness. Chills ran up and down my spine and I immediately printed the message for my mother to see when she got back an hour or so later. I also printed two copies of the contract, and wrote back to Kathryn to say yes! My mother had tears in her eyes when she read the message, and she immediately took me out for lunch at the nearby Thai restaurant to celebrate. That was the first of many celebrations we shared for that book and others. She said later that she'd prayed to stay alive long enough to see my first book go back for a second printing. Ebooks don't have second printings, but she lived to see seven of my books published, a number of them also in trade paperback. She was more than satisfied.

Q: Do you write related books, such as series that revisit characters and/or settings you've written about in previous books? As a reader, do you read other authors' series?

A: I both read them and write them. My imagination is full of worlds peopled by characters in my books, and those worlds and people are very real to me. I think they add depth and texture to my books, and make my stories immediately seem more real.

Q: How much of your own life and experiences do you put into your books?

A: I put little bits and pieces of my experiences in my books, but not in an autobiographical way. My settings are one example. Adams-Worthington (from the Second Chance Trilogy) and DesignTek (from a number of books, including my fall 2004 release, A Matter of Trust) are similar in some ways to actual companies where I worked. Myrtle Beach (from Martha's Madness, Welcome to Nash's, and A Matter of Trust) is based on the Oregon Coast town where I have a vacation condo. As I become more sure of my writing, I've also begun to have my characters face issues that are very personal to me. The first time I did this was in Hot Fudge and Peppermint, where the heroine has fibromyalgia. I don't have fibromyalgia, but I do have psoriatic arthritis (a disease similar to rheumatoid arthritis). I used my own experience with pain and the need to make life-style accommodations when writing that book. More recently, Diana in Magick and More Than Magick has a self-image problem because of her weight, and that's something that's very much part of my life, too.

Q: Are your books something you alone create, or do you have trusted advisors, brainstorm partners, or first readers you rely on to help you get the story right?

A: My books are definitely not mine alone, although I of course bear final responsibility for every word. I'm lucky enough to have a brainstorming partner and a critique partner, each of whom is worth her weight in gold. My brainstorming partner is a reader rather than a writer. Her idea of a perfect weekend is to go to the beach with me, drink champagne, eat whatever we feel like, and talk about the books I'm going to write. She'll happily help me plot for hours at a time, and every other writer I know is envious that I have her to help me and they don't! My critique partner has helped me improve my writing incredibly. With her help, I've learned how to show, don't tell--and sometimes these days, I actually manage to remember to do it before she reminds me!

Q: Do you ever suffer from writer's block? Have you found any effective ways for dealing with it?

A: I didn't used to have writer's block. I'd sit down and write page after page happily and turn out a rough draft in only a few weeks. But then I learned more about writing, and about what makes a book a compelling read. Now I sometimes get stuck. That might seem crazy, but it's not. I get stuck because my gut instinct is telling me something is wrong. It might be something as simple as a character reacting in a way that's contrary to his or her personality--or it might be as major as the story's structure being all wrong. If I start feeling stuck these days, I take a step back and think about the story. Have a made a mistake? Am I trying to squeeze a square peg in a round hole? I won't lie and say that's an easy process, but it's one that works.

Q: What's your current writing project? How did you come up with the idea?

A: I'm currently writing another Magick book, due for release in 2005. The working title is Twice the Magick. The title comes from the fact that Diana is pregnant with twins during the book, and the fate of the twins will be the focal point of the suspense portion of the plot. I thought it only natural for Win and Diana to have children, and for the arrival of their children to be much-anticipated by both the Balance and the Queen's cults. The heroine is someone I've wanted to give a happy ending to for a couple of years now--High Priestess Sarasvati. She'll be dealing with the religious aspects of the twins' birth, and the hero will be more action-oriented. At this point, I love the story idea, but I'm more than a little scared it won't all work out right. I've learned that's natural...