Carol's Bio:

As a youth, I loved reading Trixie Belden books.  She was great—smart, witty, and surrounded by good-looking guys.  What’s not to like?  While in my teens, I discovered the answers to that question when I heard someone mention a romance novel she had read.  Her shallow breathing and flushed face was enough to pique my interest.  A trip to the bookstore was in order.  I read with wide-eyed amazement.  Trixie never spoke of such occurrences! 

Other than the obvious, I found myself trying to appreciate what my friend had enjoyed about this book.  Yeah, there was the hot guy and beautiful woman, but the book as a whole frustrated me.  Why did it take 380 pages for the couple to admit they loved each other?  To me, this is where the story began.  Much to my sadness, I found this to be the writing norm. 

I was determined to find an author who felt as I did.  This is how I discovered Kathleen Woodiwiss.  Yes!  Someone who could tell a story with the two main characters committed to each other before the final pages.  Needless to say, she became a favorite soon followed by Diana Gabaldon.

I hope to follow in both of these ladies’ examples and combine history and romance throughout the entire story.

Why Carol chose to write:

I am one of those people who tries to say the right thing, but somewhere between my brain and my tongue, the message gets confused.  Tired of always nodding in answer or constantly apologizing, I had an idea.  Why not practice my communication skills by writing scenes that will enable me to fine-tune my responses?   

Already a member of an online books and writers community, I noticed a writing exercise in the sidebar.  The assignment for the month: write a conflict scene between two characters.  That sounded simple enough.  I went to work creating two characters and introduced a conflict and a solution.  This exercise ended up being Abigail’s dream scene.

As for my experiment, not quit there but getting better all the time.

.