I started writing poetry as a teenager and still dabble a bit. There are a couple of original poems in THE RUBY BROOCH. From the fall of 1996 to September 1997, I read almost three hundred romance novels. I started with Elizabeth Lowell’s Winter Fire and from there read her entire back list, then I moved on Beatrice Small, Linda Howard, and several other romance writers. Finally, I put down the book I was reading and said, “I can do this.” Ten weeks later, I wrote The End to THE RUBY BROOCH. Over the next several years, the story was either in the closet or going through o more...
