Route to Being an Author

Though I read other kinds of books, my favorite genre is mystery/romantic suspense. A relative gave me twelve Nancy Drew mysteries for Christmas the year I was ten years old. By the time the holidays were over, I'd read all of them and was a confirmed mystery/suspense lover.
Years later I began to toy with the notion of writing a romantic suspense. Due to the demands of my position as head of a busy corporate library serving accountants, tax personnel and consultants, and the gut feeling that I probably wouldn't succeed, that notion went to the back of my mind along with other projects I might want to try someday.
Several years ago I took early retirement. Looking for something to do, I decided now or never. I'd had a story or part of a story in mind for years. Now I made an outline. The main thing missing was a location.
On our first tour of England, we visited the Lake District, vowing to go back and stay longer than one night the next time. Later we did just that, staying at Lindeth Fell Country House Hotel, a 1907 English gentleman's country home that had been converted to a small, upscale hotel with a Cordon Bleu chef.
Lindeth Fell was exactly what I needed for my story. I asked Diana Kennedy, one of the owners if I could "borrow" her hotel for my book and she agreed.
We returned to the Lake District the next year and again stayed at Lindeth Fell. The story had progressed and this time I looked for local spots I could incorporate in my story. For instance, I needed to find a place the villain could meet his end.
Morecombe Bay with its fierce high tides that sweep in from the Irish Sea was just what I was looking for. Over the years dozens of people, mainly tourists had drowned there while walking out on the sands at low tide. And there was mention in the local history of stagecoaches taking a short cut across the Bay getting stuck in the sands which included unmarked beds of quicksands. It was just what I needed to make my book more exciting.
Back in Texas I took a non-credit course at a local college and joined the North Texas Branch of Romance Writers of America, an excellent place for a romance author to begin. I benefited from RWA's seminars, informal lectures and workshops like other beginning writers have over the years.
Clues to Love became first an e-book then a POD paperback and finally a large-print hardcover. My next book,Never Love a Stranger went the same route as did book #4, Wait for Me, the sequel to Clues to Love. Book #3 is What the World Needs Now, a romantic comedy located in Dallas-Fort Worth.
My latest book, Whispers is just out in paperback. It concerns a runaway bride fleeing from her murderous bridegroom.
Anyone interested can read the first chapter of any of my books at www.BooksWeLove.net/madison.html or at my e-publisher, www.EBooksonthe.net
Why this fascination with romantic suspense? First, I guess I'm a romantic at heart. I still believe in happy endings.
Also, I like suspense. So romantic suspense combines the two elements I like most in reading.
Nancy Madison