1. What made you sit down and write your first novel? Have you always been a writer? Is it something you’ve done all your life or something you came to later?

Even though I’d been writing stories since I was a little kid, and even started a novel when I was fifteen, I denied being a writer. People filled my yearbook with proclamations that I’d be an author, and they ended up being right! My first two manuscripts I tried to submit got a ton of rejections, but after my mom passed away, I came up with the idea to write a lighthearted regency vampire romance. Bite Me, Your Grace landed me my first book deal. After the first three Scandals With Bite books were finished, I went back and polished my first two novels and indie published them. The novel I started when I was 15, based on a dream of a sorcerer in a dark tower in a world with two moons eventually became Conjuring Destiny, the third book in the Brides of Prophecy series, though it underwent countless rewrites..

2. Why do you write romance novels? Do you read them as well as write them?

When I started writing, I’d originally planned on writing epic fantasy or horror. But every time I tried, the characters fell in love, so I resigned myself to be a romance author. It was only recently that I’ve been able to branch out and write straight horror. I will ALWAYS come back to romance, though. I’ve read romance since high school. I can’t remember where I picked up my first one, but I was hooked. A few other girls and I would hide them in our backpacks and pass them around. I tucked them inside my Stephen King and Michael Crichton novels at first. And then later on, hide them in my toolbox in my mechanic days. Then one day, I realized it was ridiculous to be ashamed of something that makes me so happy, so I quit hiding them. The other guys at the shop never mocked me for them.

3. You have four series (that I know of)-Brides of Prophecy, Scandals with Bite, Hearts of Metal, and B Mine. Could you tell us a little about each series?

My Scandals With Bite series was my debut series. They’re vampire romances set in the late Regency period. Think Bridgerton, but with vampires. My Brides of Prophecy series is my Dark Tower. Every work connects to it. They’re urban fantasy romances with fated mates including vampires, sorcerers, luminites (a cross between muses and angels), and fae. My Hearts of Metal series are rockstar romances that explore the difficulties of finding love in the metal industry. And my B Mine series are horror romances that pay homage to 80s B horror movies, but have a final couple instead of just a final girl.

4. At least one of those series is horror. What prompted you to want to write horror? How is writing horror different from writing romance?

Although I got my start writing romance, and will always love reading and writing romance, my first love has been horror, ever since I watched A Nightmare on Elm Street at age two. But any time I tried to write it, the characters would fall in love, so I resigned myself to being a romance writer. Eventually the lightbulb came on that I could do both. The 80s horror films I loved most had a Final Girl. I wrote the B Mine series to pay homage to them, but featured a Final Couple. There was a bit of a challenge in being able to have the hero and heroine get to know each other and fall in love while also keeping good pace on the building dread and murder and mayhem, but it was great fun to work out.

I’d say the difference between romance and horror is that horror should build up a sense of either dread, spookiness, or fear. Some subgenres lean more into the gross-out, which can sometimes be fun. Either way, horror is more about creating a vibe, even character-driven horror has that factor. Romance focuses more on the characters, and while there’s no real tension about knowing about the ending given that it delivers the promise of the characters ending up together, just as a mystery novel promises you the answer of whodunnit, a good romance will make you care about those characters and be invested in every step towards their happily ever after.

5. What is your writing process? Are you a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’?

I’m a combination of both. I make notes about the things I know will happen and then improvise the rest.

6. What are you working on right now?

I have three projects in the works: Bewitching the Vampire, which is book 9 in the Brides of Prophecy series is a fun urban fantasy romance between the Lord Vampire of New Orleans and a powerful witch. That one comes out July 21^st. I’m also writing a short story about a haunted garage for the House of Haunts anthology, which will release in October. Lastly, I’m working on a coming-of-age horror novel called The Graveyard Girls.

7. What do you do when you’re not writing? Do you have any other passions besides storytelling?

I was an artist before I was a writer. I paint, draw, and do scratchboards. I also love to cook, and love music and movies.

8. How do you balance writing time with everything else in your life?

I keep a calendar and a to-do list and have a productivity group where we set a timer and write together. I also have a critique partner I check in with so we can keep each other motivated.

9. If you could give one piece of advice to a beginning writer, what would it be?

Whether you pursue indie or traditional publishing, be prepared to be able to do a lot of marketing.

Here in her own words is Maggie.

1. What made you sit down and write your first novel? My first novel was a Star Trek
novel called A Free Radical. It was based on the characters from Star Trek: The Next
Generation. I wrote it because the teleplays I had been working on with a mentor were
just too short to tell the story. I got an agent for that novel, but the Star Trek people
wouldn’t look at it because I wasn’t already writing for them. Weird.
2. Have you always been a writer? I’ve always been a storyteller. I used to entertain my
sister when we shared a room as kids. I’d make up stories about Superman or some
other character on TV and tell it in installments over a few nights.
3. Why do you write romance novels? I’ve only written four so far and really like the genre
of historical romance. I love doing research, believe it or not – especially when the
research involves travel. Do you read them as well as write them? I must admit that I
don’t read romance novel in general. I like cozy mysteries, occasional best sellers, and
non-fiction.
4. Many of your novels are clever retellings of the Jane Austen classic ‘Pride and
Prejudice’ set in various time periods. What made you decide to use the Elizabeth-
Darcy story in your books? I’d read a few P&P variations and like everyone else, was
hopelessly in love with Mr. Darcy. I got a couple ideas for an adventure-based retelling,
and here we are. Are you planning to write any more set in yet other eras? I just set my
last one, Mr. Darcy and the Suffragette, in the Edwardian era. Elizabeth really gets to
spread her wings in the fight to get women the vote. Do you plan to use any other
famous books and characters in future work? I thought about writing the story of Lady
Barbara from the Hornblower books by C. S. Forester. While Hornblower is away fighting
Napoleon, what was she doing anyway?
5. Your novels bring to life the era in which you are telling your story. Mr. Darcy and the
Suffragette paints a true to life portrait of 1912 as do the rest of your novels. How do
you research the era about which you are writing? I have lots of sources for my
research – books, websites, even travel. For example, I traveled to the island of Grenada
after I’d done my book research for Elizabeth in the New World, just see make sure that

I had the facts straight. An amazing thing happened when I was there. In the small,
Grenada museum, I found the only picture of one of the main character, Fedon, in a
small exhibit. Also, the only picture of the governor’s house that I could then describe in
the book. Best of all was the original letter from the president of Grenada refusing
Fedon’s ultimatum. That refusal led to the death of the governor and most of the
English prisoners held by Fedon. I couldn’t believe I was standing there reading the
original.
6. What is your writing process? Are you a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’? I usually get only a
couple of ideas for a book, usually the climax of the plot and perhaps the beginning of
the book. When I first started, I followed the advice I heard in a writer’s workshop to use
notecards and write one sentence for every scene until I finished the novel. I taped
them to the back of the double doors of my office and once they are all done, I began
the book. I don’t have to be that detailed anymore, but still use notecards.
7. What are you working on right now? I’ve started researching for the backstory of Lady
Catherine (from Pride and Prejudice) for my next book. I’m hoping to humanize her a
bit.
8. What do you do when you’re not writing? Do you have any other passions besides
storytelling? I have so much to do when I’m not writing. I’ve gone back half time to
teaching, am really active in a group called Citizens Climate Lobby where we lobby our
federal representatives to pass legislation that will mitigate climate change. As for other
passions, music is one. I majored in it in college and play the piano every day. I also love
to cook.
9. Do you do any other kind of writing besides romance? I’m making notes for a play – a
comedy. I also think I’ll do another screenplay, this time about adoption. I won a couple
of writing contests with screenplays and teleplays in the past. That’s really where I
started writing.
10. If you could give one piece of advice to a beginning writer, what would it be? Join a
writers’ group and get some honest feedback. Get Beta readers who aren’t your friends
to give you advice. Get a good editor. Most of all, take a marketing course. It’s all about

marketing if you want your books out there. Also, write if you like it, if it fulfills a need,
but not if you think you’re going to make a lot of money doing it. There’s a lot of
competition for readers out there and now we have machines entering the fray. Yikes!
The best advice I ever got (besides the notecard thing) is to just sit down and write the
whole thing and then go back and edit and rewrite. Otherwise, you’ll spend your entire
life rewriting the first three chapters!

1. What made you sit down and write your first novel? Have you always been a writer? Is it
something you’ve done all your life or something you came to later?
I’ve always been a reader and a writer. I grew up in the time of snail mail, and wrote and
received letters to my grandmother who lived on a farm in Nebraska, as well as my
father who served in Vietnam. In school, I loved Creative Writing and was editor of the
high school newspaper. I continued letter writing with various friends through the years,
but didn’t start to write novels until my children were in school. The why is hard to pin
point, other than the characters came to me and I wanted to tell their stories.

2. Why do you write romance novels? Do you read them as well as write them?
I write romance novels to tell a love story and I write historical because I’ve always been
a history and mythology buff. I read across all genres, except for horror, The Exorcist
was enough for me, but romance is my favorite. My mother introduced me to Victoria
Holt gothics as a teenager, and then I discovered Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, and Kathleen
Woodiwiss.
3. Your novels are set in a beautifully drawn imaginary world of the past, in a place of
warriors and kings and deeds of bravery. How did you create this world? Is there any
historical truth to this fascinating setting, or is it strictly an imaginary place?
My most recent book, Warrior Mine, is set in Gaul during the reign of Charlemagne, and
while there are fantasy elements to it, the setting is historically accurate and the story
includes an actual historical event, which The Song of Roland is based on. For my
Destined series, I researched specific times and places for each of the four books, from
ancient Mesopotamia, the Caucasus mountains, Viking trade routes, and the Scottish
Highlands, and then I made up my own cultural rules, traditions, and names for places to
set my stories. My publisher calls them “historical mash-ups”.
4. Where do you get your characters? Are they figments of your imagination or based on
real people?

My characters are figments of my imagination, though I will use real people for physical
guidelines, and they are always what come to me first and in many different ways. For
the Destined series, my characters shared traits with their title characters, The Lion &
The Swan, The Stallion & The Tigress, The Eagle & the Lynx, The Stag & the Owl, as well
as one of the four elements of fire, air, earth, or water, and how they relate to each
other, or not. For Warrior Mine, I wanted opposites attracting. So, I wrote a black
haired, steel eyed, stoic, warrior who ran on logic and a red-haired, hot-tempered
healer who may or may not be a witch.
5. What is your writing process? Are you a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’?
I’m a little of both. When I start a book, I know my main characters and the basics of
their backstories, and I know where I’m starting and where I’m ending, with a few of the
big plot points in between. Then I write my way into the story.
6. How do you go about researching your work?
I can happily spend hours down the research rabbit hole, learning about everything
from the history, geography, language, cultures and customs of a certain time period to
the smaller details of the clothing, food, and swear words. I use libraries and the
internet, encyclopedias, reference books, movies, music, and the odd Ren-fair friend.
7. What do you do when you’re not writing? Do you have any other passions besides
storytelling?
I was a small animal veterinary technician for forty years, animals and medicine are still
passions of mine, and show up in pretty much all of my books. I also garden and cook,
practice yoga semi- regularly, and am a big walker. I live by the Pacific Ocean and near
an estuary, and I walk there often with my dogs and always with a pocket size notebook
and pen, because I never know when an idea or even a word will come to me, and I have
learned I’ll forget them if I don’t jot them down.
8. Do you do any other kind of writing besides romance?
I still write letters, snail mail and email, but otherwise, no, just romance.
9. If you could give one piece of advice to a beginning writer, what would it be?
Write the book you’d want to read.

1. What made you sit down and write your first novel? Have you always been a writer? Is it
something you’ve done all your life or something you came to later?
I started writing ‘for publication’ in 2012. I’ve always written since I was young, so its been a
hobby for me as long as I can remember. I had an idea for a romance novel featuring a
character like Benedict Cumberbatch, whom I adore. So I used him as my inspiration and wrote
my first M/F book called Cassandra by Starlight, book 1 in my Starlight series, about an up-and-
coming actor falling in love with a woman ten years older than him. It made all my fantasies
come true in fiction I wrote��
2. Why do you write romance novels? Do you read them as well as write them?
I was an avid Mills and Boon reader when I was much younger, 12, 13 years old. I remember
going into old bookshops and gobbling up all the paperbacks I could find. I grew out of this
when I was a little older and never picked up another romance book again. I prefer horror, and
thrillers and detective stories. I read romance novels still, not as many as I used to as I’ve gone
back to the other genres I mentioned.
3. What prompted you to write M/M romance? How many M/M romances have you
written? Was it a common genre when you started writing them? Or were you a
pioneer?
I started to write M/M romance when I wrote a book called Love and Punishment, which had a
bisexual serial killer as a villain. Blair used sex wiles as a method of controlling the people he
used, so I wanted to read a little more about sex, bisexuality, gay men and the like. Oh boy. I
read a few books and was immediately hooked. So I decided to write my own M/M novel,
Stripped Bare, which was a huge success. I found a niche market, and the rest is history.

4. Where do you get your characters? Are they figments of your imagination or based on
real people?

As I mentioned, the character of Bennett Saville in Cassandra by Starlight is based on Benedict
Cumberbatch. I even dedicated the book to him �� In my third Men of London book, Suit
Yourself, Adam Lambert was the inspiration for the quirky and adorable Leslie Scott. And the
actor John Hamm was the inspiration for the brooding detective Anthony Parglietto in Love and
Punishment.
5. What is your writing process? Are you a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’?
I’m a definite pantser. I make a few notes about the characters, height, weight, eye colour etc
so I don’t make an oops during the writing of the story but everything else comes to me as I
write. I have no start, middle and end and just hope it all makes sense in the end.
6. How do you go about researching your work? How do you think having the city of
London at your fingertips affects your writing?
London is a huge inspiration for all of my books, and why not? It’s a magnificent city with so
much to see. The Starlight series was set in London, and I visited all the places mentioned in the
book, down to the restaurants Bennet and Cassie ate in. My Men of London series is all set in
and around the city, in different residential areas. Double Alchemy, my paranormal/urban
fantasy series, takes place a lot on Hampstead Heath, so hubby and I went to the lakes, visited
the coffee shops and got to know the area. I was told at the time Benedict used to go swimming
in the lakes as he lived in the area, but alas, I never caught sight of him. My husband called it
stalking; I called it fangirling.
7. What do you do when you’re not writing?
I’m Editor in Chief of Divine Magazine, and while the site and content is usually taken care of by
my hardworking and wonderful partner, Anders, I contribute occasional articles and interviews,
and am there as a sounding board when Anders has a question. I also volunteer and do work for
a charity called Frontline , collating and publishing their social media posts across various
platforms. I perform developmental edits for a publisher, have written a small short comedic
episode for Channel 4 TV here in the UK which will be aired sometime this year, and oh, I work

full time as a Compliance Analysts in the financial services industry. So I have plenty to keep me
busy ��
8. Do you do any other kind of writing besides romance?
I do! I’m currently writing under a nom de plume – S M Nicol – a number of urban fantasy
books which has become my current passion. I can’t get enough of fantasy stories, shifters,
witches wizards, fairy beings, goblins, and the like. The Lord of the Rings, Merlin, Shadow and
Bone – I love this type of TV series. The new books will have elements of romance in them but it
isn’t the main plot line.
9. If you could give one piece of advice to a beginning writer, what would it be?
I guess the biggest thing I’ve been guilty of as a writer is always comparing myself to others. Its
about, ‘Ooh look, they’re #1 on Amazon, why can’t I get there, I write just as well’, or ‘Why
can’t I have as many readers as they do, why do they sell so well and I don’t?’ Any writer
reading this will recognise the symptoms, as well as those of imposter syndrome. My publisher
is always pointing out how far I’ve come in the last ten years, and what I’ve achieved and all I
can do is say ‘I could have done better’, ‘What have I done to deserve this recognition, should I
truly be accepting it?’
My advice then is to focus on what YOU do, do it well, and write for your own pleasure and the
people who love your books. It’s tough, and you have to make a conscious decision to do it but
it’s worth the effort for your own sanity.

Without further ado, here’s Heather.

1. What made you sit down and write your first novel? Have you always been a writer? Is it
something you’ve done all your life?

Stories are my love language. I’ve written them nearly all my life. Before I could write, I
told fantastical stories, mostly to entertain and impress others. As a child, I was the sort
who could turn an ordinary event, such as watching my mom’s aerobics class at the
YMCA, into a tale of grand adventure and emotional tumult.

I was often called a liar. My first-grade teacher contacted my mother about the veracity
of my having older siblings, eighteen and twenty years old. My mom was twenty-nine at
the time. But I could spin such a realistic yarn about those siblings that my teacher
thought they must exist but knew they couldn’t possibly exist, and supposed something
might be a little off with me. Fortunately, my mother knew me well enough to know I
was just talking. Soon thereafter, I learned to write in sentences and paragraphs and
kept those stories on paper.

I started writing long fiction during graduate school, and I’ve written quite a few full-
length books. They’ve all taken place in Japan or in my hometown, Baltimore. After four
books, I realized what I loved to write was the historical parts and the romance. Then I
started reading the sub-genre, historical romance, and felt very much at home. My first
attempt at historical romance was a fail. It ended up being historical fiction. It’s sitting
on my computer somewhere. I like the story, though, and one day hope to turn it into a
romance, proper, now that I know how to write a proper romance.

Talk of Tokyo was my first historical romance. I wrote it after my second daughter was
born. While I was recovering from the birth and devoting myself to her early months, I
couldn’t write, so I would put her in the baby carrier and walk around the neighborhood

while dictating ideas for books into my phone. Then, she got to the point where she
wanted a little more space, and I was less exhausted and was able to get the story out.

2. Why do you write romance novels? Do you read them as well as write them?

I grew up reading my mother’s Danielle Steel and Judith Krantz and knew all the
plotlines to The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, Another World, and
Santa Barbara. Romance is wired into me, although it took me a while to realize I could
produce it.

I pretty much only read romance these days, and I read across sub-genres. I’d like to try
my hand at contemporary romance, but I haven’t figured out what kind of stories I could
tell or what my contemporary voice sounds like. It’s taken some time, two books
actually, to find my historical romance voice, so I feel settled, and I plan to write a lot
more in the sub-genre. But I know it’s not good to feel too settled. Have to challenge
oneself and all that in order to stay sharp.

3. In all my years as a romance reader, your books are the first I’ve ever read set in 1900
Japan-in fact, they are the first I’ve read set in Japan. What made you want to set
romances in this time and place? How do you think it makes your stories stand out from
other romance novels?

They say you should write what you want to read, and I would love a bevy of authors
setting their romances in Japan during the Meiji era (1868-1912). I’m hoping to get the
ball rolling.

I’ve lived in Japan for almost fifteen years. I came here to teach English after college and
stayed for four years, then I did doctoral research here for two years, and have lived

with my family in Tokyo since 2015. I know Japanese culture and history very well. I’m
fluent in the language, or so I’m told. I tend to beat myself up over my language skills. I
want to be able to read, speak, and understand everything perfectly before I call myself
fluent, but that’s unrealistic. I can hold rather sophisticated conversations in Japanese
and daily life is no problem, so I’ll grudgingly admit to some degree of fluency.

4. Where do you get your characters? Are they purely figments of your imagination, or are
they based on real individuals?

I’m guilty of casting my characters based on popular actors. That helps with the physical
description. The internal, psychological, conflicts are my imagination. The external
conflicts they face are rooted in the historical era. They’re not my imagination per se,
but I’m throwing a lot of imagination at them.

5. What is your writing process? Are you a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’?

I was a devoted plotter. I’m talking fifty pages of plot along with thirty plus pages on the
main characters. Then, last November, I did NaNoWriMo and pantsed it. Wow, that was
tough. I plotted while writing and somehow managed to get my 50,000 words but had a
few panic moments about where the thing was going and why I was doing this to
myself. In retrospect, though, reading over the writing, it wasn’t all that much worse
than when I plot, and pantsing is quicker. I haven’t written a rough draft for a full-length
book since last November as I’m in editing mode, so I’m still uncertain about how I’ll
approach the next book. It’s going to be set in a world I’m familiar with and mostly
peopled with characters I know, so I might try and pants that one.

6. How do you go about researching your work?

I spent over a decade in graduate school getting my doctoral degree in cultural
anthropology, so I’m good at plowing through academic articles. I use JSTOR to find
research articles and digest them for the details I need. I adore dissertations from
history folks who focused on Meiji-era Japan. Those are goldmines. Finally, I use diaries
by contemporaries to my story’s setting. I like these the least because they’re so
particular and require a jaundiced eye to work through the diarist’s agenda.
Unfortunately, in reading from diarists’ accounts of Japan in the 19 th and early 20 th
centuries, I encounter a lot of racism, which leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

7. What do you do when you’re not writing?

I’m a homemaker extraordinaire! We moved to Tokyo in 2015 for my husband’s job
when my older daughter was three. At that time, I was the only member of the family
who spoke Japanese, and managing our lives became my full-time job. In 2016, I had our
second daughter, and my husband began showing debilitating symptoms of the disease,
dystonia.

My daughters are ten and six. The older one is into the flow of elementary school. The
younger one is leaving her three-year preschool for first grade starting this April (The
Japanese school year begins in April). So, I’m still in full mommy mode with her. I also
teach English at the preschool where she attends. I’ll continue teaching there after she
graduates in March. I need my weekly dose of kiddo cuteness!

I really don’t have a lot of free time. I jog when I can. I like taking baths. I like making
things in the kitchen. I enjoy vacuuming, too. It’s so calming.

8. Do you do any other kind of writing besides romance?

Not right now. I used to do academic writing but that feels like a lifetime ago.

9. If you could give one piece of advice to a beginning writer, what would it be?

Get beta readers. I was too shy to ask anyone I knew to beta read for me, so I hired beta
readers off Upwork. Spent between $15 and $50 on each reader for my first book and
their feedback taught me a lot, first, about how readers read, and second, about some
things my book lacked. They’re no substitute for a professional developmental editor.
But the process helped me get over the shyness of putting my work out there.

Author Interview Questions-Diane Benefiel

1. What made you sit down and write your first novel? Have you always been a writer? Is it something you’ve done all your life? I’ve wanted to be a writer since college but didn’t get serious about it until my kids were old enough that I thought I could take the time. I have several completed manuscripts in dusty boxes under my bed that shall never see the light of day. 
2. In your stories, you bring the High Sierras to life. Why did you choose to set many of your books there? The Eastern Sierras are my happy place. Throughout my childhood, we spent many glorious summer days camping, fishing, and hiking in the Sierras.My husband and I took our kids to the Sierras, and we still manage a trip or two every year. Using the Sierras as a setting in my books gives me a good excuse to go back.
3. Many of your earlier books feature heroes and heroines who are law enforcement officers and who are the ‘good guys’ and pillars of the community. But in your most recent story, your hero was served a grave injustice by law enforcement and is portrayed as something of an outcast. How was writing Walker McGrath different from your previous heroes?  Writing Walker’s story was a challenge because he wasn’t a conventional hero for me. I created a backstory that would break most men but Walker was able to grow from the injustice he endured. He takes nothing for granted and when he commits to Delaney, nothing can stop him from protecting her – whether she wants protection or not. The hero in my next project is Walker’s brother Sawyer, who is more a pillar-of-the community kind of guy. What’s he supposed to do when the woman who stole his heart appears to be a criminal on the run? 
4. What is your writing process? Are you a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’? I’m in the middle. I plot out my story before I start writing, but as my characters drive the story, I often find myself being taken in directions I hadn’t anticipated. I often rein in the story to make sure I’m hitting my pacing goals, but then the characters pull me on another path.
5. How do you go about researching your work? For research, Google is my friend. I hope no one ever looks at my search history, because they’d think I was a murderous psychopath. It’s amazing what you can learn with a few clicks of a mouse. I also call on my family and friend network for various areas of expertise. My sister is in law enforcement, my brother-in-law is a retired fire department battalion chief, my nephew-in-law was a Marine, my cousin is a doctor, my son is in law school – I’ve tapped them all to add authenticity to my writing. 
6. What do you do when you’re not writing? I teach AP US History, so during the school year my time is consumed with lesson planning and grading papers. During school breaks, I travel to Rhode Island to visit my daughter and her family. Grandchild #3 had perfect timing as she was born just after Christmas. I was honored to be in the delivery room while Grandpa and Uncle Ethan took care of the two year old and four year old. My grandkids have my heart. In addition to visits to RI, I love camping trips to National Parks in the west.  
7. If you could give one piece of advice to a beginning writer, what would it be? My advice for beginning writers is to join a writers’ group and attend writers’ conferences. I joined an RWA chapter and, in addition to making good friends,  received terrific support and feedback from other writers. I also attended local and national conferences and attended workshops that helped me develop my craft. I connected with the two publishers I’ve worked with through local conferences.