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MareeAnderson About My first idea for a book was inspired by the afterword in Stephen Donaldson’s The Gap series. So, after a couple of weeks of tossing and turning and not sleeping because of the characters running round in my head and demanding I notice them, I finally gave in and put fingers to keyboard. And when I finally typed The End, I figured I’d achieved everything I’d set out to do. I’d written a novel and that was “the end”. Boy, was I wrong.

“So you’re just gonna put it in a drawer and forget about it now, huh?”

Good question.

“What makes you so afraid of taking the next step–seeing whether it’s good enough to be published?”

Uh…. Even better question!

So I did some research and discovered the annual RWNZ Clendon Award for full length romantic manuscript. If I entered, a bunch of Barbara’s Books patrons who love romance to bits and beyond, would read my entire manuscript and give detailed feedback on a 3-page judging sheet. Sounded good to me! So in 2004 I joined Romance Writers of New Zealand and entered two manuscripts in the Clendon Award. To my surprise—and delight!—one entry finalled and the other was highly commended. I was hooked.

I now write full time and I gotta say, the best part about being a writer is that I get to read for research. And believe me, I do a lot of research. I’m a huge fan of Sci-Fi, fantasy and paranormal, and this love is reflected in my writing. My stories feature blind Seers with magical powers, warriors cursed and imprisoned in their namesake crystals, elementals who ride lightning, men who exude pheromones which make them irresistible to women, a teenage cyborg and even a sexy dragon demon.

In 2006 I won the Clendon Award with the first of my Crystal Warrior series books. In 2008, the second of the series was a finalist, and in 2009, the third book finalled, too. In 2009, my first attempt at a young adult manuscript won the Maryland Romance Writers Reveal Your Inner Vixen contest, placed second in the Oklahoma Romance Writers Finally A Bride contest, and third in the North Texas Romance Writers Great Expectations contest. (Mmm. Maybe reading all those young adult books paid off.) My other completed manuscripts have placed in a number of RWA chapter contests, including The Golden Gateway (unpublished and published divisions), The Sheila and Heart of the West.

In 2008 I entered a novella in the Red Sage Alpha Male Novella contest, and was offered a publishing contract with Red Sage Publishing. That novella, Even Demons Get The Blues, was a June 2009 Red Sage Presents release, and I’ve continued to write erotic romances of the paranormal persuasion for Red Sage, culminating in my first print release, Kat On A Hot Tin Roof in the Secrets, Volume 30 “Desires Unleashed” anthology. My latest releases, The Crystal Warrior , Ruby’s Dream (Crystal Warriors Book 2), and Freaks of Greenfield High, are now available at Smashwords, Amazon, iTunes, Sony, Diesel eBooks, Barnes & Noble, and All Romance eBooks.

In December 2012 my YA, Freaks of Greenfield High, (about a teenage cyborg forced to hide out at a small-town high school) was chosen by the Wattpad crew to be one of their featured stories. To date Freaks has had more than 60,000 reads, and numerous requests for a sequel. (To my Wattpad fans: I’m brainstorming ideas and I’ll get to it soon, I promise!)

I’d love to hear from you, so drop me a line, “like” my Facebook page & leave a comment, or follow me on Twitter.