While the romance genre has expanded so much over the years, in an odd way it's also narrowed, with too many people trying to stick stories into tight, well-defined marketing niches. It can, admittedly, be a tricky balancing act, but I believe the key is to be able to step back and take a long hard look at what you do well, what makes your work different from other writers, what feels the most natural to you when you're writing.

Any guy afraid to die was a guy who was afraid to live.

I've always read suspense, so raising the stakes to life and death situations in my romance plots seemed natural.

Bruises fade. Death is permanent.

Most of the writers I know have somehow managed to stay in touch with that inner child who's never heard of such a thing as an internal editor.

I've always loved books. My mother told me that before I could talk, I'd babble in my crib as I turned the pages of my little cloth books, apparently telling stories to go along with the pictures.

One of the reasons writers are never satisfied with their work is because they're always striving to do better.