I've been reading since I was knee-high to a gnat. My mother taught me, the way she taught me all the good things in life. She read to me when I was little and then she bought me books of my own. Little Women, What Katy Did and Anne of Green Gables. I read them all until the covers fell off. Then I discovered the public library and the world was mine.
Only one thing is better than reading. Writing. Bringing to life characters that you love so much that finishing the book, leaving them to get on with their lives without you, is the hardest thing.
I started writing when my children were small and my engineer husband, John, was working abroad. We'd met working in Africa and had travelled the world together before settling down in the house that John built for us in Wales. The landscape is magical, with soft, misty hills, sudden rocky outcrops and crumbling castles. This is Carmarthenshire, the land of Merlin and, according to legend, half a mile from our home King Arthur and his knights are sleeping in a cave, waiting for a bell to be rung to summon them to action. It's nice to know that help is so close at hand should we ever need it!
My first romance, An Image of You, was published in 1992. Set in Kenya, in a place I knew well, it was plucked from the slush pile because the feisty feminist heroine made my editor laugh. Emotion touched with humour has been the hallmark of my books ever since.
Writing, as well as being a wonderful career that had brought me many awards – what other job can you do in your jammies? – has give me so much pleasure in other ways. When I was first published, the ‘net was some mysterious thing confined, pretty much, to scientists. In 1997 I took the plunge and went “on line” and through email was able to turn contacts with writers all over the world into strong friendships. Then in 1998 I launched my first website and began this wonderful interaction with readers, which is now even more immediate with the instant feedback of blogging.
This year I’ve reached a very special golden milestone. THE BRIDE’S BABY, the first book in the A Bride for all Seasons quartet, is my fiftieth Harlequin Romance. Romantic Times have given it the coveted TOP PICK award. I hope you like you it, too.
You can find out more about Liz and her books on her website, http://www.lizfielding.com/
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