Janelle Denison has been writing romances for over 10 years, and even from the very first book she attempted to write (which is now stuffed in a box in the garage rafters) she knew she wanted to write category romance, because those were the kind of books she loved to read. It took her five years to make that first sale, which was for The Family Man, written under the pseudonym Danielle Kelly.
It took Janelle another two-and-a-half years to sell her second book, which, unfortunately, wasn't slotted as a category romance, though she has the rejection letters to prove that she tried to sell it to Silhouette first! Heaven's Gift (written under her own name) was published in 1995.
Another two years passed (sigh) of collecting rejections before she found two wonderfully supportive editors, and everything finally fell into place in 1997 when she sold two books to Mills & Boon for their Sizzling Romance series, and another two books to Mills & Boon Tender Romance. Writing for both supplies a wonderful creative outlet for both her modern, ultra-sexy stories and her warmer, traditional romances.
A few years ago, Janelle left her day job as a construction secretary to write full-time. Now she finds herself elbow deep in deadlines, proposals (growling at her husband to fix a glitch in the computer so she can get back to work!) contracts, line-edits, (stressing over a scene that won't work or characters that just won't talk or co-operate with the plans she has for them!) galleys, art-fact sheets, and other publishing paperwork. Admittedly she wouldn't trade all the craziness in for tights, rush hour traffic, and a nine-to-five job again.
Writing is hard work, but Janelle finds the rewards are well worth the effort. Fan letters are one of those priceless rewards, and can keep her on a high for days! She's met the most wonderful people through her books, some of whom she now considers good friends. So if you'd like to say hi, or comment on her books, please stop by her web site or email her. She always writes back!
Janelle lives in Southern California with her engineer husband, whose support and encouragement has enabled her to follow her dream of writing. He's the best, and never complains when dinner isn't on time (or doesn't happen!) because she's spent the day holed up in her office, lost in that faraway world she's created for her characters. The laundry tends to pile up, too, so she's made sure to buy him two weeks of socks and underwear to tide him over!
As for the house, well the pre-teen gremlins she has running loose are like those cyclones that wipe out everything in their path. The feisty indoor cat she has tends to add to the destruction. Janelle has learned to live with the chaos. So have they. And luckily, so has her husband. And those two energetic daughters of hers certainly keep life interesting and give her plenty of ideas for the young, mischievous characters she includes in the books she writes.
