Hi, I'm Laura
I write contemporary romance novels set in the fictional town of Galway, North Carolina. I've lived in Colorado, the Louisville Kentucky area, the university town of Champaign Illinois, and, now, in Minnesota, but until a few years ago my home was in the Carolinas not far from where I envision Galway to be. Sometimes I'd swear I can still smell that sweet mountain air. I close my eyes and see the hills stretched out in misty layers of blue and green all the way to the horizon.
Occasionally on social media I'll see people bemoaning their late start to writing. Am I sympathetic? No, I laugh and laugh. But I do encourage them to not let that stop them. The more life you've lived, the more you have to draw from in your writing. I've gotten a much later start than many, so I can draw on my experiences of raising a child to adulthood and earning my living doing everything from social work to driving straight trucks to bookkeeping to being a sociology professor. I've met a lot of people, made fabulous friends, been engaged four times and married twice, and lost some beloved folks along the way. Every one of those experiences helps me create interesting stories. I hope you like my tales of people who aren't perfect but who are bone-deep decent, even as they guard their fears and protect their fragile hearts.
PS: My son says I am "missing an image citation" for this page. He wants credit for this photo he took, and I shudder to think what he would title it. His nicknames for me include "Hunkles" and worse (yes, worse) things. The moral of this story? Raise your child to be quiet and respectful. And if you can't do that, at least don't laugh when he says this stuff. It only encourages him.
Image description: Head and shoulders of a woman (white, fat, smiling, with short graying dark hair and dark-framed glasses, wearing a black blouse under a denim jacket) against the backdrop of an old gray stone building with a yellowish column.
Occasionally on social media I'll see people bemoaning their late start to writing. Am I sympathetic? No, I laugh and laugh. But I do encourage them to not let that stop them. The more life you've lived, the more you have to draw from in your writing. I've gotten a much later start than many, so I can draw on my experiences of raising a child to adulthood and earning my living doing everything from social work to driving straight trucks to bookkeeping to being a sociology professor. I've met a lot of people, made fabulous friends, been engaged four times and married twice, and lost some beloved folks along the way. Every one of those experiences helps me create interesting stories. I hope you like my tales of people who aren't perfect but who are bone-deep decent, even as they guard their fears and protect their fragile hearts.
PS: My son says I am "missing an image citation" for this page. He wants credit for this photo he took, and I shudder to think what he would title it. His nicknames for me include "Hunkles" and worse (yes, worse) things. The moral of this story? Raise your child to be quiet and respectful. And if you can't do that, at least don't laugh when he says this stuff. It only encourages him.
Image description: Head and shoulders of a woman (white, fat, smiling, with short graying dark hair and dark-framed glasses, wearing a black blouse under a denim jacket) against the backdrop of an old gray stone building with a yellowish column.