Rallying emotions for writing success

 

“If you can't laugh at your own characters, or shed a tear for them, or even get angry at one of them, no one else will either.” – Johanna Lindsey

 

Born in Frankfurt, West Germany on this date in 1952, Lindsey literally owned the title “Queen of American historical romance writers” for nearly 40 years.  All of her 56 books reached the New York Times bestseller list and many were number one, including her 2016 award winner, Make Me Love You, and her humorous and passionate Temptation’s Darling, published in 2019 shortly before her death from cancer.  Translated into numerous languages, her books have sold over 60 million copies.

 

Raised in a military family, Lindsey said she had the usual “Army Brat” experiences, including numerous moves before settling in Hawaii in 1964, where she married, raised a family and lived until 1994 before relocating to New England, where she was living at the time of her death.

 

Lindsey began writing in 1977, doing her first book Captive Bride “on a whim.”  She set her passionate tales in many locales, including the Caribbean, the Barbary Coast, Medieval England, Viking-era Norway, the19th-century American West, and even a sci-fi locale – the planet Kystran.   She often produced two books a year. 

 

 “Biding time is easy,” she explained, “and gets you nowhere.”