Pamela Montgomerie
http://www.pamelapalmer.net
I grew up in the Air Force. No, no, I didn’t wear
little fatigues or salute my parents (although I have a
snapshot of me attempting to do push-ups beside my pilot dad
at age four), but as anyone in a career military household
knows, it’s not just a job, it’s a life that
includes the entire family and one that can provide some
unique experiences. At a year old, I thought any man in an
Air Force uniform was my daddy. At nine I received a
government-issue set of dog tags, and at ten I rode an
elephant in Bangkok and later watched an earthquake ripple
like ocean waves across our front yard in the Philippines.
Unlike a lot of authors, I didn’t grow up wanting to
be a writer. I didn’t even want to be a pilot like my
dad. I wanted to be an astronaut. I spent hours alone in
my room either reading, watching Star Trek, or imagining
other worlds filled with magic, strange creatures and
dashing space pirates. The dream followed me to college
where I studied engineering with plans to head for NASA when
I graduated. But at nineteen I woke up to the reality of
the modern space program and the stars finally fell from my
eyes. The Space Shuttle was never going to take me where my
imagination wanted to go.
Instead, I graduated from Auburn University with a degree in
Industrial Engineering and went to work for a major computer
manufacturer. I still devoured books (almost exclusively
romances) and even tried writing one, but after the first
exciting chapter I had no idea what to do with my
characters. I thought I couldn’t write. In
hindsight, I simply had no idea how to plot.
I set aside the dream of writing for a few years while I had
babies, though I continued to create stories in my head.
Then one night as I did the dinner dishes, one of those
daydreams became too big to keep in my head. I had to write
it down. This time, however, thanks to the recent opening of
a brand new library down the street, I discovered a wealth
of books on plotting and character development and realized
I could learn how to turn scenes into books and craft entire
stories. The process was neither fast nor easy, encompassing
four manuscripts, half a dozen partials, and eleven years of
hard work before I sold my first book. Fortunately, I had a
lot of encouragement along the way. With my very first book
I finaled for Romance Writers of America’s most
prestigious award for unpublished writers, the Golden Heart.
Each of my subsequent books also became a Golden Heart
finalist, the third winning the award outright. The fourth,
through the Golden Heart, sold.
Now I spend my days in those fascinating worlds filled with
magic, excitement and dashing heroes, and my evenings with
my real-life hero and two wonderful kids.
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Books
Sapphire Dream
(Jewels of Time #1)
July 7, 2009
A gem of a time-travel romance series begins.
When Brenna Cameron returns to Castle Stour on the
coast of Scotland seeking answers about her past, she can't
imagine that she'll be transported to Read more...
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