My Inspiration

The first romance novel I can remember reading, as an adult was, Shanna, by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. A dear friend gave it to me. She told me she had a book I would love.                                             

Not only did I love this historical romantic fiction, the strength of the story line and the unforgettable cast of characters intrigued me.

My favorite was the young heroine Shanna from the first novel I read. I loved the author and character name so much, that in 1983 when our daughter was born, we named her Shanna Nicole.

I soon began to read all the novels of Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, I could find, and today she is still my favorite author.

Her novels flow with strong heroes and heroines in a history filled background. You never know where the twists and turns will take you or how it will finally end. She will write briefly about a character in the beginning then he or she will find their way back to the end, becoming a pivotal character needed for the climactic finale.

Sadly, on July 6, 2007, Ms. Woodiwiss died, after a long and courageous battle with cancer. Her final gift to her devoted fans, her last novel, Everlasting, was released in October 2007.      

As a tribute to this fine lady and author, I would like to tell you a little about her and share her list of novels. If you have never read a novel by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, now is the time.

Image source:  http://www.kathleenwoodiwiss.com/author/author.asp

   KATHLEEN E. WOODIWISS

                                                  1939-2007

            Kathleen Erin Hogg was born on June 3, 1939. She was the youngest of eight children born to Charles Hogg and his wife, in Alexandria, Louisiana. Kathleen loved to tell stories and by the age of six was creating her own stories to help herself fall asleep at night.

            At sixteen, she met a young U.S. Air Force Second Lieutenant, at a sock-hop for servicemen. A year later she married Ross Woodiwiss her young servicemen and they transferred to Japan.

            While living in Japan, Kathleen worked part-time as a fashion model for an American-owned modeling agency. It was also during this period that she attempted several times to begin a novel, to only stop in frustration at the slow pace of writing in longhand.

            After buying her husband an electric typewriter for Christmas, she soon appropriated the machine and started her writing career in earnest.

            Agents and hardcover publishers rejected her first novel, The Flame and the Flower. It was deemed to long at 600 pages for a historical romance. She was instructed to rewrite the novel. Instead of following this advice, Kathleen submitted it to a paperback publisher. She started at the beginning of, Writer’s Digest, and the first publisher on her list, Avon, purchased her novel.

            The Flame and the Flower, published in 1972, sold over 2.3 million copies in its first four years. It is credited with spawning the modern romance genre, becoming the first novel of its kind to follow the principal characters into the bedroom. This novel prompted a new style of writing romance. It concentrated primarily on historical fiction while tracking the monogamous relationship between the heroines and the heroes who rescued them. Even though he was often the one who placed her in mortal danger. Her subsequent novels continued the example set by her first one with longer plots, controversial situations and characters with more intimate and steamy sex scenes.

            Ms.Woodiwiss soon became know for the quality of her novels but not the quantity. She often took four or five years to write a single novel. When asked she sometimes attributed the lag in publication time to personal and health issues and other times she confessed to suffering burnout and needing time to rest and recover her interest in writing.

            Her novels were historical romances set in many backgrounds: the American Civil War, 18th-century England or Saxony in the time of William the Conqueror. Her heroines were all strong-willed young women with a spark of life and determination.

            Ms. Woodiwiss once described her novels as “fairy tales “. Going on to say they are an escape for the reader, like an Errol Flynn movie.

                                    BIBLIOGRAPHY OF NOVELS

Birmingham Family Sage Series

1. The Flame and the Flower, 1972

2. “The Kiss”, in THREE WEDDING AND A KISS, 1995

3. “Beyond the Kiss”, in MARRIED AT MIDNIGHT, 1996

4. A Season beyond a Kiss, 2000

5. The Elusive Flame, 1998

Single Novels

1. Wolf and the Dove, 1974

2. Shanna, 1977

3. Ashes in the Wind, 1979

4. A Rose in winter, 1981

5. Come Love a Stranger 1984

6. So Worthy My Love, 1989

7. Forever in Your Embrace, 1992

8. Petals on the River, 1997

9. The Reluctant Suitor, 2002

10. Everlasting, 2007

I will leave you with a quote from her website.

“Be seduced again, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, where romance begins.”