Hello,
I live in England, on the Kent coast, and I love the wide beaches and big skies. Romney Marsh is close by, a place where sheep outnumber people. Walking with my two dogs is my favourite part of the day and the time when stories unfold in my mind. If only they leapt onto the computer screen as easily!
I read my first Harlequin Mills & Boon romance when I was a teenager and was immediately swept into the wonderful world of pure escapism, glamour, excitement and of course passionate and intensely emotional romance that is classic Mills & Boon. My own tall, dark and handsome hero zoomed into my life when we were crazy kids. Forty years of marriage and six children (now adults) later we are still as different as chalk and cheese, a carnivore and a vegetarian, an engineer and a daydreamer, and still crazy about each other!
As a child I was an avid reader, and also wrote my own stories. Later, when I was knee-deep in babies I read mainly romance novels so that for a few hours I was whisked away to a Greek island or an exotic Caribbean location with a hero and heroine who enjoyed a champagne lifestyle and sizzling passion while they found their way to everlasting love. What's not to like?
In my twenties I wrote and submitted a few books and was invited to meet a Mills & Boon editor. But family life came first and I wasn't ready to pursue my dream of becoming an author. Years later, and struggling to cope with the loss of my darling mum, I saw a competition in a magazine to write the opening paragraphs of a Mills & Boon romance. Mum had always encouraged me to write so I entered the competition and was one of six finalists out of thousands of entries. I received a prize of some bubble bath! Inspired by that little bit of success, I wrote a full manuscript based on my competition entry because I wanted to know what happened to my characters. After another two submissions I was stunned to get a call from an editor who said that Mills & Boon wanted to buy my book. It was incredibly exciting and definitely a dream come true. That was in 2006, and now I am on track to write my fiftieth book. Writing is sometimes fantastic and more often frustrating but I still feel very privileged to be able to share my stories with readers.
My ideas come from everywhere; newspaper articles, films that trigger a 'what if?' moment, books I have read and felt annoyed that the characters didn't do what I wanted them to - which is the reason I started writing! Ideas can come from something as small as seeing the sparkle of sunshine on a window, across the bay. In that instance it made me imagine a heroine who remembered the sparkle of the diamond engagement ring her fiancé had given her when he'd proposed. But she had discovered that he didn't love her and planned to marry her to get his hands on her family's hotel. Of course the heroine was a hot-air balloonist! Don't ask me why - she just was! (The Greek Wedding She Never Had). That's the fun of writing, there are no limits to your imagination.
So that's me, writer, dreamer, dog lover and grandmother of two gorgeous little grandsons. The biscuit tin is calling and I must answer that call!
Best wishes from Chantelle xx
