Why romance novels?

I've been reading romance novels since childhood. Some of the first authors I read were Victoria Holt, Dorothy Eden, Mary Stewart, to name a few. I've always enjoyed reading romance novels as an escape. Two years after my mom died of cancer, I started writing them as an escape. During the day, I keep busy working as a journalist for a large international charity. My travels have taken me to Haiti, Nicaragua and other poor countries. Writing romance novels provides a healthy balance to some of the horrible suffering I've witnessed. Forget the rules! FALCON came about in the summer of 2001 after I listened to some very wise advice by author Susan Elizabeth Phillips given at a romance writer's conference. She told everyone to chuck the rules and write what you love. I listened. After picking up a National Geographic article on "The Pharaohs of the Sun," I became intrigued with the mystery surrounding Akhenaten and his worship of the sun god, Aten. Although his first wife, Nefertiti, was ...  more