Central Pennsylvania Romance Writers

 Sara Walter Ellwood

 Cera duBois

Sara Walter Ellwood has a strong belief in never giving up on your dreams…

Although Sara was unable to read due to dyslexia and a learning disability until she was in the fourth grade, she always had a story to tell. She wrote her first novel in eleventh grade when she had to keep a journal for her academic English class. Since her life was far from exciting growing up as a farm girl in West Central Pennsylvania, she decided to rely on her imagination to give her something to write about. Over the course of the school year, she wrote a tangled romance set in the Deep South during the Civil War. When she impressed her English teacher, becoming an author became her ultimate dream. She has a BS in secondary social studies education from Penn State University, and she currently works full-time for the Department of the Army as a medical secretary. A mother of a teenage son and pre-teen daughter, she lives near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with her husband of nearly 20 years. If she isn’t sitting in a quiet corner with her laptop, warm days can find her in the English garden surrounding her house. Sara loves to read and is interested in history, romance, science fiction and the paranormal. Under the pen name Cera duBois, she writes paranormals and contemporary Westerns under the name of Sara Walter Ellwood.

Visit her websites:

Sara Walter Ellwood   ~~Stories about cowboys and the women strong enough to love them…

or

Cera duBois  ~~Where good and evil collide, and love allways prevails…

Sara/Cera Answered 5 Interview Questions:

What’s your favorite fairy tale?  Beauty and the Beast
What do you write?  Under the name Cera duBois, I write paranormals. Eventually someday I’d like to try urban fantasy and science fiction.  Sara Walter Ellwood writes Contemporary Westerns,  and someday, I’d like to branch out to straight contemporary and historicals.
Who’s influenced you the most? My grandmother—she wasn’t a writer, but she was one heck of a storyteller.
Do you write while listening to music? What kind? Yes, country music.
Best advice anyone ever gave you?  Never give up and never stop believing.

Andrew Grey

Making the World Sexier One Reader at a Time

Andrew grew up in western Michigan with a father who loved to tell stories and a mother who loved to read them. Since then he has lived throughout the country and traveled throughout the world. He has a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and works in information systems for a large corporation. Andrew’s hobbies include collecting antiques, gardening, and leaving his dirty dishes anywhere but in the sink (particularly when writing) He considers himself blessed with an accepting family, fantastic friends, and the world’s most supportive and loving partner. Andrew currently lives in beautiful, historic Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Author Web Site
Author Live Journal
Author E-mail – andrewgrey@comcast.net

Andrew Answered 5 + Interview Questions:

What’s your favorite ride at the amusement park?  Cedar Point
What’s your favorite fairy tale?  Cinderfella
What do you write?  M/M Contemporary
Why do you write it? I can’t stop the stories in my head.
How long have you been writing? 5 years
If you could go anyplace in the whole world, in any time period, where would it be and why?  I would love to go back to Australia and be able to take Dominic with me. I’ve been there and it was fascinating. I’d love to show Australia to Dominic.
Who’s influenced you the most?  Elizabeth North, a fantastic publisher and friend.
Favorite color?  Orange
Describe the best meal in the whole world.  Steak and mashed potatoes.
Do you write while listening to music?  no
Best advice anyone ever gave you?  Write every day. (Thanks to Misty and her 50/50s)

Cindy Musser

Cindy is an aspiring author who writes sweet contemporary and romantic mystery with a paranormal twist. She is currently seeking publication for her first manuscript. During the day, Cindy is a research administrator at Penn State University. She lives on a dairy farm in Central PA with her high-school-sweetheart husband, is the mother of three children, and has two precious grandsons. Beginning in January 2009, she became the new CPRW Secretary and previously served as Pro Liaison.

Ava Quinn

Pleasure Reading

Aspiring author, Ava Quinn, lives in Pennsylvania where she spends her days trying to fit in time to write whenever and wherever she can. She’s been known to call her answering machine while driving to record an idea or a bit of dialogue that she doesn’t want to forget.

She was born in the seventies, which means in most of her childhood pictures she’s wearing bellbottoms. It also means she was a teenager in the eighties. Big hair and blue eyeshadow were a staple of her life for a while. Thankfully, that didn’t last. Learn more about her by visiting her website.

Victoria Smith

Victoria Smith wrote her first romance at the age of nine and promptly hid the story from her older brothers to avoid being teased mercilessly. Her mother recently found and gave her the folded notebook paper and, if you’re lucky, one day she’ll reveal who the hero in that story was. Now, she writes dark paranormal, romantic suspense and women’s fiction – always with a happy, or at least satisfying, ending.

An active member of Central Pennsylvania Romance Writers, Victoria lives in Central Pennsylvania with her high school sweetheart, four children, an oversized mutt who thinks she’s a lapdog, an overweight cat who tries to make visitors believe he’s never fed, and an ever changing menagerie of critters. Visit her blog here.

Karen Rose Smith

“Karen Rose Smith always writes romances that touch the heart. They are quick reads with characters that we the readers can relate to.” Kathy Andrico, www.kathysreviewcorner.com

Award-winning author Karen Rose Smith was born in Pennsylvania. Although she was an only child, she remembers the bonds of an extended family. She and her parents lived with her grandfather and aunt until she was five when her parents built a house next door. Since her father came from a family of ten and her mother, a family of seven, there were always aunts, uncles and cousins visiting on weekends. Family is a strong theme in her books and she suspects her childhood memories are the reason.

As a teenager, music became as important to Karen as reading. The Beatles were her favorite group. But she and her cousin took their first sojourn into writing by collaborating on a script for the MONKEES television program. They sent that script to every concert venue where the group appeared that summer!

In college, Karen began writing poetry and also met her husband-to-be. They both began married life as teachers, but when their son was born, Karen decided to try her hand at a home decorating business.

She returned to teaching for a while but changes in her life led her to writing romance fiction. Now she writes full-time. She has sold 70 novels since 1991. She has recently sold three more books in her THE BABY EXPERTS Series. The series will run through 2010. LULLABY FOR TWO (Book 1 in the series for Silhouette Special Edition) will be released in March. She has written for Meteor/Kismet, Kensington and Harlequin/Silhouette. A winner of New Jersey’s Golden Leaf Award in Short Contemporary Romance as well as the Phoenix Desert Rose Chapter’s Golden Quill for Traditional Romance, she has also been honored with cataromance.com Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Silhouette Special Edition, and Romance Reviews Today’s award for BEST SERIES ROMANCE. Her romances have made both the USA TODAY list and the Waldenbooks Bestseller list for Series Romance.

Married to her college sweetheart since 1971, believing in the power of love and commitment, she envisions herself writing relationship novels for a long time to come! Readers can e-mail Karen through her website at www.karenrosesmith.com or write to her at P.O. Box 1545, Hanover, PA 17331. Readers can read an excerpt from LULLABY FOR TWO and find out more about the rest of the series on her website.

Misty Simon

Misty Simon loves to tell stories, especially the ones she types on her computer. Sharing her quirky sense of humor through her full-figured heroines is a dream come true and she hopes readers take something away with them from every story. Misty lives in Central Pennsylvania with her husband and daughter, Noelle, where she is hard at work on her next book. She loves to hear from readers and you can check out her website Or email her directly.

Megan Hart

Read in bed!

Megan Hart began her writing career in grammar school when she plagiarized a short story by Ray Bradbury. She soon realized that making up her own stories was better than copying other people’s, and she’s been writing ever since.

Megan’s goal is to continue writing spicy, thrilling love stories with a twist. Her dream is to have a movie made of every one of her novels, starring herself as the heroine and Keanu Reeves as the hero. Megan lives in the deep, dark woods with her husband and two monsters…er…children. Learn more about her by visiting her website or her her blog.

Natalie J. Damschroder

Love with a Shot of Adrenaline

Natalie J. Damschroder is the author of high-stakes romantic adventure and paranormal romance. A former president, vice president, treasurer, and newsletter editor for CPRW and the current chapter librarian, Natalie is a charter member of the Hobnail Boot Squad (for butt-kicking encouragement) and frequent wearer of the white dress of Galadriel (for gentle yet powerful support).Learn more about her by visiting her website.

Vicky Burkholder

Vicky’s career includes work as a technical writer/editor, a stringer for a local newspaper, and an editor and copy editor for several e-publishers. As Assistant Manager at a small independent bookstore, she also writes reviews for the store as well as Goodreads and her own review site:
http://CrystalClearReviews.wordpress.com At various times in her life, she has been a teacher, a secretary, a short-order cook, a computer specialist, a DJ, and a librarian. She’s married to the most supportive guy in the universe and, with him, raised four great kids. She currently has novels and novellas under both her name, and her alter-ego, Victoria Allen, published with Captiva Press, Ellora’s Cave, and Draumr Publishing.

Visit her website and her blog .

Vicky Answered 5 Interview Questions:

What do you write? Fantasy, futuristic, paranormal romance
Why do you write it? I love exploring strange new worlds and expanding boundaries
Who’s influenced you the most? My dad – though not highly educated, he knew how to take a reluctant reader and turn her into a voracious reader and writer.
Do you write while listening to music? What kind? New age, easy listening type – anything without words because I tend to sing along with lyrics
Best advice anyone ever gave you? Don’t quit. Keep going. Keep working. Keep trying.