|
ALW
Bio
Amber Leigh Williams has always been a small town, Southern girl with a
compulsion to write. When her fourth grade teacher handed out her first
writing assignment, she discovered a very special love of writing and
hasn’t stopped scribbling on paper corners since. From the moment she
picked up her chewed #2 pencil and began writing her own version of
Cinderella, she unknowingly set off on winding path to write what
she loved most: love stories.
Of course, it took her a while to get there. As soon as she discovered
the computer in her parents’ bedroom and set off to hone her Microsoft
Word skills, she was never far from the keyboard where she spent hours
upon hours writing a series of short-story capers. The protagonists were
teenage twins, Hunter and Spade, and their two best friends, Leah and
Ward. A year went by and they were growing up…and falling in love. Soon
the mystery series had spent its powder and was morphing into young
adult romantic comedy.
Amber’s writings went into deeper waters in her
early high school days by abandoning Twins and Co. and embarking on a
high school series about five freshmen at
Perry
Hall High
Academy. The
romantic comedy was put on the backburner to make room for melodramatic
shenanigans much like those on the popular television show
Dawson’s Creek. By the
time she moved on, the series consisted of three manuscripts tucked
tidily into a large three-ringed binder where she could easily go back
and walk the angst-ridden halls of Perry Hall anytime—which she admits
to doing on occasion.
The year the Academy saga ended, Amber read her
first romance novel. At fourteen, the fun she’d had buried between the
pages of Sweet Valley High
and The Babysitter’s
Club was fading. Her mother handed her
salvation: Nora Roberts’ Carnal Innocence.
With it she stumbled across a revelation. The need to write a great
story was now the need to write a great love
story. She’d circled around it for years. She decided to take the
plunge.
It was a historical entitled
Forever Amore. While
reading The Diary of Anne Frank,
she’d discovered a fascination with World War II. After viewing a movie
made by Hallmark called In Love and War,
her interest fixed on
Italy’s turmoil
during that period of unrest. A story began to unravel. She opened her
laptop and began to tell it.
December 2004, the novel was
complete. The rush of completion fueled her to finish a sequel within a
month. The year of 2005, six more romance manuscripts were completed. In
2008, a dream came true when Amber’s first published novel debuted,
followed closely by other titles with The Wild Rose Press and Black Lyon
Publishing. Most of them are available in print. Her western romance,
Blackest Heart, placed 1
st in the More Than Magic novella
category.
Amber is an active member of Romance Writers of
America, Gulf Coast Romance Writers, and monthly contributor to Romance
Writers United Write Right
newsletter. She works in a bookstore and lives with her husband and
three labs on the Gulf Coast of Alabama where she plans to write romance
for the rest of her life!
Q&A
What’s your zodiac?
My horoscope is Taurus. Horns and
everything. Ole!
My zodiac year is the Tiger! War Eagle!
Who is your favorite romance hero of all time?
Hm…That’s a tough one. I’d say it’d come down to a
neck-and-neck tie between Jane Austen’s Mr. Darcy and J.D. Robb’s Roarke.
Both are really yummy and addictive in their own special ways. I can’t
get enough!!!
What are the top three things you’d want if stranded
on a desert island?
Keats, my laptop with plenty of spare batteries and wireless internet so
I can stay in touch with all my family and friends at GCC and GIAM.
Jacob, my hubby who can do all kinds of handy things like build us a
beachhouse, cook an awesome breakfast, and make me smile endlessly.
J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series (‘nuff said!!!)
What do you love most about being a writer?
The electric surge of adrenaline I get when I think of
a new concept. That’s when the ideas just spill out onto the page faster
than I can write. I especially love when I’ve been writing for hours and
hours on end, but I don’t realize it until *blink* it’s
midnight
and I’ve written twenty-five pages!
What has writing taught you?
The best work comes from the heart. In the first writing contest I
entered, the judge who gave me my lowest score wrote, “I see your heart
in it so please keep at it!” I try not to do anything I care about with
less than all my energy and devotion
J
What is your most annoying habit?
I have to read. If my brain flips into idle, I
absolutely have to pick up a book. It’s probably rude when I’m around
others, but if the conversation isn’t doing it for me or I don’t know
anyone, whatever paperback I have stuffed in my purse is going to make
an appearance. It’s also why I have trouble sleeping. As soon as I stop
thinking, the little word-gobbler upstairs instantly perks up and says,
“Chow time!”
Name the personality trait that’s helped you most.
My stubbornness. Most would say that’s a bad quality,
but it’s what got me this far. I see it more as mulish determination.
It’s why I spit out a first draft inside three months. It’s why I never
stop editing the manuscript once it’s finished, why I’m so persistent
with editors and agents, and—most importantly—why I ignored everyone who
told me I couldn’t do it. Stubbornness is a good thing to have in this
business as long it comes with a healthy dose of humility and
open-mindedness ;)
See what’s on Amber’s romance
shelf at her Shelfari (
http://www.shelfari.com)
page!
Network with Amber:
Facebook
(http://www.facebook.com/amberleighwilliams)
MySpace
(http://www.myspace.com/amberleighwilliams86
Twitter
(http://www.twitter.com/ALeighWilliams
WRDF (http://romancewriterandreader.ning.com/profile/amberleighwilliams)
Authors Den (http://www.authorsden.com/amberleighwilliams)
|
