I loved books, as a kid. The first book I remember loving was The Robber’s Daughter by Astrid Lindgren. After I read it and we returned it, whenever we visited the library, I would walk by the shelf where it was housed, feeling like it was this special, secret gem, this thing no one else knew about or understood.
I felt the same way about the Harper Hall books by Anne McCaffrey. I was fairly young when I read them (maybe grade 5), and to me they were these fantastical things.
That love is what planted the writing seed for me. I wanted to write something that made people feel that way.
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When I was growing up, my mother read romance novels. There were often piles of them lying around the house — mostly Harlequin Presents or Harlequin Superromance, but you could find the occasional single-title, Silhouette Special Edition, or Harlequin Desire.
I’ve always kind of wondered how she had the budget for it, since my father was in charge of the money and he could be a bit ‘tight-pursed’. (Is there a polite way of saying that?) But I guess romance novels are easy to hide on a grocery bill.
I, too, loved to read — maybe in part from her example. And around age ten, I got really into the Sweet Valley High series. Everyone was reading them. Gorgeous, blonde, blue-green-eyed, Californian identical twin sixteen-year olds (with perfect size-six figures!), getting into adventures?
Who can’t relate?
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Hi, I’m Winter! I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with my husband, two sons (eleven and nine), and red-heeler cross.
I work as a technical writer at a software company, and I write romance novels! (as you might have gathered).
When I’m not working or writing or spending time with family, you can find me sleeping (really, pretty good odds), or doing housework — usually while listening to an audiobook.
(Also, I have a fondness for parentheses.)
These are a few of my favourite things:
Favourite romance books
- Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
- The Hating Game – Sally Thorne
- Carry On – Rainbow Rowell
- Riders, Rivals, Polo – Jilly Cooper
- The Princess Bride – William Goldman
Favourite non-romance fiction
- A Man of his Word (series) – Dave Duncan
- Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
- On the Beach – Nevil Shute
- If I Never Get Back – Darryl Brock
- A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
Favourite non-fiction
- Long Walk to Freedom – Nelson Mandela
- Into Thin Air – John Krakauer
- Guns, Germs, and Steel – Jared Diamond
- Donut Economics – Kate Raworth
- You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know – Heather Sellers
- Playing the Enemy – John Carlin
- The Art of Asking – Amanda Palmer
- A House in the Sky – Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett
- Intuitive Eating – Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole
Favourite romance movies
- Dirty Dancing
- Pride and Prejudice (1995 & 2005)
- Persuasion (1995)
- God’s Own Country
- The Wedding Planner
- The DUFF
- Leap Year
- Say Anything
- Clueless
- Bridget Jones’ Diary
- The Princess Bride
Favourite non-romance movies
- About a Boy
- Sunshine
- The Matrix
- Coco
- Moana
- Terminator
- X-Men II
- Star Wars (IV, V, VI)
Favourite tv shows
- Parks and Recreation
- Futurama
- Seinfeld
- Dragonball Z
- Home Movies
- Red Dwarf
- Blackadder (2&3)
- Key & Peele
- Miraculous
- Dexter
- SNL
Favourite musicians
- Spirit of the West
- Sarah Harmer
- Blue Rodeo
- R.E.M.
- Erasure
- ABBA
- Grimes
- Liz Phair
- Lorde
- Ed Sheeran
- Eminem
You can learn even about me from these posts.