What, Why, How: Terri-Lynne DeFino

WHAT?

I write romance with a touch of fantasy, fantasy with a little romance. While I started my writing career with three fantasy novels (Hadley Rille Books), I’m currently writing a series of romance novels, The Bitterly Suite (Lyrical Shine, an imprint of Kensington Publishing.)

WHY?

I have the talent, the will, the passion, and the time. I write because I not writing isn’t an option. Nothing new or profound there. Why do I write fantasy, or romance with fantastical elements? Because there is magic in the world often glossed over as whimsy. I like to point out that magic, make it possible, and I hope my readers come away with a little of it intact.

HOW?

It’s no secret that I’m prolific. I wrote twenty-four novels, most over 200K that shall never see the light of day, in thirteen years. I consider these part of my education. (What can I say? When you’re teaching yourself, sometimes it takes longer. I had a blast doing it.) In 2009, I wrote the first book I considered publishable, and it was. Since 2009, I’ve written two more fantasy novels (published by Hadley Rille Books,) done a whole lot of editing, ran a small press for a year, and wrote three romances (all in the process of publication with Kensignton.) I’m working on the fourth. I have two more outlined.

This isn’t a “wow, look at how great I am” list of accomplishments…though modesty is for suckers, and I am pretty great. There’s a point. I write five days a week, from 10:00 – 4:00. I am one of those fortunate writers who gets to do this as a full-time gig. To squander the privilege not only dishonors that privilege, it dishonors all those writers out there trying to squeeze in an hour after the day job, or getting up at four in the morning just to get a couple hours in beforehand. That’s my point–WRITE! LEARN! Keep writing and keep learning. Listen to those who might know a bit more than you do. Not blindly! But listen. I learned all I know about writing from other writers gracious enough to share their work, and continue to learn every day. I’m good at what I do because my mind stays open. I truly believe, because of that, my creative brain is free. I never lack for a story idea, for a plot or characters or how they’re all going to combine into a story other people will want to read. Writer’s block? The only time I experienced it was while in the transition between being a writer who thought she knew it all to a writer who admitted she never would.

Butt in chair. Mind open. Muse free. Create worlds.

BIO: Writer, cat-wrangler, sparklequeen. My first fantasy novel, Finder, was published by Hadley Rille Books in October, 2010, followed by: A Time Never Lived in 2012, Jingle in 2013, and Beyond the Gate in 2013. October 27, 2015 will see the release of Seeking Carolina (first in The Bitterly Suite) from Lyrical, an imprint of Kensington Publishing, my first step into contemporary romantic fiction.