Four years ago, I was all over the map. Literally.

I was writing historical adventure; swashbuckling tales that circled Santo Domingo and Huguenot forts on the coast of Florida, battle-ridden stories from the Crusades, and accounts of heroic survival in the wilderness of New France. I loved the wild-west feel to each novel, knowing that the people who lived and loved and struggled and triumphed in these formative years shaped what would one day become great nations.

My novels won contests and writing awards but failed to find purchase in today’s marketplace, and I had earned a stack of rejection letters almost as thick as the manuscripts themselves. I was doing my best not to get too discouraged.

About this time, I was lucky enough to have dinner with Elizabeth Thornton, a very successful romance writer also living in Winnipeg. “Now Kelly,” she said during the course of our conversation, “your books are very intriguing, but have you ever considered writing something set in Scotland or England? Something set in the Regency era? That is a very popular time period.”
I admitted that while I had certainly read many excellent novels (hers included) that were set in this particular period, I had not yet tackled a Regency-set series of my own.
“Well,” she went on to say, “I certainly can’t tell you what to write. But I can tell you what people want to read. And England might be a good place to start.”

I took her words to heart and by the end of the next day I had a stack of research books waiting for me at the library. I started reading and discovered a new piece of history just as fascinating as any other, though for different reasons.

It quickly became easy to see why Regency romances were so popular. From a historical perspective, it is a period rich with intrigue, war, innovation, politics, science, and crime. But more than facts, this period flourished with writers associated with Romanticism and the emotion they brought to their work. Writers like Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Susan Ferrier, and Maria Edgeworth brought history to life in a manner that captured the imagination of readers then just the same as it does now. It certainly captured mine. And from there, I started writing.

From that single conversation emerged my Regency-set Lords of Worth series. Elizabeth, with her unfailing good Scottish sense gave me the one bit of advice that allowed me to find the beginning of my own path as a published author. She never discouraged me from exploring, only reminded me that ultimately, writers write for readers.

Elizabeth Thornton passed away before I could finish and sell my first novel. I’d like to think she knew how important her kindness was. I have, in the realization of success, received incredible help, support and advice from many others, including a welcoming family of romance writers, a rock-star agent, and a talented team of editors. I am always striving to learn as much as I can from the voices of experience and wisdom along this journey. Good things can happen when you listen carefully to expert advice.

As it turned out, England was a great place to start.