Judy - Cindy and I are pretty much on the same page when it comes to writing and we compliment each other’s style. It’s been easy to do this although each of us brings something different to the book. 

Since we both were so busy with our families and working full time we did try taking turns writing chapters to help speed up the process but we lost consistency in doing that. When our draft of our first novel, "Odds Against Tomorrow" was completed the feedback we received was more consistent then our plot. People liked our character our dialogue, but it appeared we had too many inconsistencies in the book and we needed to fine-tune the plot. So it was back to square one and we knew that we had to re-write the book…together.

We took classes, joined writing clubs and went to seminars.

The first novel still wasn’t going anywhere. So we decided to start a second novel, "Safe Haven". We did our character analysis on Sarah and James. We discussed the plot and we did an extensive outline. We laid out the scenes in each chapter. We entered several contests! Once again we got great feedback on our character development and our dialogue, but something was still lacking. We love this story about Sarah and James. We believed we were getting so close. But the publishing houses weren’t interested.

So we thought, okay, we will just write a third novel and we took more writing classes. Our third novel is called "The Secret". We did all the same things…character analysis, detailed outlines, etc., but we had family and work obligations and were getting a little discouraged. So in 1995, we made the decision to put our writing on hold, but one day, we would make this happen.

The dream never died.

In 2003, another friend of mine called me. She had read our first manuscript, "Odds Against Tomorrow" and loved it. She believed our book should be published and asked if we had looked into self-publishing companies. So I did some checking and called Cindy. Should we take a chance and do it? It wasn’t too expensive. We would need to update the first book. Did we have the time? And the final answer…YES!

So we did. And we had our first novel, "Odds Against Tomorrow" published. It didn’t make the Editor’s Choice program, but it’s still a good book. Not that we are prejudice! It gave us the opportunity to get feedback from both avid readers of romance and from people that don’t normally read romance but read it because they knew us. The opinions were critical but honest, and very supportive because they saw potential in our writing. And we had the best book signing party ever. It was held at my brother’s bar in Historic Federal Hill, which is the setting of the book, and drew a lot of local interest.

This feedback was priceless because it really helped us when we started to work on "Safe Haven" again. We gave this book more depth. We improved on the plot and focused on the emotional changes that would need to take place in each of the characters to make this story interesting and captivating. And we succeeded! It did make the Editor’s Choice program at iUniverse, Inc.

Cindy – I ditto Judy. Writing together has many rewards. I think one of the best is rather than one perspective we can draw from two. What I don’t think of she will. I think Judy addressed most of the challenges. We both had busy schedules and I found it frustrating that at times that we couldn’t find the time to write. We took many vacations together.

Judy – I believe that a strong friendship is very important. Respect for each other’s opinions is critical because there will be times when you don’t agree on the dialogue or something about the character or the direction that the book is going. You need to be able to talk about it and make a decision on what is best for the outcome of the book. It can’t be a ‘control’ issue. You can’t turn it into a ‘competitive’ issue. Both of you have to have the same goal…create a wonderful romance story that is a page-turner. Cindy and I have managed to do this and we have fun doing it.

Cindy – Judy is right. I couldn’t have said it better.

Cindy & Judy -3 (Continue)