Judy- I love romance and I love the happy endings. I have always been in awe of ‘romance’ writers who are able to create believable characters, with flaws, but characters that you relate to and like. Strong plots, dialogue that is sensitive yet realistically filled with honest emotion (not sappy) and humor are automatic winners with me. So many times, after finishing an especially enjoyable book, I would let out a sigh of contentment and say to myself, "Wow, I would love to be able to do this one day." Now I have and the reward is greater.

Cindy – I love to read period. To me, romance in any story, especially when unexpected is a bonus. When I can visualize the scene in my mind’s eye, believe in the characters, good or bad, and really feel the emotion, then I know I’ve had a good read. Romance gives me all of that. I write it for basically the same reasons. It’s so exciting when Judy and I capture just the right words in the just the right way. And it's lots of fun.

Judy – Back in the early 1980s, I had a subscription to the Harlequin books. I don’t remember all the details, but Harlequin was doing tours in several cities and in a random drawing I won a ticket to the luncheon they were having in Baltimore. I was thrilled, and I took a vacation day from work to attend. 

They had writers, editors, and publishers talking about writing romance. Well, by the time the lunch was over, I was convinced that I could write a romance novel. I raced home was so filled with enthusiasm that I sat at my dining room table and started to write a romance novel. Even though I had a husband, kids, full time job, and took care of my mother, who’s health was declining, I wrote and I wrote and I wrote. My story ended up being about 33,000 words. It had a beginning and it had middle and it had an end, and it even made sense in some parts. I was a writer! Finally.

Did I do an outline? No. Did I develop my characters in detail before writing the story? No. Did I have a clue as to what I was supposed to do? No. Did I have fun writing it? Yes.

So my ‘so-called novel’ was put away, but I knew that one day, I would make this happen.

Several years later, I met Cindy. We worked in the same building and would go on breaks and eat lunch together and became good friends. Guess what? Cindy read romance novels too. And she too thought one day she would like to write one. I dragged out my manuscript, a little yellow by this time and gave it to her to read. She believed it had potential and we decided to form a legal writing partnership and here we are…Cindy-Judith, LLC. We were on our way! Our husbands would baby sit the kids and we would write.

Cindy – Judy and I became fast friends when we found out how much we had in common. I think we started writing as a lark but quickly found that what we wrote was pretty good. It needed work (OK a lot of work) but the process of writing especially together was so satisfying.

Cindy & Judy - 2 (Continue)