Holly
Lisle's Vision
Meet
the Moderators
Carol
Stephenson,
Romance Moderator
©
2002, Carol Stephenson
A workers' compensation insurance defense attorney by day,
new Romance Moderator Carol Stephenson burns the midnight oil as she writes
romance novels. Surviving the daily legal gridiron doesn't compare, though, to
Carol's accomplishment of selling her first book to Harlequin Enterprises in May
2001.
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Carol learned to love books at an
early age as a result of her parents' nightly ritual of reading to her. The die
was cast, though, when she was eleven, when her mother introduced her to the
gothic romances. Her love of reading naturally led her to writing, from her
first booklet at age four --"Robbie The Robot"-- to poetry and short
stories in high school and college. However, it was the movie "Star
Wars" that crystallized her dream to be a storyteller of novel length
fiction.
In pursuit of serious writing, she joined the Romance Writers
of America (RWA) and Florida Romance Writers (FRW) in 1992. Then in 1996 she won
her first prestigious award, The Maggie. Other writing awards followed,
including the Emily. It was this award that led to Silhouette's request
for her manuscript NORA'S PRIDE. On May 22, 2001, at 3:00 p.m., Carol's
agent called with the news that NORA'S PRIDE would be a Silhouette®
Special Edition. Since that moment, Carol has been living her dream come true.
Bitten at a young age by the community involvement bug, Carol
has served as President of FRW and on numerous committees for RWA. She was RWA's
2001 Bylaws Chairperson and was thrilled and honored to receive the 2001 RWA
Service Award. Her articles on writing have appeared in numerous RWA
chapter newsletters, including in Australia.
As her six basic soul food groups are romances, country music
(long live George Strait!), movies, photography, travel, and a good cup of tea,
into her nonexistent spare time she crams travel with her trusty 35 mm camera in
one hand and tea bags in the other. Ports of call have included Alaska, Acadia
National Park, the Grand Canyon (both sides), Italy, and Canada. Carol also
explored her roots in college when she attended the Vanderbilt-in-England
program at Leeds University, Great Britain; she joined the Youth Hosteling
Society and hiked all over the countryside of her ancestors.
Carol lives in South Florida with two cats that condescended
to adopt her as their owner and a cranky cockatiel. For-fun-writing
projects include a romantic legal thriller, a contemporary Arthurian series,
women's fiction and, spurred on by her pal Sheila Viehl, a first attempt at
science fiction.
However, Carol's greatest goal in writing always remains the
same: to write novels that touch people's hearts. She is currently working
on the second book in the McCall sisters series. Her debut book NORA'S
PRIDE will be in bookstores April 30th.
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