Born and raised in Kansas, Roxann has lived in the big city, a small town, and on a farm in the country. But being a Kansas native hasn't kept
her confined to the Wheat State. As a child, she traveled
with her parents, visiting 48 of the U.S. states, Mexico, Canada,
and even a trip to Havana, Cuba. Her collection of Little Golden Books gave way to the Trixie Belden series and, even
later, by several hundred other books, ranging from self-help
and biographies to Stephen King and true crime. In the past
ten years, her collection has grown to include hundreds of her
favorite romance novels.
She began her writing career at
the age of nine by writing plays for the other neighborhood
children and her younger cousins to perform. Play writing turned
to book writing in her young adult years, but was set aside
to raise her family. After her youngest daughter was born and
with her oldest in middle school, she decided to try her hand
at writing a juvenile novel. Five years and no published books
later, her best friend steered her back to the romance novels
she'd enjoyed years before.
In 1996, she joined Romance Writers of America (RWA)™.
A month later, she attended her first RWA™ National Conference
in Dallas, Texas, and knew that romance writing was a dream she
wanted to pursue. That dream involved several years of hard work
and learning the business. During that time, she entered writing
contests sponsored by local chapters of RWA™. Of the many she
entered, one contest in September 1999 brought results she never
thought possible, when her entry, The Rancher and the Runaway Mom, was awarded The Maggie Award
for Excellence by the Georgia Romance Writers Chapter of RWA™.
On April 3, 2000, her agent phoned
with the news that Silhouette Romance® was interested in buying
and publishing the winning manuscript, later re-titled as Rachel's Rescuer. Since that moment,
her life has changed.
A graduate of Clearwater High
School, she has coordinated five class reunions and penned a yearly
newsletter to keep everyone in touch. The newsletter evolved
into a web site and began Designs by Delaney, a website design
company.
Reading has always been a major
part of her life, but so has theater. She was involved in four
of her high school productions and, after graduating, she did
the voice-over in a commercial for a local business. Later,
while married and living on a farm, she helped establish the
Clearwater Community Theatre and both acted in and directed
the productions, as well as served on the Board of Directors. But writing is her first love and she hopes readers enjoy her books
as much as she enjoys writing them. |
