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 BIOGRAPHY
Laura Mills-Alcott, author of
THE BRIAR AND THE ROSE, a
historical romance, based on the
ballad "Barbara Allen". At this
site you'll find information
about Laura Mills-Alcott's
books, appearances, booksignings,
Laura Mills-Alcott's contests,
Laura Mills-Alcott's celebrity
interviews and more. Laura
Mills-Alcott, historical fiction
author, romance author,
I wish I could say I grew up
wanting to be a romance
writer, but it wouldn't be
true.
Actually, I started out
wanting to be a famous
singer. And upon realizing I
was not a particularly good
singer, I decided I'd be a
famous songwriter. This
lasted for some time - I
even moved to Nashville and
had some of my music
published. But I had a
tendency to write very long
songs - stories set to
music. Imagine my
frustration, trying to fit a
single title novel into
three verses, a bridge and a
chorus.
Finally, in a moment of restless
frustration, being confined to my
home with three children,
and having just spent a solid week
typing legal motions, I decided I
was going to write a book (I was
too tired to put the typewriter
away, and writing a book seemed
like a good enough excuse to leave
it out on the kitchen table for a
while longer). So I sat down at my
trusty electric typewriter and
wrote a chapter. By the end of
the first paragraph, I was hooked.
By the end of the first chapter I
realized, being that I'm not a
particularly good typist, I needed
a computer to have any hope of
finishing my saga of epic
proportions.
I put the
typewriter away, and bought a used
486. I wrote my fingers bloody,
and reveled in my progress. I got
online, and happened upon the
writers area, where I met author
Emma Jensen (the woman responsible
for making sense of this writing
business for me, also the author
of some wonderful Regencies and
Regency Historicals). Emma made me
realize that the novel I was well
into by then was not romance (oh,
horrors), so I put that book away,
and started my real first
manuscript,
The
Briar
and the Rose.
The Briar
and the Rose,
a Historical with a touch
of paranormal, is based loosely on
the ballad Barbara Allen,
and was selected as the Story of
the Month by St Rose Press.
Beyond
my writing, I have three lovely
children (Jared, Jordan and
Jacob), two dogs and too many cats, most of which I
tried to find homes with loving
families, but nobody wanted them
(the cats, not the kids).
I
(and my work) have been featured
in Romantic Times, on the
Talk America Radio Network,
NBC.com, MSN.com,
and in 2001 I was asked to act
as consultant with the producers
of NBC's talk show, The Other
Half, for a romance novel
segment ("Why Women Read Romance
Novels").
I
live in NE Ohio, and am in the
midst of remodeling a 1955 Cape
Cod (which is a book in itself,
but it has not been decided if it
will be classified as non-fiction
or horror).
What about the music? I still love
it and listen to it endlessly. I
play the guitar, piano, French
horn, sax, trumpet and have been
known to pick out a tune or two on
the five-string banjo. A few years ago I
purchased a violin and fully
intend to teach myself to play
it... someday. Occasionally, I'll
sit down and write music.
But
my books have become my songs.
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