Janet: I was born in northern Maine and grew up in central Maine. I now live on a lake just outside of Bangor with my husband of 26 years. We have two sons, and are just now experiencing the "empty nest" syndrome, as both of our fledglings have headed into the wonderfully exciting world of adulthood. Ah, the sweet taste of freedom ... And just like the characters in my stories, my husband and I spend a lot of our time outdoors - fishing, hunting, kayaking, snowmobiling, and just about anything else that catches our fancy. Heck, I even write outdoors when the weather permits, often while camping deep in the Maine woods.

Janet's House in Maine

Lina: Was writing always a desired career, or did it surface somewhat unexpectedly?

Janet: I never had the desire to write anything, not even letters to friends. (Oh, how I hated high school and college term papers!) But suddenly - and quite unexpectedly - a switch turned on in my head sometime in my late thirties, and I found myself sitting in front of my computer one cold January morning, and I just started writing. I wasn't even trying to write a book; I only wanted to get the story rattling around in my head down on paper so I could read it! That simple story took 450 pages to work itself out, and when it was done, I read it, wondered if I could that again, and began writing another one. That was twelve books ago, and those first eight stories are still in my closet - where they shall remain as the old friends that they are. It wasn't until I wrote CHARMING THE HIGHLANDER that I thought to submit to a publisher. Those imposing Scotsmen simply refused to sit quietly in that dark, dusty closet!

Lina: You mention in your bio on your Website ... "I have no idea what compels me to write, I only know that I must." Is it possible to explain this "knowing" as anything in particular, such as a mysteriously appearing character, a spark of a story, a creative energy that perhaps says, "If you type, it will come?"

Janet: Actually, it truly is an "If you type, it will come ..." compulsion that urges me to tell stories. It's often during the quiet moments, when I'm hunting or fishing or kayaking on a sun-washed lake, that the "creative energy" arrives - unbidden, unexpected, and certainly unexplained. It usually begins with something bugging me - the whisper of a problem that needs to be explored. I am fascinated by human nature - by actions and reactions based on our primordial instincts. Every character in every book is the sum total of all that has come before them, and it's interesting to see what happens when you put dynamic people in opposing situations, and watch them come together in either a disasterous or wonderful way. (I prefer the "wonderful way," as I'm a sucker for happy endings.)

Lina: You also mention that you have always spun stories in your head, even as a child. If you can remember, were your childhood stories tales of romance as well?

Janet: Oh, yes. ALWAYS romantic. I didn't know much about romance at age 11, but I have always been an optimist!

Lina: Why/how did romance become the genre of your choice? Did you/do you read many romance novels? Would you share some of your favorite writers or books?

Janet: I discovered romance novels at age 15 (I believe Johanna Lindsey was my first). I have always read anything I can get my hands on, and my interests are eclectic. James Mitchner's sagas, Ayn Rand, and many other authors kept me entertained through high school, but sometime in my wife-and-mother years I found myself gravitating toward romance. I love the wide variety of writers we have now, from historical to paranormal to suspense to humorous. I devour Linda Howard, Julie Garwood, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and Jayne Ann Krentz books, just to name a few.

Lina: Your first three books, CHARMING THE HIGHLANDER, LOVING THE HIGHLANDER, and WEDDING THE HIGHLANDER, were beautiful fusions of several romance reader favorites: time-travel, magic, burly Scotsmen, a touch of history, all in a contemporary setting. I imagine being new at writing is tough enough; didn’t adding the paranormal element make it even harder?

Janet: Honestly? It never dawned on me that I was writing a paranormal, much less a time-travel. (Those eight books in my closet are all straight contemporaries, and CHARMING THE HIGHLANDER was simply a story that came to me during one of those "quiet moments.") I wanted to show that a scientist is MORE likely to believe - that they realize anything is possible and that there's still so much about this wonderful world we will never understand. And since all those great guys came forward in time as well, I wanted to see if other women could fall in love with those ancient men. In the end, my greatest hope is that readers will also believe that ANYTHING is possible.

Lina: I find that more often time-travel stories send their participants back in time. However, in your books, the MacKeages and the MacBains have traveled to modern day Maine. Why did you decide to trade their warhorses for pickup trucks, rather than the other way around?

Janet: I have read several time-travel books, but apparently not enough to realize that they usually go back instead of forward. I was only exploring what happens when a very modern woman and an ancient-thinking man get together. And I'm a truck girl at heart, and since I love Maine and the mountains so much, I never thought to set the story anywhere else. But I did consciously decide to begin the tale four years after the men arrived here, because showing them adapting to modern life was not necessary to the story.

Lina: Is it safe to assume you’re a fan of men in kilts? Is that why your heroes are Scotsmen?

Janet: Remember those books in my closet? Not one of them has a Scotsman in it. But if I needed an ancient to tell my tale, I couldn't think of a more imposing - or romantic - hero than a Scottish warrior. (That probably harkens back to my love of Julie Garwood's wonderful Scottish heroes.)

Lina: I was so excited to hear that you’ve written Robbie MacBain’s story, I couldn’t wait to get to this question. Do you know when TEMPTING THE HIGHLANDER will be released? Can you give us a little teaser about his story? I’m sure he has grown into a heartthrob ...

Janet: I have just finished writing Robbie's story, and oh, but he's grown into a hunk! I honestly fell in love with him myself. He's taller than his father, quite handsome of course, and possesses the wisdom of the ancients and the sensitivity of a modern man. TEMPTING THE HIGHLANDER will be released this September, and for a teaser you can read the first chapter in the back of my newest book, THE SEDUCTIVE IMPOSTER, coming out this April. Robbie finds himself faced with two problems: he's needing a housekeeper to help him with the four foster boys he has taken in, and he must go back in time to get Pendaar a new book of spells before the MacKeages and Michael MacBain get sent back to their original time on the summer's solstice. If that's not enough, Robbie must also deal with a mysterious woman stealing eggs from his henhouse!

Lina: Will there be more to the MacKeage/MacBain saga? You surely don’t think we’ll forget Winter MacKeage?

Janet: Of course I have to tell Winter's story. And just what sort of hero can a beautiful young wizard-in-training hope to fall in love with? I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait until the fall of 2005 to find out!

Lina: THE SEDUCTIVE IMPOSTER, your newest book, will be released in this month, and is your first contemporary novel. Would you please tell us about it?

Janet: For the tale of THE SEDUCTIVE IMPOSTER, I've left the mountains and traveled to the coast of Maine, and traded in the magic for a bit of intrigue. Rachel Foster lives in the shadow of Sub Rosa, an opulent mansion she helped her father design and build - and also the scene of her parents' deaths three years ago. Keenan Oakes, heir to Sub Rosa's fortune, comes to open the mansion and inadvertently reopens old wounds for Rachel and her sister, Willow. But that is nothing compared to what Rachel discovers when she reads a letter from her late father, which sends her scrambling to return art to Sub Rosa before Keenan arrives. And so begins a passionate and dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, as Rachel and Keenan discover that all is not what it appears to be in the small fishing village of Puffin Harbor.

Lina: The amazing images of Maine you revealed in your books speak volumes about your love for your state, and your latest book will be set in Maine as well. Are you perhaps creating a sub-genre of New England Romance?

Janet: Well, why not? I may be somewhat biased, but I think New England is a wonderful setting just brimming with romance. I'm quite fond of the people here in Maine, of our way of life, the landscape, and yes, even the weather! Especially the weather. Maine's four seasons and multiple ecosystems make for quite a diverse backdrop for my books. I love that I can set a story in winter, and have snowmobiling and ice fishing as part of it, and then turn around and set a story in the fall or summer, and bring a huge nor'easter barreling up the coast to play havoc with my characters. We have mountains, the ocean, endless woodlands, and quite a bit of wildlife in Maine, and I hope to show my readers all of it.

Lina: The covers of your books (peeking at Maine from behind a tartan) are amazingly creative. Did you participate in the design process?

Janet: No, I have the wonderfully talented art department at Pocket Books to thank for my covers. And I agree, I think they are amazingly creative and eye-catching!

Lina: I really enjoyed your first two books; however, after reading WEDDING THE HIGHLANDER, your third book in the series, I sensed certain changes: more interaction between characters, more suspense, more sensual scenes, more drama… As a new author, do you think your writing style is changing or somehow evolving?

Janet: I don't think you have to be new to writing to evolve as an author. But practice does help! I find myself constantly evolving as a mother, a wife, and a member of society. As we age, our perspective changes, and the more I write, the more I want to deepen the impact of my characters, my stories, and the language itself. (I just have to go back and look at those books in my closet to realize that this is an ongoing process, and hopefully one where I learn from my mistakes ;-) But what I like most about writing is that I can explore the drama, sensuality, and character interaction as it fits each individual story. One book might be about family dynamics, where another might be more about two passionate people burning up the sheets. That's the joy of being a writer - letting the characters take me places I never thought to go.

Lina: I remember from your bio that CHARMING THE HIGHLANDER, your first published work, is in fact the eighth novel you wrote. Were the others paranormals? Do you hope to ever revive any of them for publishing?

Janet: I guess I've pretty much answered this question, because no, none of them is a paranormal, and no, I doubt that they'll ever be let out of the closet. That's not to say they're stuck in limbo forever, though. I have "borrowed" from them occasionally, and quite often go back and reread them if for nothing more than to know where I'm coming from.

Lina: What is the hardest part of writing a story? Do your stories ever take unexpected twists and turns, which you find difficult to recover from?

Janet: Twists? Twist, you ask? Oh yes, do they ever. Especially with that pesky Pendaar! He has stepped into a scene more than once and turned my entire story upside down, the interfering old goat! That's when I walk away from the computer and go fishing. But when one of my characters pulls something like that on me, I usually find out that they're right. Just wait until you read Robbie's story in September. Pendaar was full of tricks in that one.

Lina: Do you ever lend personal experiences and/or characteristics to your heroines?

Janet: Writing fiction is a rather personal endeavor. I am my heroines (don't I wish!). And I am also my heroes. All of my characters reflect my morals, values, ethics, fears, and deepest concerns. (Yes, even the villains, as they are heroes of their own story, are they not?) As for experiences, my people like to do what I like to do; they hunt, fish, kayak, snowmobile, and spend time appreciating what they have around them. I've always wanted to be a rocket scientist ... and an architect ... and a meteorologist ... and - ah, no, I don't think I ever wanted to be a doctor. But I would like to own a Christmas tree farm.

Lina: It's a common belief that most scientists have very logical and calculating minds, skeptical of anything that science cannot explain. Yet you chose Grace Sutter (a rocket scientist), Sadie Quill (a geology buff) and Libby Hart (a surgeon) to believe they had fallen in love with twelfth century warriors. Why?

Janet: If I show these well educated women complementing such strong and brave men, my heroines - no matter how learned - can't argue against the reality of magic when they find their opposite equals. It is their very logical and calculating minds that allow them to recognize their soulmates when they meet them.

Lina: How does your family feel about you writing romance? Do they read your books?

Janet: You're kidding, right? My sons just about died when their girlfriends read my books, and they've told me I've scarred them for life! They don't want to think their mother knows ANYTHING about sensuality, much less about what goes on in the bedroom ... or on the kitchen counter ... or out in the woods ... or in the back seat of a car ... As for my husband, he just puffs out his chest when he says his wife writes romance novels, and tells everyone that he does my research. As for my being a writer, the boys have always been quite happy to see me tucked away in my studio, leaving them to raise themselves, and my husband likes that he finally gets to be in charge of the household.

Lina: As you know, your trilogy was recently voted as one of RBL Romantica’s Top 50 Favorite Series. How do you feel about that? Is there anything else you’d like to share with RBL readers?

Janet: I feel wonderful! And honored! As I said before, I was a reader long before I became a writer, and I know the joy of finding stories that touch me deeply. I am so glad that what I write speaks to readers in a way that engages them, and having my series voted in your Top 50 favorites certainly makes the journey worthwhile.

Thank you so much for introducing me to your readers by way of this interview. Until later ... keep reading!