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Annie West 's Biography
One of Annie’s earliest memories is of lying tucked up in bed, drowsy
after an afternoon’s adventure in the rainforest gully that was her backyard,
and listening to her father read ‘The Wind in the Willows’. There
were other books too, a chapter a night, but that’s the one that sticks
in her mind. As soon as she could read she was investigating books for herself,
reading adventures and poring over fairy tale illustrations. In her mind she
was one of the dancing princesses, and Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty, and, of
course, Cinderella. Do you see a trend here? Trips to the library became a
regular treat, where Annie could enter faraway worlds and daydream about being
the heroine of whatever book she was reading.
In her teens Annie discovered romance novels and was immediately hooked. For
years she thought of writing one herself, but her real life experience was
sadly lacking. Fortunately she discovered her own Prince Charming (and he really
is!) while she was at University studying Classics and English Literature.
Then came a whirlwind romance that’s still continuing (albeit at a much
more sedate pace) and lots of travel, to Europe, the Mediterranean (including
Turkey and Egypt) and New Zealand. Annie and her husband have lived in Germany
a couple of times and loved it. Now they’re settled again in eastern
Australia and live with their children, their dog and a host of visiting birds
on the edge of a small eucalypt forest.
Annie eventually tried her hand
at writing romances when her children were little. Her first book (if you
don’t count her teenage attempt at an
Amazon adventure) was targeted at Harlequin Presents. Annie still feels a little
sorry for the editor who picked that one up from the slush pile and returned
such a nice rejection letter. Now that manuscript is safely buried in the bottom
of her filing cabinet.
After writing manuscripts targeting
other lines, getting positive feedback from editors and placings in contests,
Annie decided it was time to try her first love again: Harlequin Presents.
The idea for ‘A Mistress for the
Taking’ came to Annie when she was lucky enough to attend a full day
writers’ seminar with local authors Emma Darcy and Miranda Lee. Talk
about inspiring! By the end of that day Annie had an exciting premise for a
story and couldn’t wait to get started on it. Sitting down to begin writing,
she knew this was story was different – she felt like she’d come
home. It was an absolute delight to receive a request for that manuscript,
then have it accepted in December 2005. No other Christmas presents were needed.
Now Annie is enjoying living her dream, writing love stories for Harlequin
Presents. |
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