Lynn: Wow, my life in thirty words or less! :) I think I'm uncomfortable with the limelight, which is why I'm a writer at home in my pajamas and not an opera singer (which is what my mother set out for me to do) on stage in period costumes.

Growing up, I wanted to be the next JRR Tolkien ("Aim for the stars, clear the trees," is my motto!), but I never thought I'd actually have one of my own simple stories published. I do enjoy a good laugh, love playing with my two young children and talking with my husband, and I have to admit having a very unwholesome fascination with craft materials of all kinds. I'm just hoping to use them someday!

Beaty: Are you going to continue to fill in the missing spots on your MacLeod/de Piaget family history pages? I still see a few names that I'd like stories for. *G* Greedy reader that I am!

Lynn: Yes, yes! I definitely have plans to fill the chart in, as well as hopefully introduce some new characters. I really like the idea of family sagas and getting to see characters after their stories are over ...

Beaty: I've heard recently that historicals are fading - that the demand is not there so publishers are going to slack off on the printing of them. Have you heard this? Are your plans to continue writing mostly historicals or are you going to do more contemporaries?

Lynn: I actually try not to pay too much attention to rumor. I think that if you spend your time trying to write to market trends, by the time your book is finished, submitted, bought and published, the trend will have radically changed. Everyone has time periods they don't care for (for me, it's the Civil War), and the trends in regard to those time periods will always be in a state of flux. I think the best thing to do is write the kind of book you love to read (and if it's Civil War - you go right ahead and dive right in!), write the best book you can, perservere. You'll find your audience.

As far as my own plans, my immediate plans are to continue with the same characters and decide what type of book (historical, contemporary) best fits their story.

Beaty: I LOVE your touches of magic (time-travel and ghosts)! Time-travel is another of those plot lines I've heard that editors aren't buying. Since your series is firmly established, I'm sure you don't have the problem. Will we be seeing more of your time-travels as the MacLeods' family tree grows? I'd love to know more about THE Forest destinations! *G*

Lynn: Again, I try not to listen to what people are saying. It's just too stressful to think about what editors are and aren't buying - you could make yourself crazy trying to second-guess what editors want. If your book is so fabulous they can't turn it down, they won't turn it down. (This assumes that you aren't trying to submit a 200,000 time travel to a 40,000 steamy category line - know your target!) If they love it and there's any way to put it in print, they will do it.

As far as time-travels go, yes, I will continue to do them for as long as people continue to buy them. I love the idea of a modern person being thrown back into a world that is so completely foreign to them. And Jamie does have that map, you know, with dozens of unexplored destinations ...

Beaty: As I was rereading Rhys and Gwen's story (ANOTHER CHANCE TO DREAM), I was surprised with the story line - especially in a romance. Here is a story about two people in love and, due to circumstances beyond their control, she has to wed someone else. They not only knew and loved each other before the wedding took place, they had a night together! Then she weds another and it's a real marriage (versus in name only). While reading the story, I realized it had many of the things that I usually won't accept in a romance. But the story worked for me! Nobody would be more amazed than I was. *G* Did you have trouble selling the idea for this plot? Why did you put them is such a terrible position? I mean, a hero is supposed to STOP this kind of thing from happening! Are plot lines that are different than the tried and true a problem for publishers or editors?

Lynn: I have to say that out of all my books, ACTD is the most polarizing. People either love it or they hate it - for just the reasons you stated. The fact that Rhys is both Nicholas's and Robin's father, but not Amanda's, had to happen to leave me room to make story decisions further down the line. I just took a deep breath and wrote what I knew needed to happen.

And to be honest, the storyline didn't bother me. I think that plot line is probably much closer to reality than we'd like to admit. Women in the middle ages, especially nobles, had little or no choice in whom they married, and I suspect that quite often they didn't marry the person they were in love with.

Yes, it was a very untraditional romance, but I thought the angst made their getting together even more powerful.

As far as the plot being a problem for my publisher, all I can say is my editor is the most wonderful human being on the face of the earth, and she is willing to take chances on my stuff that continually leave me in awe. I am very fortunate to write for a publisher that is willing to do that ...

Beaty: Many of the RBLers enjoy hot romance (me included *G*). That's something that you as a writer stay away from. Is there a particular reason for that? Are you ever tempted to carry those hot kissing scenes further?

Lynn: Actually, no, I'm not tempted! Far too many people out there would egg my house if I changed my style!

RE the PG rating - yes, it is intentional. I get the occasional letter (or review) blasting me for the lack of descriptive love scenes, but I figure there are so many authors out there who write books that you need oven-mitts to read - AND they do it so much better than I could - that there's no reason for me to join the ranks. It's not a moral judgment on my part one way or another; it's just not something I'm comfortable with in my own writing. I've spent my career doing my best to write my stories, my way, and hope that they find an audience. My goal is to provide readers with a good love story and leave the more intimate moments to the imagination.

Beaty: I really enjoy the humor that you show through your familial relationships. Jason instantly comes to mind as being on the receiving end of many such humorous incidents. Are you from a big family that this kind of scene is easy for you to write and relate to? It just flows so easily out of your pen!

Lynn: Would you believe I'm an only child? And that my mother is one of two siblings? I did marry into a large family, but I think my own ideas of a perfect large family were cemented long before I saw the reality!

Beaty: In the past you've written anthology stories, time-travels, a ghost story, and contemporary. Is any kind easier to write than another? Which type do you prefer to write?

Lynn: Anthologies are the hardest to write because I'm not good at short. Trying to cram an entire book into 100 pages is just torture, because I do exactly the same amount of research and pour the exact same amount of energy into a novella as I do a full-length novel. I really should stop writing them ... which would no doubt make many people very happy!

I can't say I have a favorite type of story, though I personally love ghosts ... my husband says I have a very overactive imagination, and it's a pleasure to let it run free in some drafty castle!

Beaty: I adore your characters! They just jump off the page bigger than life for me. But I must admit that Kendrick is my favorite. He's just a scamp! Are your characters well-behaved? Do they always do as you tell them to? Or do they have a tendency to do-it-my-way? *G*

Lynn: With me, characters are like onions (this isn't an original analogy, but it works!). It takes me several drafts to figure out who they are, peeling their layers back scene by scene until I know what they're all about. Sometimes the scenes are just there, sometimes I really have to stare out the window for a very long time before the scene comes to me. In a sense, I suppose they do dictate where the story goes, but sometimes it takes me a while to get to know them before that becomes apparent to me.

(My 11-year-old niece came to stay with us for a week to play with my kids, and after about three days, she put her hands on her hips and said, completely exasperated, "Lynn, you're not writing anything down! All you do is stare out the window!" I tried to explain how much work I was getting done, but she was completely unconvinced ...)

The longer I do this, the more I'm convinced writing is a lot about having enough mental white space to actually let your story percolate ... but maybe that's because I have two small children and not very much white space for percolation at the moment!

Beaty: One of the things I really enjoy in my stories is the male point-of-view. I don't remember that being in the older books I've read. Is it easy to do? Much of your humor comes through in the men's thoughts. They just don't think like us women! *G*

Lynn: They certainly don't! There are times I look at my husband and wonder what planet he just came from ...

I guess you could say I write the male's point of view from a woman's point of view, which makes it the perfect point of view. :) I'd like to believe my perspective is pretty accurate; my husband reads my stuff and doesn't complain much unless he sees himself loitering on a page.

Beaty: Just for fun - what is your favorite fan story? I've asked this question before and the answers have had me laughing out loud or had me in tears. Sometimes life is better than fiction. *G*

Lynn: My favorite "makes you want to go hmmmm ..." story is the woman who called me several years ago during dinner to tell me she'd read my latest book (THIS IS ALL I ASK) but liked Judith McNaught much better!

I am always touched by people who have somehow found comfort during trying times from one of my books - maybe touched isn't the right word. It's an honor, and one I honestly can't say I deserve, but it's amazingly gratifying to think I might have made a difference in someone's life when they needed it.

But I suppose the story that keeps me going when I'm tempted to toss the laptop out the window is the e-mail I got from a fourteen-year-old who had never finished a book in her life until she read STARDUST OF YESTERDAY - cover to cover! She found her passion for reading and I was thrilled to have been a part of it.

Beaty: I've already mentioned that Kendrick (STARDUST OF YESTERDAY) is a favorite of mine. And Genevieve is one of my favorite heroines. She was very brave in the face of Kendrick's ghostly haunts. Their story and its emotions were very hard on my heart. I usually close my interviews by addressing a question to one of the characters. I know the author knows more about the story than is ever told to the readers. *G* If I may, I'd like to ask Kendrick, "Now that the triplets have grown some, how are they at handling those swords that Royce made them?"

Lynn: And Kendrick would reply, "Ah, well, they've managed a mighty work so far, even if Genevieve has limited them to the gardens. As you'll imagine, they've my strength, my cunning, and my lady's pleasing aspect, though that counts less in swordplay than you might imagine. But, by the saints, the flowerbeds! Many a lovely blossom has fallen victim to their mighty swings. Lest anyone fear that they find themselves lacking, let me assure you that when Genevieve repairs down to the village now and then," and here there would be a quite purposeful grin, "*then* we march manfully to the lists for an afternoon of true sport."

And I'm sure Royce, Nazir, and a whole host of others are there as well, and when I get my act together, we'll no doubt have a visit and see exactly what's going on!