I love a happily ever after. When I read and when I write, I want things to end with a positive smile. I try to find the funny in life’s struggles. The hard things in life are often pretty darn funny when they’re not smacking you upside the face. I’m a big fan of torturing my characters, but making sure a few of them have a sense of humor to ease the bloodletting and remind the others even if things feel like a 10 centimeter kidney stone, “This too shall pass.” So, be prepared to laugh. You can chortle or guffaw if you want, but those are more for Scrabble.
Plenty of writers delight in murdering characters or letting their villains steal somebody’s kid, but not me. I’ve got kids. Stay away from my kids, my puppy and cute kittens! I don’t want a rehash of the news. I want to escape the news.
Now, some of you are saying, “Hey, she said she tortures her characters. She specifically mentioned bloodletting.” That’s the Southern girl in me. We’re prone to exaggerate. If anybody’s going to die, you can be darn sure it’s somebody who deserved it. 
Just kidding. So far, I haven’t killed anybody. My goal is to make your heart race from falling in love with my characters.
But wouldn’t life be easier if you could rewrite some of your life and replace people with characters who behave like nice human beings? Sadly, you can’t TIVO and rewind your life, cutting and pasting people you want into it, but I can–in my books. Sure, I write characters who have issues, but my characters grow up. Even the men. It’s called a character arc. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could buy that for people who shall remain nameless but try your patience?
I write about family. Sometimes the people who help us through hard times are family, but many times they’re not. Family is more than blood ties. Friends, neighbors, even an entire town, can become the family you never had or the family you wish you had. This is great news, because in real life and in fiction, families can grow and arc. You may find what you’ve always hoped for if you look beyond the past and try again with your family. Or not. No worries–that’s where my stories can help.
I love writing stories of people who come together as a community or a couple and show what the power of many or a few can create. People who step up and do the right thing. People who lend a hand to those in need. People who see a problem or a need and instead of whining, they do something about it.
I love writing stories of people who find the heroine or hero inside of them and truly live. Who dare to follow their dreams hidden deep within them. Who dare to take the leap into love. Who seize the day and wear it out.
I hope you enjoy reading my novels and find a smile that makes your day better, find hope that the world can be a better place and find a love story so strong, so passionate but so real, you run with that feeling and bring it to your own life.
–Shelby
