About my mom, historical romance author

<-- This is my mom.

She's a published romance author.

Her pen name is Edith Layton.

But once upon a time my mom was just another unpublished, aspiring author. In the 1970's, mom wrote books on the kitchen table, on an IBM Selectric, while my brothers and I were at school. Then she'd pack up her work and make dinner. Nothing fancy, always tasty, usually a roast chicken, some veg and potatoes or pasta. Actually we had chicken so often, it became a signature dish of hers we called, "Chicken Again."

My mother started with no agent, and no connections. She had written a romance novel, a horror novel, and a fantasy. She decided to go with whatever genre sold first.

Nothing sold.

At one point, after enough rejection slips to "wallpaper a bathroom" (her words), mom gave up. When she did, my father started secretly sending her manuscripts out under the dog's name. Little did editors know they were sending words of encouragement, critiques and rejections to Gustav and Otto -- our German Shepherds.

It's a long story. But the short of it is she first got published in 1984, without an agent. Here, in 2003, are some FAQ I wrote about my mom's books.

My mother is still writing. In fact, she has a new novel and a new novella coming out next month. She's currently hard at work, under contract for a trade historical and more historical romances.

She now has enough awards to fill a bathroom.

She writes a great book. All I want, is what she wants: for more people to read and enjoy them. She loves writing books, but truth is it's a lonely job. It's not glam and 99% of the time, you don't get rich writing romances. If money is your goal, I'd tell aspiring writers to get out now. Mom's been continually publishing romances for over 20 years, is published in many languages and most middle managers out earn her. And plus, Oprah has said she won't recommend books with happy endings, so whatayagonnado?

This blog is my mash note to her, to show my support and admiration. It is also my blatant attempt to generate publicity for her. But since I think she deserves it so much, and the product is so good, there's nothing skeevy about it. My advertising budget is zero-whatever comes out of my husbands pockets when I do the laundry. Before you get the wrong idea, he does the laundry too. It's just that he checks the pockets first, and I don't.

That's about it for now. I would love it if you would scroll down to see her upcoming books and then take a look around my mom's website (she's even blogging!) and then, I'd be overjoyed if you gave it a whirl and ordered one of my mom's books or looked for them at your local bookstore.

PS The fabulous pic of mom was taken at my apartment by my friend Lisa Whiteman. Mom's had no surgery or "injectables", had no makeup artist during the shoot (although I insisted she try my favorite lipstick), and is seen here in natural light. She's beautiful, but doesn't know it. Which makes her... a woman I guess.

UPDATE: I bought an ad on Dooce (and Dooce only) for 1 week as an experiment and it started running today. I did it simply because I really enjoy Dooce's site -- I'm addicted more like -- and I thought her readers might be able to relate to this -- my flimsy but sincere Internet sandwich board for my mom.