Vicki Essex

(pseudonym) is a romance writer in Toronto, Canada. She’d never read what she used to call a “real” romance book until she started working at Harlequin Enterprises, the world’s largest publisher of women’s fiction, as a proofreader.

After reading her first few romance novels, she thought, “If they can do it, so can I!” After all, she believed, like so many people still do, that romance was “based on a formula,” that “anyone could write a romance” and that “They’ll publish anything!”

After the first year of writing and attending workshops, she couldn’t believe how naïve she’d been. It took three years of grueling work before she finally sold her third book, Fighting for Her Love (retitled Her Son’s Hero for publication), to Harlequin Superromance. In that time, she also made the finals in the Toronto Romance Writers' Golden Opportunity Contest in 2009 and won in the Contemporary Series Category in 2010.

She now challenges anyone who believes romance is “easy to write” to write their own book and try to get published in one year’s time.

Vicki has lived in Toronto all her life. She has a Bachelor of Journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto. She’s a big Star Wars nerd (original, not prequel), and loves comic books, science fiction and fantasy, vintage video games, and the anthropological study of online culture, social protocols and communication trends (aka surfing the internet).

Vicki also writes the fantasy Western series The Devil's Revolver under the pseudonym V.S. McGrath. Visit www.vsmgrath.com for more details, or www.devilsrevolver.com to learn more about the series.

She attributes much of her success to fan fiction writing and the encouragement and support she received from the many fans and readers of her early stories. *waves hi to the A:TLA community—you know who you are*

Her advice to anyone who wants to be a writer: WRITE.

Follow her on Twitter @vickiessex
Visit her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/vickiessexauthor
Check her out on Goodreads at www.goodreads.com/vickiessex