So, There I Was…Suddenly Writing Paranormals When…

I wanted to get back to what I thought was my comfort zone…contemporaries.  I wrote A SIGH OF LOVE, “inspired” by an experience…all the way up to when my heroine boards a plane to Alaska with nonrefundable airline tickets because a long-distance relationship–a man–asked her to come to visit…and backed out at the last minute.

I loved writing A SIGH OF LOVE and celebrating the three years that I lived in Alaska, but a book set in the Caribbean called to me…book I tried to write when I was a troubled teen of 14.  That book would have been a time travel.

CARIBBEAN DREAMS OF LOVE is due to be released on December 12th, and I absolutely love this story.  But do you think I could write another contemporary?  It started out that way.  A woman takes her precocious teenage daughter on a Caribbean cruise (who me? 🙂 ) and they find themselves traveling with the most interesting characters including a pirate, a ghost, a mysterious musician and dinner companions who tell nightly tales of legends of the Caribbean.

I have no earthly idea what happened to the “contemporary” in that book.  Woosh…off it went into the paranormal.  🙂

Desperately clinging to what I thought I was “supposed” (my comfort zone again) to write–contemporary romance–I wrote A TRAIL OF LOVE, a romance set in the majestic splendor of Glacier National Park, Montana, a celebration of the two summer seasons I have worked there for the National Park Service.  The story features a woman running from her past and hiding in plain sight, a handsome bear ranger who can’t figure her out, grizzly bears and love, love, love!  I love that story.

But it started to take on a romantic suspense aspect.  Oh, no!  Romantic suspense?  Can I write romantic suspense?  Who am I?

Tell me, readers, do you ever have those moments where you wonder who you are as a writer?  When someone says, “What genre do you write?” do you start to stutter?

Bess McBride, www.bessmcbride.com