To celebrate the release of my first book, I held a contest asking people to send me pictures of themselves with their copies of A Firefighter in the Family. Today I reveal the winner — Laura Burke! Part of Laura’s prize is to be featured on my blog for a day, so here she is in photos and her own words.
Q. Are you a romance novel fan? If so, how long have you been reading romances? What are some of your favorite types of romance novels?
A. Yes, I am a romance novel fan. I started reading romance novels almost one year ago to date when I picked up Christine Feehan’s Dark Celebration, which at the time had just come out in paperback. I was hooked and proceeded to read the whole Dark Series. My favorite type of romance novels are paranormal romance. I’m not into the heavy sex that takes half a chapter to describe, but more of the “guy” has issues, angst, and the “girl” has her own and they meet and sparks fly and they fall in love. I want everyone to have their HEA! (I’m such a dork, I had to ask a girl on GoodReads what HEA stood for! Hahaha). Your book, A Firefighter in the Family, is the first Harlequin American that I ever read, but I liked it so much that I will be back!
Here’s Laura with her reading buddy, Bumpus. Hey, looks like he likes the taste of my book. 
Q. Who are some of your favorite authors, romance or non-romance?
A. My favorite all-time author is J.R.R. Tolkien, and my favorite current author is C.L. Wilson. I also like Orson Scott Card, Sci-Fi.
Q. Tell us a little about yourself.
A. Let’s see, I’m 41 years old and have been married to my husband, Jim, for 21 years. I have two great kids, Colleen Maryed, who is 19, working and going to college online. And then there is Killian James, who is 16 (he will be 17 in one month) who is a junior in high school.
I was born in Dearborn Heights , Michigan, which is a suburb of Detroit . I graduated high school in June of 1985 and decided to go to Detroit College of Business to major in Travel and Tourism. It lasted a semester in which I promptly dropped out. I continued to work, you know same old stuff. Anywho, I knew that I didn’t want to go to college and I had a vision that I was going to end up just like the women in the office I worked in (boring!)…so I up and joined the Army. My Mom thought I was joking! I left Michigan in February of 1987 and did my basic training in Ft. Jackson, South Carolina and in May my A.I.T. (Advanced Individual Training) to become a 91A, which is a Field Medic at Ft. Sam Houston. I loved Ft. Sam Houston! That is where I meet Jim. Of course at 19 I was not getting married until I was 30 and would have kids at 35. FAT Chance! We met in May and were married August 1, 1987! Yes a whirlwind romance (not really). We both took our permanent assignment at Ft. Lewis (Tacoma), Washington. Another lovely state! He got out, and then I got out, and we settled in the San Francisco Bay Area (Jim was born and raised in CA). And then our daughter was born on our 2nd wedding anniversary. (Jim says she’s the gift that keeps giving). We were in the big earthquake of 1989 and then a year later for the fires that swept through the hillsides. We worked and life went on. In November of 1991, our son Killian was born.
By 1994 my two sisters lived in Florida and my parents were going to retire there. So I begged and pleaded with Jim until he gave in and like gypsies (except we had a U-haul cargo van) we traveled with two young kids across the USA to FL with only our most-prized possessions and our clothes, nothing else. My parents moved down in 1997. All was good. My father passed on in 1999 and my mother in 2002. The kids were growing and life was going. I had worked for a company for a long time, when in 2005 I received a job offer (from the company Jim worked for) to do the same type of work I was doing and be able to work from the house more or less setting my own hours. I had always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, and this was the closest I would get. In 2007, the owners (a husband & wife team) moved to TN and then began making “suggestions” and “changes” and we were requested to relocate to TN. Since Jim really didn’t like FL and he had moved for me, we discussed this with the kids and in June of 2008 we relocated. It is sad to say that the husband either had (having) a mid-life crisis or thoroughly lost his mind. He decided cutbacks were needed and laid my husband off just after Thanksgiving and then I was “self” terminated (I just love that term) since I wouldn’t “pledge” my loyalty to him and put him before my family, just call me weird. So…I was 40 years old and out of a job, and my husband was trying to freelance. Believe me there isn’t a lot around here! After about three weeks of looking for work, I saw an ad that just clicked. I submitted my application and have been happily working for them ever since. I did win my unemployment suit. I’m the Office Administrator for Coverall of Eastern Tennessee, which is a Master Franchise of Coverall of North America and we sell individual franchises and commercial janitorial services.
Ramblings:
We currently have two dogs, Bumpus (pictured above), and Brodie (American Bulldog), and she was rescued and around 7 years old. Tomorrow we will be picking up two more babies, they are half brothers to Bumpus (they share the same father); they are just under 8 weeks old.
My favorite past time is reading, I am an avid reader. I don’t watch much TV, with the exception of the food shows (Anthony Bourdaine), poker and occasionally I’ll watch the octagon fighting on the sports channel; I am more of a movie type girl.
My passion: In 2002 I started my studies of Shotokan Karate-Do (www.skjf.com) and hold a current black belt ranking. Leaving the Dojo and our Sensei was the hardest thing to leave behind in FL. I hope to one day teach, here or somewhere. I am a Gemini (born May 29).
If I won the lotto (Powerball) I’d buy a big house, with land (Montana area). I’d have a fabulous library that you use and I’d contribute to. My house would have my own Dojo on the grounds and I’d have, of course lots of Bassetts, it would be a Bassett ranch (short fences!).
I am a non-smoker, I stopped about 11 or 12 years ago and occasionally will have glass of wine or drink.
I love candles, good shoes and great chocolate.
I fast once a year, for one month (each October), this is the third year I have done this and the hardest, I’m not sure if there will be a fourth year!
I got to hang out with Cheryl (C.L.) Wilson on Sunday, September 28, and show her around our town! I had a fantastic time and truly enjoyed her company. We talked about family, friends, events and writing. Though I was proud of myself, I didn’t ask about her 4th book or any events in the 3rd or 4th book. I didn’t want her to feel like she was being interviewed. She is very personable and friendly.
Well it is time for a cup of hot tea and my book
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Congrats again, Laura! I love the photos, and Bumpus is a cutie! And, wow, we share a birthday!
I’ve been doing revisions to my second Harlequin American while also trying to convert an older manuscript from the original documents in Word Perfect to MS Word. Talk about a pain! I think I finally have it where I don’t have to change the font of and retype every single quotation mark and apostrophe in the whole thing. Ugh. I’ve been working on the manuscript here and there, revising it and bringing it up to my current writing standards. Okay, that sounds a little snooty. What I mean is that when I go back and look at my older books, I can tell that my writing has progressed since then. Thus, the need for revisions. But I still think it’s a good story and thus worth the work. Plus, it’s a hearth-and-home type story, which is area of Harlequin I’m writing for, so hopefully it’ll make its way to store shelves.