Books We Love's Tantalizing Talent ~ Author Ann Herrick

People often ask why I started writing. The answer is that I had parents who read to me. That's where I got my love of reading, and my love of reading led to a desire to write.

            My first attempt at writing came when I was eleven years old. I was very much into horses then and decided to write a book about a girl who rides in the Kentucky Derby. This was ages before women jockeys, but that didn’t stop me. What did stop me was, in the pre-computer, pre-eBook age, thinking that I had to actually physically make the book as well as write it. I couldn't figure out how to hold the pages together (I tried gluing—didn't work), so I gave up.

            Fast forward to the age of fourteen. I had an idea for a book set in Wyoming in the 1800s, because Wyoming was the first state to give women the right to vote (detecting a theme here?). But when I was doing some research at the library, a boy I knew asked what I was doing. I didn't really answer, but he guessed that I was writing a book and he smirked. Unfortunately, I let that deter me from finishing that book.

            In high school I got the impression that one had to be a cross between Jane Austen and Charles Dickens in order to be an author. So I put the whole idea of writing on the back burner.

            Years later I met my friend Pat. One day she mentioned that she was going to a writers meeting. I said that I had always thought about writing, so she insisted I go to the meeting with her. I went, and learned a lot. When Pat invited me to a second meeting, I decided at the last minute that I should have some writing of my own to share and sat down and banged out a couple of paragraphs of what I hoped would be a picture book on our old typewriter. I started writing then, and haven't stopped since.

            My first success was with greeting-card copy, and then short stories. I felt I was really getting somewhere when I sold a short story to 'Teen Magazine.

            What got me started writing Young Adult (mostly) Romance novels was my daughter's interest in the First Love Silhouette and Sweet Dreams books. I picked one up and read it. I really liked it and thought, "I could write a book like this." I based my first book on a short story that I had started. That book never sold, but I got good comments from editors about it. I knew editors were super-busy people who did not write a comment on a manuscript casually, so that kept me going until the day I got "the call" that an editor wanted to buy my book!

http://bookswelove.net/authors/herrick-ann/

My Books:

The Next Great Rock Star!
Also Known as Lard Butt
The Farewell Season
My Fake Summer Boyfriend
Life, Love, and Surviving High School
It's All in Your Mind
The Perfect Guy
All's Fair in Love and Words
Hey, Nobody's Perfect
How to Survive a Summer Romance (Or Two)
Snowed In Together
The Real Me
Trading Faces

Boxed Sets (each set has 3 novels):
First Loves
Seasons of Love
Perfect Love

Genres: Young Adult Romance and/or Contemporary

              Middle Grade Contemporary (with a touch of romance)

Blurbs:

Amazon

The Farewell Season: 

Eric used to think he'd live forever, but not anymore. As football season starts, he hopes he can live normally again after the death of his father. But his refusal to face his grief results in anger at his coach, fights with his sister, resenting added responsibilities, and disillusionment with football. It takes a special relationship with Glynnie, who is struggling with the divorce of her parents, to open his heart to love again.

Also Known as Lard Butt:

Amazon

Laura discovers that Ricky, the boy who created her horrible nickname "Lard Butt," has moved back into town--and immediately schemes to keep him quiet. After all, she can't let her new swim teammates, especially drool-worthy Noah, hear the horrible name! No way!

She's determined to put a million years between grade school and junior high--even in the face of a father who drives an éclair, a would-be-movie-star mother who suddenly moves back home, and a past that comes back to haunt her with the dreaded nickname.

Although Laura's embarrassed about how she looks in a swimsuit, she tries to stay true to her vow to take risks. She even lets Maria talk her into going to the school dance, where she braves negotiating a truce for a quarreling couple. New friendships form, Laura's mother starts getting too domesticated for Laura's comfort, and hints of romance start to develop--or do they?

Amazon

The Next Great Rock Star!

Will Jason ditch his best friends--including Layla--in his quest for fame and fortune?

When Jason and his friends form a garage band, they call it "No Frills" because they want to keep it real--even when they enter a band contest and pressures to alter their image mount. Then one day, due to a close encounter with lightning, Jason's life changes in a big way--but is he magically cooler or is it just his perception?

As he goes from blah to cool, his head swells as he takes his fifteen minutes of fame too seriously. His too-busy mother and fortune-telling grandmother don't get through to him. Even maybe-more-than-a-friend Layla is ready to give up on Jason, especially when he starts flirting with much-older Mindy. Only a rescued kitten keeps him even remotely grounded. It isn't until he loses the friendships with the band mates he once counted on that he realizes he has a major problem, and he worries it might be too late to fix it.

Coming Soon: