NTRWA September 2003 Spotlight On...

GERALYN DAWSON
          by Juliet Burns

“Kate Hudson often thought that living the good life was like putting on a pair of panty hose. Just when she finally wiggled her way to a comfortable fit, she’d invariably get a runner.”

So starts Geralyn Dawson’s new release, MY BIG OLD TEXAS HEARTACHE. Inspired by her aging father’s refusal to give up his driver’s license, this witty contemporary is set in Cedar Dell, and just hit bookstores this week.

When I think of Texas Romance, I think Geralyn Dawson, one of NT’s most prolific author’s. Born in Wichita Falls, she’s lived in Fort Worth since earning her business degree from A&M.

Geralyn never thought of being a writer until she was almost thirty. As a stay at home mom with three small children underfoot, she needed something for herself. She’d always been a big reader and decided to take a creative writing class at TCJC. That year she began writing.

Four years later, after joining Trinity Arts Writers, and then North Texas, she finally finished her manuscript. “In those days there weren’t all these conferences like they have now,” she said. But she attended a Golden Triangle Writers Conference, interviewed with an agent, and within six months had sold her first book, THE TEXAN’S BRIDE.

That was followed by such heart-warming stories as CAPTURE THE NIGHT, and TEMPTING MORALITY. And Geralyn still managed to raise her children and serve as NT’s president. Geralyn gains her inspiration from Christina Dodd’s work ethic, the need to pay college tuition for her two sons, or just a day of writing well. She is currently working on the next book in her “Cedar Dell” series, due out in August 2004.

And she’s just signed a contract with the new Harlequin single title line, HQN for 3 new Historicals where we’ll finally get to read about the 3 daughters from the BAD LUCK WEDDING DRESS all grown up. I can’t wait.

Pretty good for someone who never considered a career in writing!

Visit Geralyn’s website.

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