Stephanie: A Selection from Orchard Valley Grooms

How many people follow the dream they had as a child growing up? American Women's Fiction and Romance novelist, Debbie Macomber did just that. She realized that it was her dream to become a writer from the time she was in fourth grade. She did not act upon that dream (for fear of rejection) until she was 30 years old, and the mother of four children. She submitted many manuscripts, but all were rejected. She attended a romance writers conference, where one of her manuscripts, Heartsong, was selected to be critiqued by an editor from Harlequin Enterprises, Inc. Of course, that editor ripped her work to shreds with his criticism, and recommended she throw it away! Instead, she gathered the $10 fee and submitted the same manuscript to Harlequin's competitor, Silhouette Books. They published the manuscript, and Macomber's illustrious writing career began in earnest.

Debbie Macomber overcame her dyslexia to become one of the most prolific authors of romance novels. She sat in her kitchen, with four children, tapping out her work on an ordinary typewriter. At her peak writing, she was releasing two or three titles per year, with her first hardcover novel being released in 2001.

Most women today are very familiar with Macomber's current works, especially those that have been made into Hallmark Channel movies and series. The Christmas movies.......Debbie Macomber's Mrs. Miracle, Call Me Mrs. Miracle, and Trading Christmas.....have become iconic Christmas features. The Cedar Cove series was also a hit with not only Debbie Macomber fans, but Hallmark fans in general.

Macomber and her husband raised their four children, and now have grandchildren. They still live in Port Orchard, Washington, but now winter in Florida.