Hello | Gail R. Delaney

This is Me...

Some people write these bio things in third person, but I figure you know I'm the one sitting here writing it... so it seems a bit silly for me to write like I'm someone else.

For the last few decade or so, I've been actively pursuing my dream of being published. I've been writing for about as long as I can remember, but I didn't decide I wanted to do this 'for real' until shortly after my mother's death.

After my mom died, I was helping my dad go through all the paperwork and nonsense that seems to explode after someone passes. We found a box... but not just a normal box of files. In this box, no word of a lie, was everything I had ever written ... EVER. Book reports, essays, short stories, poems, story outlines... it was all there. Whether it was just a piece of paper or a formal, bound story... she had it.

Finding that box made me realize... more to the point, it made me 'see' what my mother had seen all my life. I was a writer.

I decided that I had to honor that vision... and three months after her funeral, I started my first 'book for publication'. ( I don't count the fantasy novel I wrote at 15. I doubt that book will EVER see the light of day).

I started with a contemporary romance, which I still consider a 'work in progress'. When I wrote it, I knew very little about the craft of writing romance novels. I've learned a lot since then, and I want to apply all that info to the revamping of the manuscript.

I moved on to more contemporaries, some of which are available now and some need some updating. Then I tried my hand at romantic suspense. I really enjoy the added element of adding suspense, a case to be solved or a life to be saved, along with the building of a relationship.

After that, I found myself in a rut. I had just finished my first (and at that point only) suspense novel and couldn't find that next great story that really 'grabbed' me. I'd start something, get a few chapters in, and quit because I just wasn't feeling it.

So, to occupy my time - because Lord knows, I can't just have free time laying about - I dabbled in writing fanfiction for a science fiction program called Stargate SG-1. Writing the fanfiction was a nice release, it let my muse play a bit, and at least let me feel like I was doing something.

Well, after about a year of doing this, my critique partners started prodding me with the question "Why don't you write a Scifirom novel?"

I hadn't ever contemplated actually writing sci fi outside of fanfiction, so I was reluctant at first. But then, ideas started churning around in my head and I even saw some ways that I could convert previously 'defunct' storylines into a futuristic setting.

My Future Possible series was born.

I've never been so enthralled by a book or books when I'm writing them. Sometimes, it's almost more of a love/hate relationship. But not Phoenix. The stories told themselves, and I was just along for the ride. I wrote the entire first four book series in eight months. When I finished The Phoenix Rebellion, I thought I was done with that world. Hah... nope. My muse decided I wasn't nearly done yet. I'm writing the fourth book in Phoenix Rising, a series that picks up after the end of the first Phoenix Rebellion series. I also have a novella series titled Kingdom Come that takes places centuries after the more near future books, but all part of the same universe. I'm sure there are more to come.

Well, that's all the writing stuff. As far as the personal stuff goes... I've been married for nearly 30 years to the first man I ever really kissed and I have two great kids. Between my husband, children, in laws and dad... I'm not sure who is my biggest supporter and 'free advertiser'. I hear so often about writers who deal with families who disapprove or sabotage their time... but not here. I'm so thankful for them all.

I lost my dad in July of 2011, suddenly and with no warning. It devastated me. But, I will never, ever forget the pride and love I saw in his eyes every time he introduced me as "This is my daughter. She's a published author."

Anyway... that's enough about me. Surf the site... have some fun... and email me if you have a question or comment.

Gail R. Delaney