Lisa GardnerLisa Gardner – I’ve always loved to read and I’ve always loved to write. At eighteen I got the bright idea to write a romance novel. I needed something to do during the day before I went to my summer job as a waitress. God knows waitressing wasn’t going well. We had this appetizer called flaming saganaki-basically flaming cheese. You’re supposed to serve the sizzling cheese with grand flourish, dousing it in brandy, then tossing a match. Mostly I caught my hair on fire. Then there was the time I flipped the flaming appetizer onto the floor and had to beat it out with a serving tray. Let’s just say my days in food service were numbered, so it was a good thing I was working on a novel.

A funny thing happened my junior year of college. The novel-rewritten several times now-actually sold to Silhouette Intimate Moments. They gave the book the title, WALKING AFTER MIDNIGHT, and me the name Alicia Scott. It was pretty exciting. Then I got the check in the mail. Three thousand dollars. Not much for three years of work. I bought a computer for my new nom de plume, then went out to get a real job.  https://www.lisagardner.com/