Meet my New Friend,
Donna Winters

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LIGHTHOUSE COLLECTION Books?

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• Leave a comment telling Donna and me why YOU should win her four books
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Thanks for stopping by. Now read on to learn a little about Donna and her writing life:


How long have you known that you were a writer? Did you receive a clear “call?” Or have you just loved writing all your life?

First, thanks so much for your interest in my writing and for giving me this opportunity to meet your readers!

I enjoyed writing as a child. I wrote letters to friends and family and would be disappointed if they didn’t write back right away. Even so, I didn’t consider becoming a writer until well into adulthood. The call came in the form of a deep desire to change jobs rather than the voice of God luring me to serve Him. I began writing romances in 1982 and was able to go fulltime in 1984 when Thomas Nelson offered me a contract for my first book.

What is the genre you write in? Would you explain what it is?

I write historical romances set in the Great Lakes Region. The eras of my stories span the years from 1837 to 1906. The 1890’s forward are my favorite years because I’m more familiar with that time period.

In the mid-1980’s, inspirational romance lines by Thomas Nelson and Zondervan were new on the market. By the end of the 1980’s they had closed down leaving me no market for my work. Then my husband and I, after much prayer and research, decided to start our own trademark series, Great Lakes Romances®. Since 1989 I have been both publisher and author for this series, which in addition to my own work, has produced a limited number of titles by other authors who wrote during the late 1800’s or early 1900’s.

How do you spend your writing days? Do you set goals to reach a certain number of words per day? Can you give us a general idea of how long it takes you to write a novel?

When I am developing a story I spend about two to three hours in the morning, five or six days per week, working on research or writing. If I’m adding to the story, I try to finish two pages, or about 500 words per day. I complete a 55,000 word romance in about a year. It’s a comfortable pace for me since we’re retired and interested in a wide variety of activities.

Do you mind telling us some of your likes and dislikes? Hobbies, interests? Where would you like to travel if you could?

• I live in a recreational area and love to kayak and snow ski.
• We also spend a lot of time walking the woodland trails accessible from our backyard.
• In winter I cross-country ski on the trails, or head to a ski slope about 90 miles away and downhill ski the easiest trail there. I learned how to ski when I was 58 and this was only my third season so I’m a novice but enjoy the challenge when conditions are right. 
• Another interest we have is our dogs. Right now we have a retired racing greyhound and a chow/bearded collie mix. We’ve always had rescued dogs, two of them greyhounds and the rest, mixed breeds.

I love to travel, and have been to Europe twice. I’ve seen much of the East Coast and many places that surround the Great Lakes. I grew up in Western New York State, attended college in the northern part of that state, taught near the Pennsylvania border in the Catskill Mountains, and traveled just about all the other areas of NY. Then I moved to Michigan and began visiting the various historical places here. I’ve been to Arizona a couple of times, but I’d like to travel to the West Coast and see it from top to bottom. I’m also interested in touring Alaska and Hawaii. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to!

Would you give us your blog or webpage so everyone can check it out? Anything else you’d like to share? Promotional information?

My books are available at my website, http://www.greatlakesromances.com/. There you will find a downloadable order form along with links to Amazon where you can purchase all but one of the titles. Also, you can enter a drawing for a free book at any time! I offer a different title every two weeks and try to give a book to approximately one of every five people who enter.

I have a blog at http://greatlakesromances.blogspot.com/ where I explore Great Lakes subjects.

Thanks, readers, for visiting! Leave your comment if you'd like to own four of Donna's romance books.

Blessings!