1.  Tell me a bit about Angela Winters - the writer? What got you started?

I've been writing since I was about eleven. I read the HARRIET THE SPY book series, about a little girl who spied on her neighbors and wrote everything down in a book. It really got me hooked. So I started writing down what I observed. Then I started writing short stories and poems, then novellas, and eventually novels. I sold my first novel to Kensington in 1996, which was ONLY YOU published in January of 1997.  Writing is a release for me. It helps me deal with stress and provides me an outlet for all these ideas
that stir up in my mind.

2. Do you have a full-time career outside of your writing?

Yes. I'm a diversity consultant for a fortune 500 financial services company in the D.C. Area. I love my job. I get to travel and talk about issues that really mean a lot to me.

3.  When you're not writing, what do you like to do in your spare time?

I try to read. I have a stack of books a mile high in my home. I try to read other Arabesque authors, and mystery books. I also enjoy painting ceramics.

4.   What is something about you that your readers would be surprised you do?

I don't think there is anything that I do that would surprise folks, but a lot of people might be surprised to hear that my ideal dream job would be working with wild animals in Africa.

5.  What inspired you to write KNOW BY HEART?

As a diversity professional, I have dealt with the issue of discrimination in the high tech world. The lack of minority managers in that sector is very eye opening. I had studied some of it, and thought it would be a good cultural subject to add to a novel. So at the core of the story was this desire to get this message out, and from it came a mystery and romance.

6.   Tell us a bit about the book?

KNOW BY HEART, set in the Silicon Valley, places a free spirited journalist escaping a violent ex-lover with a powerful software executive with eyes on the CEO seat in a plot to destroy the competition over the next software product that will change the industry and make millionaires into billionaires. But when those involved start dying, they aren't even sure they can trust each other, despite the fact that they are falling fast and furiously in love.

7.   Which of your books is your favorite?  Which did you most enjoy writing?

It's hard to say which I like best. Each was had an emotional pull on me. I would say A FOREVER PASSION was the one that tied me in the most emotionally. The background of the main character, Sydney Tanner, was
very damaging to her soul, and trying to write that in a way that would be understandable and touch the reader was pretty painful. I came to love her like she was a real person. Also, I enjoyed writing the bad characters in this book so much.

8.    Do you have a favorite hero? Heroine?

My favorite hero from my books is Trajan Matthews from THE BUSINESS OF LOVE. I just loved his good/bad inner struggle. My favorite heroin is Sydney Tanner from A FOREVER PASSION. She's a tough girl.

9.   What process do you use in writing your novels?

It's never the same. Sometimes I come up with a great idea like in KNOW BY HEART, and then build a story and characters around it. Sometimes I think of a character, and create an opposing character, and build a plot from the two of them. Other times I think of an event, and how that would affect me or a woman in general, and build a story around it.

10.   How long does it take you to complete a manuscript?

About 6 months. Only because i travel so much for my job, it's hard to write every day.

11.  What was your becoming a published writer journey like?

It was really an easy one for me. The first novel I sent out for acceptance was purchased by Kensington. I had never been rejected before, and haven't since. I thank God for that. The real journey for me was allowing myself to share what I write. It used to be so personal that I would never ever think of sharing it with anyone, let alone letting it be published for people I didn't even know. It took me a while to allow myself to put my heart out there like that.

12.  Is being a published writer what you thought it would be like?

Yes and no. It's wonderful and still surprises me when I walk in a bookstore and see my books. I can't believe all the fan letters I get. It's amazing. I can't believe a fiction story I wrote actually affects other people's lives. No, in the sense that I had thought it would change a lot in my life (in a good and bad way), and it hasn't. I'm still me. I still work to pay my bills.

13.   What do you feel has been your greatest accomplishment as a writer and why?

I think my greatest accomplishment as a writer came the day I mailed the first three chapters of my first novel, ONLY YOU, to Kensington publishing. The insecurities, sense of privacy and vulnerability I had to get over to take that step and open myself, and the hobby that I loved, up for rejection, judgment and criticism was so hard for me.

14. If you had known then what you know now, what would you have done differently in terms of your romance-writing career?

Nothing really. Honestly, I feel so lucky and blessed that I'm still so grateful it has happened at all.

15. Do you like communicating with your readers?  In what forms?  And how can a reader contact you?

I love hearing from readers. Sometimes I get frustrated trying to write and work at the same time. Sometimes I get writer's block. These letters I get from readers get me over all of that. I prefer e-mail, because I'm always on the net. I can be reached at angela_winters@yahoo.com.

16.   What's next for Angela Winters?

Interesting question. My ninth novel is coming out in 2002 for Arabesque. It is a follow up to A FOREVER PASSION, since the readers got as hooked on the characters as I did. I'm writing a romantic suspense now. My next project is to start a mystery series with one recurring heroine. Also, I am writing a script for an hour long African-American drama series that I hope to option by mid-summer.