Welcome to our New Faces column, where you can meet brand-new romance authors and find out about their books. This time we're visiting with Deirdre Martin, whose first contemporary romance is Body Check from Jove.

Deirdre, welcome to TRR! Tell us about yourself.

I grew up in Northport, New York. I'm the oldest of four children; my mother was a stay at home mom, and my dad was high school English teacher who very early on encouraged me in both reading and writing. I've been married fifteen years to my husband, Mark, who is also a writer! (He does financial stuff and self help). We live in Ithaca, New York, which is a nifty little town in Central New York. I like baking, hiking, biking, and taking photos. And course, I love reading romances.

Are you coming to romance writing from another job?

I guess you could say I came to romance from another writing job. For twelve years, I was a freelance magazine writer and wrote for a wide variety of publications, including Seventeen, YM, McCall's, Fitness, Modern Maturity, the New York Times... you name the magazine, I wrote for 'em to help pay the bills! But I started to burn out, and knew I needed to challenge myself. That's when I decided to turn to romance.

What led you to write romance?

I've always been an avid reader of all sorts of books, but romance has always been like comfort food to me. Whenever I felt depressed or in need of complete escape, it was always romance I would turn to, and inevitably, I would alway feel better afterwards. That 'swhy I decided to try my hand at writing it: not only would it be challenging, but it's a genre that makes people happy, makes them hopeful, and I think that's a good thing.

Tell us about your road to publication.

Oh, lord. Well, the first romance I wrote was a total disaster. In fact, I should burn the manuscript, that's how bad it is. I knew very little about plotting, POV, tension, conflict, etc. After being rejected everywhere, by everyone(!), I finally picked up a few how to books, and read romances of all kinds until I thought my eyes would fall out. Then I got back to writing. My second was better...good enough to get me an agent, who, after a year, dumped me. I won't go into the gory details, but suffice it to say that without the help of brownies and a good therapist, I'd probably still be curled up in my bed under the covers. The third book was the charm. I got another agent who sold the book, and the rest, as they say, was history. Mind you, none of this happened overnight. It took about four years, during which time I was still freelancing part time.

What kind of research was involved for your first book?

My husband and I are both big hockey fans, so that helped in terms of being able to write confidently and accurately about the sport. (The hero is a hockey player). Since the heroine is a publicist for an NHL team, I got in touch with the head of PR for the New York Rangers and interviewed him extensively. I also toured the Rangers locker room and went to watch the team practice.

Tell us about your debut book.

Janna MacNeil is a publicist on a mission- to change the image of the bad boys of hockey: the Stanley Cup champion New York Blades. Ty Gallagher is a captain on a mission-to get his team to win the Cup again...at any cost. His determination is legendary, as well as his unwillingness to toe the corporate line.

The persistent publicist and stubborn captain butt heads, and it's hard enough to crack the ice. But they wind up melting it instead...

Who are your influences as a writer?

Romance wise, I love Nora Roberts, Jennifer Crusie, Susan Elizabeth Philips, Millie Criswell, and Fern Michaels.

Other writers I like are Helen Fielding, Fay Weldon, Edna O'Brien, T.C, Boyle, and Mary Jo Putney.

What does your family think of having a romance author in their midst?

Oh my God, they love it. I should hire my father as my publicist-the man has been tirelessly handing out bookmarks to everyone he meets and talking the book up all over the place, which is great!

Tell us about plans for future books.

My next book, FAIR PLAY will be published by Jove in January, 2004. Readers who liked BODY CHECK will certainly want to check it out, since the hero and heroine are secondary characters from BODY CHECK who get their own story in FAIR PLAY. I'm now working on my third book. It's not contracted yet, but I'm hopeful.

How can readers get in touch with you?

Readers can email me at: deirdre@deirdremartin.com. I would love it if readers stopped by my website, too. The address is: www.deirdremartin.com. They can read excerpts of both books there, as well as enter my current contest if they want to. Thank you all for your interest!

Deirdre, thanks for joining us, and best of luck with your books! Readers, we have a review of Body Check in our Contemporary section. March 9, 2003