Welcome to our New Faces column, where you can meet debut romance authors. This time we're visiting with Leah Vale, whose first novel is The Rich Man's Baby from Harlequin American.

Leah, welcome to TRR! Tell us about yourself.

I'm a Pacific Northwesterner through and through. I was born and raised in Southwest Washington, attended the University of Washington where I earned a BA in Communications, and after a short stint living in Central California, I settled in Portland, OR where I live with my husband of fifteen years and two sons. Oh, yeah, and a seven month old golden retriever. Can't forget the golden retriever. She's the boss of me now.

Are you coming to romance writing from another job?

Aside from trying to train the above mentioned dog, raising my two boys is the only other job I have besides my romance writing. Many moons ago I worked for a while in advertising, but my husband's job kept us moving too much at first to get settled in anywhere. I am so glad, now.

What led you to write romance?

I write romance because, quite frankly, I'm a romantic. I can't stand it when a story ends badly. While I can appreciate what the author intended by ending a story unhappily, I still can't go to sleep until I've mentally rewritten the ending. Romance is also my favorite thing to read, hands down.

Tell us about your road to publication

. My road to publication resembled those long, twisty, switch back roads that take forever to reach the top of a mountain you see in car commercials. But I'll try to make my travel log as short as possible.

I'd already written one historical romance novel when I joined Romance Writers of America back in 1994, and immediately started racking up the rejections once I found out how to submit it to the romance publishers. But I joined a critique group, went to every conference and workshop I could manage, and learned as much as I could about the craft of writing. Most importantly, I kept writing.

Three historical novels and one contemporary later, I was consistently finaling in writing contests, but I was still getting rejected. And I couldn't find an agent who could figure out what to do with my books, either.

Then I was encouraged by Maureen Child and Amy Fetzer, who write for Silhouette Desire, to pursue my contemporary. When it finaled in RWA's Golden Heart contest, I screwed up the nerve to call the last editor to reject me. I told her about the contest and asked if I corrected the things she'd felt were problems in the story, if she would be willing to take another look at the book. She was. Ten months later she called to buy the book.

What kind of research was involved for your first book?

Floating down the river near where my story takes place really gave me a sense of place for the story. And having survived my sons' toddler years helped, too.

Who are your influences as a writer?

There are so many, it's hard to pin point a few. I really admire Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I love her character development and sense of pacing. And Linda Needham. She taught me everything I know about plotting.

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

They think it seriously hinders the reliability of there being cookies in the cookie jar. Face it, they're guys. But they do think it's pretty cool that my stories are in books that people can buy all over the world. They still would rather have cookies, though.

Tell us about plans for future books.

My next book is a sequel to THE RICH MAN'S BABY, called THE RICH GIRL GOES WILD (as you can see, I had a theme!) and will be available from Harlequin American Romance this coming August. I'm excited to say that the book I'm working on now is book two in a continuity series for American Romance called Millionaire, Montana. My book, BIG-BUCKS BACHELOR, will be a February 2003 release.

How can readers get in touch with you?

I'd love to hear from my readers, and they can reach me through my web site, www.leahvale.com or at P.O. Box 91337, Portland, OR 97291.

Leah, thanks for joining us, and best of luck!

May 28, 2002