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Pamela Palmer
National Bestselling Author



Pamela attempting morning push-ups with her Air Force pilot dad.

Above: Riding an elephant in Bangkok. Pamela's the dark-haired kid, back left.

 

I grew up in the Air Force. No, no, I didn’t wear little fatigues or salute my parents (although I have a snapshot of me attempting to do push-ups beside my pilot dad at age four), but as anyone in a career military household knows, it’s not just a job, it’s a life that includes the entire family and one that can provide some unique experiences. At a year old, I thought any man in an Air Force uniform was my daddy. At nine I received a government-issue set of dog tags, and at ten I rode an elephant in Bangkok and later watched an earthquake ripple like ocean waves across our front yard in the Philippines.

Unlike a lot of authors, I didn’t grow up wanting to be a writer. I didn’t even want to be a pilot like my dad. I wanted to be an astronaut. I spent hours alone in my room either reading, watching Star Trek, or imagining other worlds filled with magic, strange creatures and dashing space pirates. The dream followed me to college where I studied engineering with plans to head for NASA when I graduated. But at nineteen I woke up to the reality of the modern space program and the stars finally fell from my eyes. The Space Shuttle was never going to take me where my imagination wanted to go.

Instead, I graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Industrial Engineering and went to work for a major computer manufacturer. I still devoured books (almost exclusively romances) and even tried writing one, but after the first exciting chapter I had no idea what to do with my characters. I thought I couldn’t write. In hindsight, I simply had no idea how to plot.

I set aside the dream of writing for a few years while I had babies, though I continued to create stories in my head. Then one night as I did the dinner dishes, one of those daydreams became too big to keep in my head. I had to write it down. This time, however, thanks to the recent opening of a brand new library down the street, I discovered a wealth of books on plotting and character development and realized I could learn how to turn scenes into books and craft entire stories. The process was neither fast nor easy, encompassing four manuscripts, half a dozen partials, and eleven years of hard work before I sold my first book. Fortunately, I had a lot of encouragement along the way. With my very first book I finaled for Romance Writers of America’s most prestigious award for unpublished writers, the Golden Heart. Each of my subsequent books also became a Golden Heart finalist, the third winning the award outright. The fourth, through the Golden Heart, sold.

Now I spend my days in those fascinating worlds filled with magic, excitement and dashing heroes, and my evenings with my real-life hero and two wonderful kids.


Pamela with her book club as they helped her celebrate the launch of The Dark Gate. (Pamela is sitting second from bottom left with her book.)

 

Author Spotlight. Check out the author spotlight on Pamela at RT Book Reviews and find out how the Feral Warriors series was born.

CK2s Kwips and Kritiques interviews Pamela. Read to find out more about Pamela's Esri series, her career, and her plans for the future.

Pamela interviewed on Romance Bandits. Pamela shares about her latest release, what's in the works, and some advice for aspiring writers.

 


Who is Pamela Montgomerie?


Pamela Montgomerie is the pseudonym I’ve taken for my historical-set time travels for Berkley Sensation. Why the second name? I promise, it wasn’t to confuse you! In fact, the real reason was to not confuse you. When you pick up a Pamela Palmer book, you expect an edgy, dark paranormal romance set in what is more or less our world. My Pamela Montgomerie books take place in the past – seventeenth-century Scotland. I think you’ll find them just as fast-paced, exciting, and romantic as my other stories. With the sweeping majesty of Scotland as a backdrop, perhaps even more so. Why the odd spelling of Montgomerie? It’s a family name, straight from Ayrshire, Scotland.

Have you always been intrigued by the paranormal?


From the moment I saw my first Star Trek episode at age ten, then discovered C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings a few years later. As I got older, I continued to enjoy paranormal movies and television when I could find them, but I wanted more romance in my books than the sci-fi/fantasy writers provided. I’m absolutely loving the rise in popularity of the paranormal romances. The marriage of my two favorite genres.

Where do you get your ideas? What inspires you?


Honestly, everything inspires me. Movies, books, people I know, places I visit. But my greatest inspiration comes from the simple question “What if?” “What if that plane over my house disappeared while I was watching it? What if I woke up one morning with the ability to read minds? What if two large, gorgeous men suddenly…and I mean suddenly…appeared in my kitchen and told me they were from the future and needed my help?” The last one was the question and subsequent daydream that popped into my head that night when I was doing the dishes. That first attempt at writing never sold, but the question inspired a career.

Do you follow a strict writing schedule or do you follow the muse?


I definitely need structure and deadlines to produce in a timely matter, but I’ve experimented over the years with what that means. I used to try to structure my days, but I’m not a natural multi-tasker and it never worked well for me. If I’m working on the book, I want to be working on the book. Nothing else. So now I structure my weeks. Five days a week I do nothing but write, except for the occasional meal or carpool. I often put in twelve-hour days. The other two days are for everything else in my life and I’m free to pursue them without that annoying sprite sitting on my shoulder whispering, “You should be working.”

What advice would you give an aspiring author?


First and foremost, write. Attend writing workshops, read how-tos (the library and bookstores are full of them) and study the authors you love. Above all, don’t give up. Getting published takes skill, hard work, luck and perseverance, but I’m convinced it’s the perseverance that makes the most difference. Without it, the others might not ever get the chance to matter.

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Pamela highly recommends:

Award winning author Laurin Wittig’s Between the Lines Critiques —  professional critiques of manuscripts and synopses for both published and unpublished writers. ~ www.laurinwittig.wordpress.com

Romance destinations:

Washington Romance Writers ~ www.wrwdc.com
Romance Writers of America ~ www.rwanational.org
Virginia Romance Writers ~ www.virginiaromancewriters.com
Silhouette Nocturne Authors’ site ~ www.nocturneauthors.com
Harlequin/Silhouette ~ www.eharlequin.com
Harlequin’s Paranormal Romance Blog ~ www.paranormalromanceblog.com

Some of Pamela’s current favorite paranormal authors:

Keri Arthur ~ www.keriarthur.com
Kresley Cole ~ www.kresleycole.com
Lori Devoti ~ www.loridevoti.com
Nalini Singh ~ www.nalinisingh.com
Jennifer St. Giles ~ www.jenniferstgiles.com
J.R. Ward ~ www.jrward.com

Some of Pamela’s other favorite authors:

Suzanne Brockmann ~ www.suzannebrockmann.com
Anna Campbell ~ www.annacampbell.info
Madeline Hunter ~ www.madelinehunter.com
Susan Elizabeth Phillips ~ www.susanelizabethphillips.com
Julia Quinn ~ www.juliaquinn.com
Nora Roberts ~ www.noraroberts.com

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