Anna Campbell

I’m an Australian, born in Brisbane in Queensland, which is about 900km north of Sydney. I grew up on an avocado farm just outside Brisbane and now I live near the sea on the Sunshine Coast which is about an hour north of Brisbane. In between, I’ve lived in London and Sydney so I have spread my wings a little bit since I was born!

I had a couple of encouraging teachers who made me think I might be able to become a writer. My least favorite subject was PE.

I always loved history and I always loved romance so the two together are like double chocolate for me. I think my interest started way back when I was a toddler and my parents read fairy tales to me. I always loved the glamorous clothes!

Actually I don’t believe in rules. I think the only rule is do it well. I like research so I like to do a lot of it. I love going to the places where my stories take place (right now I’m in Scotland scouting locations for my new series, the Lairds Most Likely).

I had a sudden idea about three friends who had all in their ways had a sad time through widowhood who decide to take society by storm. That’s often how ideas come – out of the blue like that! So the series was originally three but I’ve discovered that series grow like Topsy – all these interesting extra characters turn up who need their story told. In this case, Silas Nash, the hero of The Seduction of Lord Stone, had an interesting agriculturally- minded sister called Amy who was such a vivid character in the earlier stories and he also had a brother who was a naval hero who seemed perfect for another story. Thus, the second trilogy was born. And then at the end of that, I had Morwenna’s jilted fiancé who deserved a happy ending, so that’s when I wrote Lord Garson’s Bride. I’m thinking of revisiting the next generation after I’ve had a break and written a few other things.

Currently, there are 7 books in the Dashing Widows series. The Seduction of Lord Stone, Tempting Mr. Townsend, Winning Lord West, Pursuing Lord Pascal, Charming Sir Charles, and Catching Captain Nash are all longish novellas, around 150 pages. The final book in the series, Lord Garson’s Bride, is a full-length novel around 380 pages. Obviously because of the length, that one took the longest to write.

Caroline, Lady Beaumont, is the sort of character who would make a great best friend. I was lucky with the Dashing Widows – all the characters stepped onto the page pretty much fully formed already so they all had their own individual personalities already.

Something will occur to me that seems likely and then I let it stew for a while in my head and over that stewing time, other things will adhere to the original idea. Then eventually I’ll sit down and start writing. I’m an organic writer so I basically tell myself the story from beginning to end, letting the story unfold naturally.

I was talking to a friend about romances inspired by fairy tales and this really vivid picture came to my mind of the opening scene when the heroine arrives at the hero’s half-ruined castle in the middle of a storm. At that time, I had no idea of who she was or who he was, but I had goosebumps because I knew something really good was in the idea. The rest of the story came about when I started asking myself the usual questions of who and why and where and how. I have a friend called Sidonie and I’d always liked her name so I stole it for my heroine. I’ve been known to do that!

The steamiest Sons of Sin is definitely the first one, Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed. I think you can tell that just by the title!

I’ve had a really good run with foreign translations, right from my first book Claiming the Courtesan. At last count, I think I’m up to 20 languages other than English. I have no hands- on involved in the translation process. My agent sells foreign language rights to an overseas publisher and they take things from there.

Having readers all over the world who enjoy my stories.

Bad reviews are just part of the process. I felt much better when I saw how many one star reviews Pride and Prejudice had got. If Jane Austen has her naysayers, who am I to be any different? When you’re first published, you really feel like you’ve got to the top of the mountain and everything from there on will be sunlit uplands. I was first published in 2007 and in the last 11 years, I’ve discovered that like most things, publishing is ups and downs. A Zen approach is the only way to deal with the highs and lows and remain sane.