Heartbeat RWA, an online chapter of Romance Writers of America for Medical Romance Authors

Sharon Archer was born in New Zealand and grew up a regular tomboy around the Air Force bases where her father was stationed. She went on to train in medical science, working in hospital laboratories in new Zealand and Australia. Although, books had always been a part of her life, it never occurred to her that writing could be an occupation until a television interview many years ago with Mills & Boon author, Valerie Parv. A dream was born!

She married her hero, Glenn and they live in country Victoria, Australia. The move brought a keen interest in bushfire management as well as time to dabble in woodwork, genealogy, horse-riding and motorcycling – as a pillion or in charge of the handlebars.

The move also meant time to put words on paper! The dream to be a writer gathered momentum. With a background in a medical laboratory what better line to write for than Harlequin Mills & Boon Medical Romance! Sharon had her first manuscript accepted in September, 2008.

Beverly Bateman - Abuse investigation has been a part of Beverley Bateman's adult life. Her career in public health nursing brought her into daily contact with challenging families and gave her an up-close view into the lives of families from all social levels and occupations; including drug dealers, hookers and abusers.

This provided Beverley with a wealth of knowledge for her to draw on to enhance her writing skills, as she develops situations with realistic characters facing emotional and life-threatening challenges.

Beverley admits to being an avid reader of mystery and romantic suspense, which began early in life with Nancy Drew. She also confesses to spending a lot of time dreaming up locked room plots and conversations between fictional characters.

She's a member of RWA and spent fours years as president of the Kiss of Death Chapter. Presently she's vice-president of the Scriptscene Chapter.

When not working out the twisted details for her latest plot, Beverley reads voraciously, and loves to travel, hike and cross country ski in the Okanagan Valey of British Columbia where she lives with her husband and two dogs.

The choice came down to getting her PhD in Clinical Psychology and becoming a researcher or following her dream of writing fiction, especially romance fiction with hunky heroes and feisty heroines. The dream, the creativity, the chance to use her love of words won out and she has never looked back. Currently published in short-story romance, Victoria's publisher has requested a full on her time-travel.

Victoria lives surrounded by wonderful men - her own hero's. Her husband, two sons, and two male dogs - her fur babies - round out her life.

Candace Calvert - is an ER nurse who landed on the “other side of the stethoscope” after the equestrian accident that broke her neck and convinced her love, laughter--and faith--are the very best medicines of all. The inspirational account of her accident and recovery appears in Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul, and launched her writing career.

The author of a madcap cruise mystery series in the mainstream market, Candace now writes medical fiction for Tyndale House. Her Mercy Hospital series offers readers a chance to “scrub in” on the exciting world of emergency medicine, along with charismatic characters, pulse-pounding action, tender romance, humor, suspense--and a soul soothing prescription for hope.

The first book in the series, CRITICAL CARE was released in June, 2009, and is followed by DISASTER STATUS in April 2010 and CODE TRIAGE, September 2010.

Born in Northern California and the mother of two, Candace now lives in the Hill Country of Texas. She enjoys cruise travel, Bible study, bird watching, hiking, gardening, cooking, and being her husband’s biggest karaoke fan. Please visit her website:
www.candacecalvert.com and blog: http://candacecalvertblogspot.com/ Links to Twitter and FaceBook are found on her website home page.

Dianne’s first romance novel for Harlequin was published in 2001 (The Doctor Dilemma) and her 23th from Harlequin will be out in late 2009. She has written romantic comedy for Duets and Flipside, and at the present writes medical and straight contemporary romance.

With her original college degree in music, and another in nursing, Dianne has a background in publicity and promotions, and has appeared on numerous television programs and in radio interviews throughout the country in conjunction with her writing. Today, she is featured in a segment (running evergreen) on The Discovery Channel’s Hometime. In addition, she has taught university writing classes as an adjunct, conducted workshops at the RWA national convention several times, as well as non-RWA writing workshops. In Romance Writers of America, Dianne has served as a chapter president, has been a regular writer for the RWR (organization magazine), has been a contest coordinator, and she currently serves as the Heartbeat Chapter president. In addition, Dianne is a member of Novelists, Inc, where she served as the 2008 Conference Program Director. Visit Dianne’s website at www.DianneDrake.com

When Dianne isn’t writing, she’s an avid NFL fan with a season ticket to the games, regularly attends the symphony, dabbles in cooking, and is totally controlled by two rambunctious cats and three adorable dogs, all adopted strays.

Her dream came true in December of 2003 when she sold her first medical romance to Harlequin Mills and Boon. She’s written 23 books since and enjoyed every moment.

Laura has been married to her husband Scott for twenty-five years. Her daughter Nicole is a senior at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and her son Jonathan works at the same hospital in the cafeteria and is planning to attend the technical college in the fall. Mac, her Westie (West Highland White Terrier) is always there to greet her when she gets home. You can visit Laura at her website: www.lauraiding.com

Janice Lynn - Romance author Janice Lynn has a master's in nursing from Vanderbilt University and works full time as a family nurse practitioner. Juggling the aspects of day to day life and her life-long dream of writing happily-ever-afters, Janice resides with her husband and their four children.

Janice's first novel, Jane Millionaire (Dorchester Love Spell, 12/05), won the 2005 American Title contest and went on to win the 2006 Golden Quill for Best First book. Her second novel, a Harlequin Mills & Boon Medical Romance, The Doctor's Pregnancy Bombshell, (11/07) won the 2007 National Readers' Choice Award for best Traditional romance and was a finalist for the Award of Excellence and Touch of Magic writing contests. Janice has published three additional novels with Harlequin, (The Heart Surgeon's Secret Son (2/08), The Doctor's Meant-to-be Marriage (5/08), and her current release is Surgeon Boss, Surprise Dad. During 2009, she has four novels scheduled for release, including a special release, titled The Nurse's Baby Miracle, from Mills & Boon Presents in November.

Janice belongs to several RWA chapters and has served in a variety of capacities. She belongs to the infamous Wet Noodle Posse (the 2003 Golden Heart finalists) and is an active member of Writers at Play (www.writersatplay.com), where she can often be found hanging out with her closest writing pals. For more information on Janice and her books, please visit www.janicelynn.net

After twenty-six years as a registered nurse working in a busy hospital and clinic in the state of California, she recently decided to further pursue her writing career. Besides her love for medical romance, she also writes contemporary romance.

Lynne joined the Romance Writers of America in 2001, and her local RWA chapter Los Angeles Romance Authors, soon thereafter. She attributes everything she has learned about writing to RWA. Besides being a member of Heartbeat, she is also a member of the Women's Fiction online chapter. She is also a member of Romance Novelists Association, the British equivalent to RWA.

Lynne is a rare California native and lives forty miles northeast of Los Angeles with her husband of twenty-seven years and their socially challenged Rhodesian Ridgeback. She is also a proud mother of an adult daughter and son.

Watch for Lynne's unofficial Santa Barbara Medical Romance series this year. The Boss and Nurse Albright, 3/10, The Heart Doctor and the Baby, 8/10, and TBA 12/10.

She will be presenting her Riveting Revisions online workshop in August for the Connecticut chapter of RWA, and will present the same workshop in person at the Halifax chapter of RWA in late September. She invites you to visit her website at http://www.lynnemarshallweb.com and at the eHarlequin community for the Medical Romance authors' blog.

Susan May - Susan's love affair with books began when she was in the sixth grade and made a bad grade on her report card in math. (She still doesn't like math.) Not allowed to watch TV for the next six weeks until she brought the grade up, she filled her extra time with books. Like other wannabee writers, she piddled around with writing and nearly talked her book to death, that is, until she joined a writing group. One of the all time worse spellers and particularly stinking at grammar, she worked hard, determined to tell her son's story. Nick's New Heart is a story about his heart transplant.

She has been married to Andy for twenty-seven years and they live north of Atlanta. Susan often speaks to nursing groups, civic groups, and high school health classes and to just anyone willing to learn about the importance of organ donation. She leads workshops on time management, organizing your time, finding the right writer's conference to meet your needs, making rejection work for you, and the art of collaging as a way of picturing your storyline.

Virginia McCullough is still in the hunt for the right homes for her contest-winning fiction manuscripts, but as a ghostwriter/editor she's written more than 100 coauthored and ghosted nonfiction books. Her most recent books are: 52 Ways to Bring More Humor, Hugs, and Hope into Your Life (released in September 2008) w/Greg Risberg, MSW, a professional speaker. Her 2007 release, The Oxygen Revolution (Hatherleigh, April 2007), was coauthored with a pioneer in the field of hyperbaric medicine. Her new book, Women Option Traders (Sourcebooks), coauthored with options expert Wendy Kirkland, is due for a 2009 release. Virginia's passion for writing has led her to consult with those who seek ways to create a fulltime writing business and embrace the writers life. The mother of two grown children, Virginia lived on a sailboat for seven years and still likes to move around. She's lived in six states and the US Virgin Islands and currently calls Green Bay, Wisconsin home. You can visit her at www.virginiamccullough.com.

Debi King McMartin is a published author of both fiction and nonfiction. Her first article was published in Guideposts Magazine's Angel's Among Us September-October 1997 edition. Fiction works include romantic suspense books Magnolia Dreams (New Concepts Publishing) and Web of Dreams (Amber Quill Press). Nonfiction works include Stone Justice, the true story of the only woman ever executed in the electric chair in Louisiana, recently made into independent feature film The Pardon, starring Jason Lewis (Sex and the City) and Jaime King (Pearl Harbor, Sin City). Ms. McMartin co-wrote the screenplay for Stone Justice along with co-author Lyn Morgan, which was a winner in the 2002 Writer's Digest Writing Competition's TV/Film Script Division, and served as co-writer along with Ms. Morgan for the screenplay Lethal Alliance, the film currently in production with Nandar Entertainment. Her most recent nonfiction release is Beyond the Castle Doors:A Soul Quest for the Holy Grail (Findhorn Press, Independent Publisher's Group. Ms. McMartin served as Production coordinator for the award-winning documentary Missing, Presumed Dead, produced by Hollywood filmmaker Bill Dumas and narrated by Ed Asner. She served as Producer for Accolade Award-winning documentary Dreamers and Gamblers: Spirit of the Pioneer Wildcatters.

Tessa Radley -- In the span of just seven days, Tessa Radley had sent off her full manuscript, signed with an agent and received an offer to buy her book. The roller coaster began with a pitch on eHarlequin.com to Desire editor Melissa Jeglinski.

But it hasn't all been a joyride. Tessa has been writing for six years and there was no easy ride to publication. But along the way she discovered lots of wonderful books and met a crowd of fabulous people—like the Heartbeat members—as well as her critique group, Superromance authors Abby Gaines and Karina Bliss, and Sandra Hyatt. So Tessa advises new writers to "Hold on to your dream. Keep writing and never give up!"

Mona Risk - As a Ph.D. in Chemistry and director of an analytical laboratory, Mona Risk traveled to fifty countries on business or vacation. To relax from her hectic schedule, she avidly read romance novels or mentally plotted her own books. She was in a hotel room in the Ukraine, typing her latest work report, when the clamor of the characters in her head made her decide to take an early retirement and write the numerous stories she had in mind.

Now, Mona lives in sunny Florida with her husband. Writing is her hobby, her obsession, and her new full-time career. When she is not writing, she is probably babysitting her adorable grandchildren or walking on the beach.

Mona likes to set stories in the fascinating places she visited. Her first book, To Love A Hero, is the difficult and sizzling love story of an American chemist on a mission to Belarus and the Major General of Belarus. Her romantic suspense, French Peril, set in the beautiful Loire Valley relates a dangerous treasure hunt for a precious statue by an American architect and a French count. Both books are available at Cerridwen Press. Mona also writes sweet and spicy romances. Babies in the Bargain received nine stellar reviews, was voted Best Book of the Week at The Long & the Short Reviews and is a bestseller at the Wild Rose Press, Prescription For Love was released in December 2009 at The Wild Rose Press and alreday received two great reviews. Mona has just signed a contract for Prescription in Russian be available at The Wild Rose Press.

Julie Rowe was a double Golden Heart finalist in 2006 and has been writing romances for over ten years. She's a published freelancer and an active member of RWAand its subchapters, Heartbeat RWA, Calgary RWA, The Golden Network, Hearts Through History and RWA Online. She served on the RWA membership Committee and the Pro Education team in 2005 and 2009 to the present, and coordinate Book In A Week programs for Heartbeat and Calgary RWA. She has served a 2 year term as president of Heartbeat RWA (a special interest chapter for medical romance writers), and currently serves as Vice President. Julie enjoys teaching and volunteering, and she's a passionate promoter of life-long learning. She's the owner/moderator of the Announce Online Classes email loop, which promotes online classes hosted by a large number of writing organizations, for writers on a wide variety of topics and skill levels, taught by some of publishing's best writers and writing instructors. She also teaches business writing workshops for Keyano College in Fort McMurray, AB.

Disclaimer: All participants on this page are members of the Heartbeat RWA Chapter and have paid for their advertisement space in accordance with chapter rules.