Nora Roberts (not her real name – she was born Eleanor Marie Robertson) is the bestselling American
author of more than 240 novels, mostly romance, making her one of the most published authors of all
time. She also writes as J. D. Robb for the In Death mystery series, and as Jill March and Sarah Hardesty.
Born in Silver Spring Maryland, Roberts didn't write as a child but always made up stories in her head
and was an accomplished liar – she says she "told lies, really good ones – some of which my mother still
believes." Against her parents' wishes she married straight out of high school and spent her first
marriage in what she calls her "Earth Mother" years, making crafts and sewing clothes for her two sons.
She started writing in 1979 while housebound with her children in a snowstorm and fell in love with the
process; she quickly wrote six manuscripts but was repeatedly rejected by Harlequin, the leading
romance publisher at the time. She did receive one kind rejection letter that said her work showed
promise; she ultimately found a home at Silhouette, a rival publisher, in 1980. She divorced in 1983.
Roberts credits her Catholic school upbringing with teaching her discipline and writes eight hours a day
every day including vacations. She frequently writes trilogies, and first imagines a key event, character
or setting, then writes a short first draft to lay out the basic elements of a story. She then goes back to
the beginning to add details and more in-depth study of her characters, polishes her story in a third draft
and sends to her agent.
She met her second husband when she hired him to build bookshelves for her in 1985. They live in
Boonsboro Maryland, where he owns and operates Turn the Page BooksRead moreRead less
