When did you first start writing?
I first started writing in the 3rd grade -- poetry. I'm amazed that I actually still have some of those long-ago creations stored in my closet somewhere. Then in the 5th grade, I wrote my first romance story -- an American Indian romance (this one has disappeared; darn it). The story won first place in class. Yea! Then in the 9th grade, I started writing a space opera, all longhand and it filled many spirals (I still have those). All of this writing was just for fun at the time.
After I completed my graduate degree, I took some courses and received a diploma from a writing institute. I wrote several children's stories in the process. Then I started writing a privateer, historical romance novel and then a western, historical romance novel which ended up being my first published book. After that, and also after getting a contemporary, holiday romance published in an anthology, I switched to writing erotic/sensual romances. And that's primarily all that I've been writing for many years now, though some new, non-erotic stories may be popping up from me in the future.
What made you switch from writing non-erotic romances to erotic romances?
At the time, erotic romances were becoming popular. A friend of mine, another author, convinced me to give it a try. In case anyone is interested, I actually have a fun article about it (titled "My First Time") on my website at:
http://www.ruthkerce.com/articles/my_first_time.html
As I was writing my first erotic romance, I really enjoyed the freedom of the format. I could do almost anything that I wanted. I could continue the plot from inside the bedroom if the story called for it instead of fading to black or keeping things vanilla. Basically, I had no restrictions. Some of my stories are more/less erotic than others, but all are romances and it's been a great genre for me.
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