By now, you know we’ve just released our 2012 title, Celebrating Romance 2, the result of our romantic writing contest to celebrate our 20th anniversary at YourNovel.com. The book contains the 10 winning short stories – all customizable, and yes, this book is available in “wild” or “mild” just like all YourNovel.com offerings.
We’d like to introduce you to another of those writers who made the book possible.
Please meet Eren Deniz.
Eren Deniz was born in Ankara, Turkey, but grew up in Southern Pines, NC, and currently lives in Huntersville, NC, where she’s a newspaper reporter. She earned her B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Eren has also worked as a marketing and development coordinator for a non-profit, and as a receptionist. She has also “dabbled in political PR and marketing, struggled to get by as an artist and jeweler and freelance writer.” Her first job was as a library page at age 14. “I’ve always loved books and the written word,” she says.
She entered the YourNovel.com writing contest because “I’ve always wanted to have my writing published. I’d wanted to write a story for YourNovel.com because I thought it would be incredibly fun, but had just never found the time with my work schedule. This contest called for a shorter story than normal submissions and I figured, ‘if not now, when,’ got to work, had an absolute blast writing it, submitted it and hoped for the best.”
She was encouraged by her mother (who realized that a vacation was a possible prize and “it’s been years since I’ve had one”), as well as her friend Pam, who she says has a great sense of humor. Eren’s boyfriend, Michael, was also very supportive “although he said the story was a bit more ‘raunchy’ than he anticipated coming from me!” (Only in the “wild” version, by the way, as Celebrating Romance 2, like all YourNovel.com offerings, also comes in “mild.”)
Eren’s story “Halloween Delights” is about two main characters who “go off for a romantic Halloween weekend in Washington D.C. that turns out to be anything but how they’d planned.” She says the story has a “deliciously happy ending” and that Halloween is her favorite holiday and D.C. is one of her favorite cities, “so I put the two together.”
It was difficult for her to write the story because “my impulse is always to add quirks, random details, or something that would be too specific for a YourNovel.com story.”
Eren has wanted to be an author since she read her first Nancy Drew novel. “I’ve been surrounded by good books my entire life thanks to my mom and my grandpa who gave them as birthday and Christmas presents. Then working at the library as a teenager had me even more immersed in the literary world, and it’s one I desperately wanted to be a part of, as a writer, not just a reader.”
We hope you enjoy Eren’s story. We certainly did.
Just a note: Order now as “Celebrating Romance 2” gives you 10 ways to woo your lover this Valentine’s Day!