Meet one of our authors of “Celebrating Romance 2″: Lisa West

Lisa is one of the two Canadian winners in our romance-writing contest, resulting in our anthology Celebrating Romance 2 to celebrate our 20th birthday here at YourNovel.com. Congrats, Lisa.

She was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. As a young adult, she lived in San Diego, Seattle, Denver and London, England, before returning to Toronto to have a family. She is a graduate of prestigious Havergal College. She’s had careers in banking, modeling, wholesale fashion and retail fashion. She is a mother to “three successful and active sons who are now on the verge of leaving the nest.”

Lisa lives in a century home on the shores of Lake Ontario and is thoroughly involved in her community through volunteer work in literacy promotion at a local school, lunchroom programs and has been active in lobbying local governments on ecological and urban planning issues.

A blogger for several years, she admits she entered the contest “to satisfy my sense of competitiveness.”

Her book, “Mayan Riviera: Unexpected Encounter,” is a story that starts as a “romantic vacation for an average couple which quickly takes a number of surprising and exciting turns to become a vacation they will never forget. The story was set in a locale that I had personally experienced. I tried to capture the romance, the heat, the passion, the sense of mystery and the ancient history of Mesoamerica. I am intrigued by the ancient Mayans, their culture, their myths and spirituality. The protagonists are an amalgam of personalities I have known melded with real historic figures.”

She had several close friends who encouraged her to enter the contest and write.

She found the most challenging part of writing was “keeping within the guidelines for length. The original work was almost twice as long as required and it was a great challenge to keep the excitement and make the prose more succinct.”

She has wanted to write since she was 14. She recalls, “I literally felt compelled to express my thoughts and feelings in writing. Writing was an outlet, a catharsis of the turmoil which I felt and likely similar to the experience of many adolescents.”

Love the honesty, Lisa.

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