Love For The Young
Quick, a paper of the Dallas Morning News, July 28, 2004
By Lori Price

Steamy love scenes, mountain-moving kisses and happy endings are all in a day’s work for romance writers. About 2,000 authors of love are in town for the Romance Writers of American conference today through Saturday. Several of them are new to the writing field with forthcoming books that promise to be hot, hot, hot. Here’s a little bit from three writers who recently broke into the field.

Mary Castillo
Age: 30
Work: Hot Tamara, now available

Once upon a time: Castillo’s advice to aspiring romance writers: if at first you don’t succeed, try 17 times. That’s how many times her book was rejected by publishers who told her the novel wasn’t “Latina” enough. “I thought, ‘Huh?’” recalls Castillo, a fourth generation Mexican American. “And then I took it as an opportunity to look at myself, and I learned there were a lot of Latinas like me.” That insight went into the story about individuals taking risks and having the courage to do what they really want to do. Castillo lived through the process when it came to making writing her career.