I always liked to play make-believe. So writing fiction seemed like a natural progression in my life. What started out as a little girl imagining that all those hidden nooks and crannies in my back yard were castles and mansions, evolved into a teenager wanting to become an actress, and ended up turning into a young woman writing romance novels.
I have an Associates Degree in Theatre Arts. Married for 31 years to my high-school sweetheart, we are the proud parents of two sons, and one daughter-in-law. After living in upstate NY for the better part of my life, my husband and I packed it in moving to the San Francisco Bay area. We were there for three years and then we packed again moving back to New York State. We’ve finally settled in a small town in Orange County, New York.
I sold my first historical romance novel, Mountain Jewel, on 9/9/99! Remember that was the day everyone thought all the computers were going to crash! After a nearly four year wait, I sold my second, third and fourth on my mother’s birthday 7/10/2003! A Surprise For Abigail, Lydia’s Passion and Making Over Maggie are part of The Women of Surprise series published by Avalon Books.
Professional Organizations:
- The founding President of the Capital Region Romance Writers of America Inc.(CR-RWA)
- Member of Romance Writers of America
- Novelist Inc
- American Christian Fiction Writers
- New Jersey Romance Writers
Signing at the 2014 Philly Author Fest
Tracey presenting her workshop “Gone Fishing How to Catch an Agent”
at the Boston NEC conference March 2010.
Tracey and her mother Carol Pinkowski at the booksigning for A Surprise for
Abigail at the Chatham Bookstore, Chatham, NY (2004)
As seen in the Chatham Bookstore window in Chatham, NY. That's right Bill
Clinton's book right above mine in the window! I don't think we'll ever see this
again!
Most frequently asked questions
How long have you been writing? I started when my oldest son was born back in 1983!
How long does it take you to write a book? My first book took over a year to write. That manuscript is still sitting in a box in my office. Mountain Jewel the first book I sold took about nine months to finish. When I wrote the Women of Surprise series for Avalon books I had a year to write two books. The first in the series was completed when I sold. Shorter books take about four to six months and the longer ones I’m working on now take about nine months to a year to complete.
Where do your ideas come from? My ideas come from places that I’ve been. My first book Mountain Jewel is set in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. My husband and I had taken our sons on a rock hunting expedition to the old Garnet mines. While there I discovered that a long time ago high quality garnets could be passed off for rubies. And out of the blossomed an idea for a historical romance about smuggling gemstones.
A Surprise For Abigail, Lydia’s Passion and Making Over Maggie came about because I spent a lot of time in the Catskill Mountains when I was a kid visiting my grandparents who lived in Westerlo, NY. We always traveled through this little town called Surprise. Seriously, if you blink as you’re driving through you’ve missed it! The protagonists in the books are very loosely based on my sisters’s personalities. I had a lot of fun writing the series.
How do you handle your research? For my historicals I visited museums in those areas, used books written about that time period. Since this was sort of before computers and the internet, I spent a lot of time at the local library. Now, though, you can pretty much find most things you need on the internet. Although, I still like to visit the places where my books are set to absorb the feel for the area, and I take a lot of photos so I have something to reference when I get home.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers? Keep writing. It took me over ten years to get published after I started writing. Now granted the first two books did not deserve to see the light of day, (check the box in my office) but by the time I’d written my third book I knew I was on the right track.
If you believe in yourself and the manuscript you’ve written then keep persevering. This is one of the toughest businesses to be in. There will be a lot of rejections and yes, even if you’re multi-published you still get rejected.
Join a writers group. Attend conferences. Use the internet to find a group or conference that would best suit your writing style or genre. Don’t be afraid to ask authors questions. Most times we don’t mind answering a quick email, and most writers I know love to talk about writing!
What kind of promotion do you do? I have a website which I’m hoping to keep updated with all kinds of new information. I attend conferences, do library talks, book signings; I’ve presented workshops, and sent out newsletters.
Who are your favorite authors? Roxanne St Claire, Carla Neegers, Linda Lael Miller, Jo Ann Ferguson and Bella Andre.
What’s the best way to contact you? My email is tracey@traceylyons.com.
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