INTRODUCING: MELISSA KEIR

Bio: Hello, My name is Melissa Keir, wife, mother, and author.  The author part has been a dream of mine but like anything that you want, you must work at it and it doesn’t come quickly or easily.  I’ve been writing since I was in middle school, mostly cheesy poetry about silly things.  Back then I really wanted to be a pop star and put on performances with my sisters as back up for my mom in the basement of our home. My mom is the person who got me hooked on romance novels and I’ve read every genre out there.  As I’ve grown and changed, so have my favorite genres. I’m always on the lookout for new favorite authors and must have books.

In school, I was a bit precocious (what we would call gifted these days) so they started a pilot program in middle school to teach speed reading to the “bright” students. The only thing that it did was turn us into more geeks.  Now when the rest of the class was reading a book in two weeks, I’d have it done the first night and plenty of hours on my hands.  Getting into trouble was easy, so I’d have to channel that energy into writing and reading.  I remember fondly my ninth grade English teacher introducing us to Piers Anthony and his story “A Spell for Chameleon” which was the first in a series that today tops out at over 30 books.  During high school and college, I’d read them as fast as they came out, then read all his other series and then on to Anne McCaffrey and pretty much any book I could get my hands on.

The jump from reader to author wasn’t easy.  I’ve always had stories in my head.  I’d often sit down to write them out and get bored or frustrated because there were so many.  I couldn’t get one finished before the next story demanded my attention.  I thought that I would only be a reader.  My husband who was tired of all the books that I had, suggested that I find a job that would keep me busy for the summer since he works and home and I could be in the way (remember precocious?).  I saw that Sizzling Hot Books was looking for a reviewer and after begging Marissa for the job, I’ve been working for her since July and read and reviewed over 215 books for her as well as written interviews with authors and characters.  Marissa was instrumental in helping me get a job as an editor with a publishing house, who suggested that I try writing again.  They had been reading my blogs about my family and loved them, so I finally sat down in two-three days and wrote my first short story.  It needed a lot of editing and since that time, I’ve written more novels and received contracts for three of them, one is appearing in the Love Again Anthology by Ruby Lioness Press and the other two are contracted with Rebel Ink Press.  I still have so many stories and characters that demand my attention that I’ve been writing those ideas down so that I can come back to them when I have time in my busy life.

Right now, I’m the happiest that I’ve ever been.  My whole family supports me and can’t wait to read my stories.  They’ve always known that I’d do anything that I put my heart and determination into, so maybe there is still hope for me to become that drag race car driver!  My motto is I’m always growing!

I love hearing from readers.  You can check me out at: www.melissakeir.com

on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/melissaakeir#!/profile.php?id=100003150554229&sk=info or my fan page at: http://www.facebook.com/melissaakeir#!/pages/Melissa-Keir-Fan-Page/143020369136928

Or twitter at: www.twitter.com/melissa_keir