Lynette Edicott and Tami Dee have a lot in common...

Here are Lynette's thoughts and observations about just how much we have in common:

For a couple of people who met in an on-line critique group, Tami, you and I have some odd things in common, including:

·       No sons born into our immediate families - daughters only

·       We both have cockatiels (a recent discovery). Mine just showed up on my back patio one day, starving but mostly healthy. I don't know how you got yours.

·       We both have adopted calico cats - and except for the age difference they even look a lot alike.

·       We both live in the Central valley in California (which we didn't know when we "met" on line)

·       We both enjoy writing romance, including some speculative elements (like time travel)

·       We both have a moral aversion to paranormal elements in our books due to personal faith

·       We like our books steamy but not explicit and want the sex within the bounds of marriage

·       We've each helped the other out in our writing journey

Neat list, huh?

And now we can add - we are writing a series of books together! Sometimes people ask me how that happened. Great question - and like many blessings in life it just...happened.

I'd had the idea of a series of generational books, where the heroine in each faces the same enemy in her own way. It was pretty nebulous at first. And you are one of the people I run ideas by.

The only one excited about the concepts at first! And as the structure of the books unfolded we each contributed elements and had ideas for books, and so it became natural to write them together.

The whole experience has been on line! While we have met, very briefly, twice, most of our connection has been email. . (One meeting was to hand off a manuscript in the days before we emailed them, and the other was at the Pleasanton Scottish games where you were doing some research. I regret now that we didn't take a photo together! On our book tour!) So each of us has taken the lead on half the books, and we have gone back and forth in email to tweak and fill out the family stories until we have something that I think is fun, exciting, interesting  - and I hope the readers will, too.

People have been asking me what it is like to work together on these books. It is very motivating to me. When I know you are waiting I get to the work a little faster, and when I am stuck on a plot point I have someone to talk to about it besides my husband, who while helpful doesn't think like I do.

The most amazing thing about this journey is that we think so much alike! I can only think of one plot twist you suggested that I was unsure of (and I've come around on that one. Which we will keep as a surprise for our readers.) All the others have been absolutely right on with my vision, and I feel you've responded to my ideas in much the same way.

We didn't alternate chapters, like some people assume. Each of us is taking the lead on three of the series of six that we've set out. We are finished with the first, Animal Instinct (AI), where I led and you contributed humor and sizzle; we are well along in the second, Survival Instinct (SI) where you led and have completed your first draft. I know you are waiting for my contributions - and I will get to those very soon. It is a GREAT book - I love the characters and the story but I also love how it included the characters from AI and brought in more of the elements from the other stories yet to come.

And working out those details with you has been great fun. I look forward to even more fun to come!

Tami says: I feel the same way, Lynette, it was a bright day when we met, we make a great team and it is a pleasure to work with you on this Time After Time Saga!

Look for Animal Instinct August 21, 2012

Dr. Allison Green, a descendent of a line of women who bear the Heartmark, a heart-shaped birthmark identifying these women as the target of an evil time-traveling enemy.

Can Allison find a way to live with the sudden onslaught of ancestral memories depicting an epic battle for love?

Sean Barnett, the new detective in town.

Will Sean be the man to foil Meredith's ancient vow to wreak revenge on his Heartmark woman and deprive he and Allison of their true love?

Can their animal helpers come to their aid?