Hi, I’m Amber Leigh Williams! My August Romantic Suspense title, Vigilante Honor, is my 14th Harlequin, and there’s something you need to know…
I wrote most of this book in a public library. In fact, all the books in this trilogy came together in the library as well. My husband is a master carpenter and often decides to knock out a wall of our house or repaint entire sections. Once, he tore the ceiling out of our son’s room so that he could build a sleeping loft. I love his innovative spirit but renovations are noisy.
It’s summertime now. The kids are off school and their neighborhood friends are always coming and going. During days like this when the activity and noise level reach a din, I retreat to my office.
Funny thing: my office isn’t just mine. I share it with everyone else, too. It’s a writing room, a school room (for homeschooling), and it also houses a large part of our home library. It has a strict open-door policy. I couldn’t bear to keep my daughter out when her crafting supplies are stored in the overhead cabinet. When my son needs a peaceful place to read, there are chairs aplenty. Even our four dogs like to curl up under the desks and snooze large chunks of these stifling Gulf Coast afternoons away. I love listening to their collective snores while I plot.
Writing heart-pounding romance and thrilling suspense, however, means that quiet time is sometimes paramount. For this, I have a handy-dandy work-from-home tool kit, including noise-cancelling headphones (especially for those days Hubby cranks up the power tools), an ergonomic keyboard for long writing sessions, several sticks of lip balm, a tin of ginger peach tea and a large thermos to keep the tea pipin’ hot.
Once upon a time, I thought writing couldn’t take place without the perfect work space. I thought my muse refused to speak to me unless the right ambiance was present and accounted for. I have learned a lot in the intervening years, most importantly how to adapt to the moment—like the time I had to finish a book while caring for my infant son. I invited my sister over to help, and she pointed out that while talking on phone, I’d unknowingly continued working and breastfeeding my son without stopping.
Recently, I wrote 1500 words a day while traveling cross-country to the Rocky Mountains with twenty-five members of my husband’s family. There’s nothing more distracting than a stunning white mountain glowing in the light of late afternoon outside the window while trying to hammer out the day’s word count.
After eighteen years of writing, it’s still my dream job. I wouldn’t exchange the experience for the world! (Though, if you happen to have an extra tin of ginger peach tea lying around, I may be willing to talk…)
Amber Leigh Williams’s latest title, Vigilante Honor, is on sale now!
She’s secretly pined for him for years…but he has secrets, too.
When bounty hunter Remy Fontenot inserts himself into FBI agent Sloane Escarra’s investigation, she’s conflicted. As a teen, she was rescued from sex traffickers by the former bodyguard, and she’s ached with yearning for the ex-SEAL ever since.
Now a masked vigilante known as Loup-Garou is raiding trafficking rings in New Orleans, and Sloane is assigned to catch him. Though she admires the vigilante’s accomplishments, she’s dedicated to enforcing the law. But Remy’s urgent task is to keep Sloane safe…while preventing her from discovering his true identity.
