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NTRWA February
2004 Spotlight On...
SHANNON CANARD
by Juliet Burns
Shannon Canard just joined NT this
past December, but she’s not a new member. In fact, she first joined NT
in 1993. But occasionally, life would become too hectic and she was
forced to take a hiatus. In 1998, she rejoined NT, became newsletter
editor for two years, and then Publicity Director from 2001-2002. She
helped coordinate the 2001 November mini-conference with Jolie Kramer and
the
Dreamin’
in Dallas 2002 conference. But when she became pregnant with her son,
Finn, her romance writing once again took a back seat.
Her
son is 16 months old now, and she’s once again ready to pursue her
fiction writing dream.
Shannon was born in Kansas, but grew up mostly in Texas. Like most writers, she was
always a big reader, and cut her teeth on her mother’s romance novels,
reading authors like Bertrice Small, Joanna Lindsey, and Kathleen
Woodwiss. At ten she was already writing short stories and non fiction.
Always
a history buff, she earned her bachelor’s degree from UTA in History. She
married her high school sweetheart ten years ago, and went on to earn a
Masters degree in Information Science. She did investigative research and
wrote for the Star Telegram. She’s published in non-fiction, writing free
lance for such prestigious publications as the Business Press, a national
real estate magazine, a national garden magazine.
She
enjoys publishing non-fiction articles and once had the pleasure of
interviewing Sandra Brown. Next month she’ll interview noted Texas author John Graves. Shannon says this is the best of
both worlds; writing about writers, getting to know their stories,
getting a glimpse of the day in the life of a prolific author.
Still,
she dreams of publishing her own romance novels and currently has a
paranormal sitting on an editor’s desk at Dorchester. But she’s not limited to
writing paranormal romance and has written manuscripts in several
different sub-genres. Her favorite author is Suzanne Brockman because she
says Suzanne has the perfect blend of realism and romance.
This
seems fitting. Shannon’s life personifies the perfect blend of
realism and romance. Though she’s taken time off when family or work
called her away, she keeps returning to her dream. And isn’t that what we
all do? Despite the demands of careers and families, we continue to
strive for the dream. Writing romance.
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