Dawn Atkins

I always wanted to be a writer--from the moment I put fat pencil to brown-lined paper in second grade to write an elaborate story using all the spelling words on our list.

Though I always wanted to be a professional writer, I wasn't sure I had the stuff, so I graduated from college with a teaching degree and taught elementary school--second and third grades (the best)--and then began freelance feature writing for newspapers and magazines, local and national.

I left teaching to work in public relations--skills I use today in my job as a writer/editor for the Arizona Education Association.

I met my husband, David Weiss, my very own hero, in 1980, on an airplane. We made the "love thang" permanent in 1985, when we married taking our Hobie sailboat to San Diego for our honeymoon. Then in 1990, we welcomed a son into our lives. He continues to be the light of our life together.

My first romance credits were two stories in True Love magazine. I went on to write a sexy romance in 1983, which was rejected--sniff.

Years later--1996--I got serious about getting published. Though I endured some rejections as I honed my craft, in 1998, I sold the first of two short romantic comedies to Kensington Publishing--Getting Zack Back, published in December. In July 2000, Baby Makes Three was released. After coming in second among published authors in a Harlequin Duets contest, I sold to Harlequin in 2001, quickly selling another comedy. In addition to Duets, I write for Temptation, Blaze and, the new comedy line Flipside.

Most of my hobbies--sailing, scuba-diving, playing the piano (badly)--have gone by the wayside as I devote all my non-family spare time to writing. I live in the Phoenix area with my husband and son, who proudly brings my books to his teachers and swears he doesn't read them--except for the funny parts.