She has published twenty-one romance novels with Harlequin and Silhouette and is currently under contract with Silhouette for several more books. She is the author of April's serial story on eHarlequin and is also working on three single title romantic-suspense projects.

Though she has given up her outside employment in the hope of fulfilling her dream of writing a New York Times Bestseller, she raised three children with her husband Michael while she worked outside the home and wrote for Silhouette. Because of this, Susan regularly gives workshops on time management and goal setting. She firmly believes that goals provide the motivation that propels a persistent person to stardom, but she also believes in balance between work and play—evidenced by her truly terrible golf game and her on-again, off-again suntans!

Susan has been an active member of the Pennsylvania writers organization, Pennwriters, having served as President, Treasurer, Area Representative, Bylaws Committee Chair and Elections Chair. She is Pennwriters' 1999 Meritorious Service Award winner. She is also a member of RWA and a nominee for a Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for her February 2000 release, Bringing Up Babies, from the Brewster Baby Boom series published by Silhouette Romance in January, February, March and December 2000.

Susan is also one of eleven children and many of her books reflect family themes. Because she has over twenty nieces and nephews, children are always popping up in her stories. Many of the funny scenes relating to children in her books are based upon real experiences with her children or her nieces and nephews. She's dying to find a scene to showcase her two-year-old nephew David's recent request for a fat roll—which actually turned out to be a pretzel!

She was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania and continues to live in Pennsylvania.

Susan graciously took a little time out from her busy schedule to answer a few questions for Writers Unlimited.

WU: Why did you decide to become a romance author?
SM: : I didn’t really decide. Romance called to me. I was playing around with writing, thinking I was a “mainstream” writer, and a huge fan of Sidney Sheldon. While reading his book Blood Line, I realized I was skipping through looking for the scenes that involved only the hero and heroine and I knew something was wrong. I decided to go back to reading category romances as I had when I was younger to see if they were a better fit for me and that was the end of that. Once I started reading Superromances and Specials, I was hooked.

After I was published, my voice took me to Silhouette Romance, though my first two books were a Desire and an Intrigue.

So for me, this hasn’t been as much of a choice as a matter of finding where I fit and settling in!

WU: Do you write full time or do you have another career?
SM: I write full-time, though I have had tons of other careers. Mostly, I was a secretary, office manager, administrative assistant kind of person. I had gotten higher up on the ladder but eventually I returned to an assistant position because I loved being in on the action, which secretaries and administrative support people are more often than middle management! Plus, I also enjoyed being instrumental in the success of other people. Two female lawyers I worked for went on to become very successful. One of my female bosses is now the president of the manufacturing plant where she and I worked. It’s very exciting to know that I had a hand in helping boost their confidence and getting their work done accurately!

WU: Can you give us an example of a typical day in the life of Susan Meier?
SM: I get up very, very early. After I make coffee, I feed my cats. Then I pray and meditate. I believe you need to get in touch with a higher power to be able to perform any creative pursuit well, and that’s a step of my day that I rarely skip. I work from about seven until eleven-thirty when I break for lunch. In other words, I either draft or revise for four and a half hours every day. I typically take Sundays off. But I almost always work Saturdays.

In the afternoon, I work on things like research for future books, touching base with my editor and agent, PR, advertising, writing workshops (I have one up on Cataromance from December 2002 and one up on earthlycharms from January 2003) paying bills and doing accounting, making reservations (hotel and plane) for conferences, etc. etc.

Being an author is a lot more than just writing books. There is promotion, advertising and the business of the business to be attended to.

Throughout my day, my college age children will be running in and out of the house, cooking, and talking. The cats visit often. If I have a deadline the doors are closed. If not, I try not to bark too much when interrupted! The point is I work 8 – 10 hours every day. More when I have a tight deadline!

WU: Readers today demand accuracy in the books they read. How much research about life styles, setting, dialect, etc. goes into one of your stories?
SM: I only recently began to write stories that took place anywhere other than Pennsylvania because I was terrified of getting a detail wrong. Now, I have tons of friends from all over the country who are happy to help me with things like setting, weather, dialect, etc.

Where I take great pains with research is in the “mechanics” of a situation. I’m writing a story right now wherein the hero and heroine disagree about the cause of death of his brother and her mother. Ultimately the bodies will be exhumed. But, before that drastic step is taken, I have to know exactly what would happen in an investigation to allow them to get to the point where exhumation is the only logical next step. So, I’ve found a former police officer PI who is willing to walk me through that part of the story.

I had to deal extensively with accountants when I wrote Cinderella and the CEO to learn about computer-based inventory and potential fraud.

Also, luckily, I’ve worked for engineers, lawyers, a large corporation whose stock was publicly traded and ultimately involved in a hostile takeover, a defense contractor, a landfill, and as a Kelli Girl where I went to every kind of company imaginable, including a company that just wanted me to dress nicely and smile prettily at people attending a seminar.

It’s a wacky world out there.

WU: Tell us about any upcoming releases and works in progress.
SM: I have four releases for 2003. Baby On Board, January, 2003, The Tycoon’s Double Trouble, March, 2003, and The Nanny Solution, May, 2003, all from the Silhouette Romance Daycare Dads series.

In September, Love, Your Secret Admirer, is the lead book for the Marrying the Boss continuity series for Silhouette Romance. I’m very excited about that one because it’s a fun book and a very funny mini-series concept. I think readers are going to adore this series so I was thrilled to be asked to write the lead book.

WU: How do you come up with the ideas for your books? Do you have a brainstorming session with someone or do they just kind of "pop" into your head?
SM: Book ideas pop into my head, but they have to pass a rigorous system of proving themselves before I turn them into proposals for Silhouette. Good ideas aren’t just situations. They also include good characters and difficult conflicts. If an idea doesn’t really have all the components of a good book or if I can’t add things to it to make it a good book, it doesn’t get any further than my computer files!

WU: A lot of aspiring writers suffer the agony of rejection after rejection. How hard or easy was it for you to "break in" to the published ranks?
SM: It was very hard. First of all, I didn’t know about RWA until I had been writing for a good three years on my own and failing miserably. Because I knew so little about the business I burned my third rejection because it was so “long.” They had told me so many things were wrong with the manuscript that the letter was three pages. I thought they hated it. Years later, I discovered that it was a revision letter! And I had burned it.

I met an editor at a conference who actually bought my first book. I can’t say enough about getting yourself to conferences, getting your face and name out to editors, but also proving to them that you are willing to work to learn how to write by actually attending the workshops.

I still attend workshops. I attend a lot of workshops online. Anybody who doesn’t take advantage of the workshops is missing a wonderful opportunity. But anybody who doesn’t think she needs workshops is either multi-multi-published or she’s not quite in touch with the industry.

Everything is changing almost daily anymore. You need to be at the conferences and online to hear what’s going on so you’re not left behind in the dust!

WU: You've been associated with Harlequin/Silhouette for several years now. Have there been any major changes in what publishers want to see in a manuscript or have their requirements remained fairly stable?
SM: In some respects their requirements have remained stable. For instance, Silhouette Romance, the line for which I write has been consistent for years. Though the distribution is dropping to four books a month in October of 2003 (I think) the stories have remained pretty much the same. They are tender romances.

However, having said that, Harlequin and Silhouette have created several new lines including Red Dress Ink. They have modified Steeple Hill. They have shifted and changed Mira several times. Mary-Theresa Hussey is heading up a new fantasy line. Plus, a new line called Bombshell is scheduled to debut in 2004.

Harlequin and Silhouette love female readers. They cater to them. Now that they lead in the “romance” arena, I feel they are branching out to satisfy all reader tastes. This is very exciting news for all writers! Not only is the potential available to write “different” kinds of stories, but also, with the addition and expansion of these lines the market has become huge.

There’s lots of potential for anybody willing to work!

WU: Any words of wisdom for those that would like to follow in your footsteps?
SM: Love what you do. My readers tell me they can “feel” how much I care about my characters when they read my books. That’s probably true. Because I do love them. But I also love the genre. I didn’t try to poke my way into Sidney Sheldon’s world. I knew immediately I didn’t belong there and no matter how hard I worked to get into Sidney Sheldon’s shoes, I never would have made it. In Romance, I made my own shoes and I’m very happy to fill them.

Find your voice. Find the right vehicle for your voice. Be willing to work.

And love what you do.

WU: Where can readers contact you?
SM: Through my web page at http://www.SusanMeier.com.

Visit http://www.SusanMeier.com for information on Susan's upcoming releases, contests, and more.