About Me by Lauri Robinson

Hello! It’s my turn to tell you a bit more about myself, which, for many authors, is their least favorite thing to write about. Creating others is so much more exciting. So, here it goes…

My parents, (in this precious little photo), lived in a small town called Embarrass, Minnesota when I was born. I was the seventh of eight children and the second of two daughters. Yes, having six brothers was an eventful life. We moved to Kansas when I was ten and that’s where I met and married my hubby. That was also where I fell in love with cowboys of all kinds—not just Little Joe Cartwright, who by the way was my first boyfriend, he just never knew it. 

My husband and I migrated back to Minnesota after my parents had. We came to visit them for Christmas and never left. My husband fell in love with all the hunting and fishing. Our three boys were raised in Minnesota and two of them are married and now raising their families here in Minnesota. This is my husband and our four grandchildren. 

With a degree in early childhood education, I taught preschool for many years before becoming the director of a child abuse and neglect prevention program. It was during that time that I started writing. My husband likes to take credit for that. We were up north at the ‘hunting shack’. No, I’m not a hunter, although I do own several guns and have a conceal and carry permit, but that another story. I went to the hunting shack back then to make sure the boys ate more than beef jerky and potato chips for a week. My husband wanted me to go sit in the deer stand with him. I told him that I couldn’t because I had a good book I wanted to finish. Somewhat sarcastically, he said I should write a book because I’d read so many of them—which was true, I’ve always been, and still am, an avid reader. I told him that I would write one—and started it that very weekend. It took five years to get it published, and it is now off the market. Thank goodness! I’ve learned so much since then!

During those five years, I switched to a job where I worked part-time in order to help take care of my father, by then he was suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. He was a wonderful man and a great story teller. While taking care of him he shared many memories with me that I used in writing “A Wife for Big John” set in a lumber camp in the late 1800’s. This is me and my dad. He died a week before I ‘sold’ that book. 

I continued to write and sold several more books to the Wild Rose Press before selling my first one to Harlequin in 2009. In 2011 we discovered my mother had cancer and I left my job to be able to accompany her for chemo treatments. She is who I got my love of reading from and was my first beta reader. She was also my biggest fan and my toughest critic. I loved brainstorming stories with her. Six short months later she passed away. Here’s my mom and two of my grandchildren.

I now work part-time for a senior care company and dedicate my other days to writing. My favorite genre to write and read is western historicals, but last year when my Harlequin editor asked what other era I’d like to write about, I quickly answered the roaring twenties. I’m excited to say that four books based in that era will be released in 2015. This year when she asked if I had another era I’d like to try writing about, I explained how my eight times great grandmother had been imprisoned as a witch during the Salem Witch Trials. She told me to write up a proposal and send it in. It was accepted and that is the book—a romance novel set during that time—I’m currently working on.

The one last thing I need to mention is our granddog Bear. Our youngest son ‘moved back home’ last year

with his dog. We love having them live here (he works construction and is out of town a lot) but I know a twenty-something son doesn’t want to live with his parents forever. I tell him he can move out at any time, but the dog stays. This is Bear on his birthday this July. We gave him one hundred tennis balls at once. He was in his glory!

There you have it. Lauri Robinson in a nutshell. The only two things I may have forgotten to mention are that I’m a huge Elvis fan. Our guest bedroom is known as Heartbreak Hotel. And I love watching Nascar—either live or on T.V.

My soon to be released book, The Wrong Cowboy, has been given four stars and the K.I.S.S. (Knight In Shining Silver) hero award from R.T. Reviews.   

Thanks for reading a bit more about me today. If you’d like to, I’d be honored to connect with you elsewhere:

www.laurirobinson.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/lauri.robinson1

https://www.facebook.com/authorlaurirobinson

https://twitter.com/LauriR