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Spotlight on Jane
Perrine By Cheryl Bolen Ten years after joining RWA, Jane Perrine (winner of the RWA President's Service Award in 1999) will see publication of her first book, THE MAD HERRINGTONS, this month. It is being published in hard cover by Avalon Books. A regency, the book was a Golden Heart finalist in the Regency category and was a finalist in the Royal Ascot contest sponsored by the Beau Monde Regency subchapter of RWA. Jane was a charter member of Beau Monde. She has always loved the Regency period, beginning with Jane Austin and transferring to Georgette Heyer and later to Clare Darcy. "I love the comedy and the relationships. It was such a genteel and delightful time," she said. In addition to writing Regency, Jane writes fantasy, short contemporary, Western, romantic suspense and inspirational. During the past year, she has been a finalist in 12 different contests with eight different manuscripts. Her fantasy is under consideration at Berkley, and she has a short contemporary under consideration at Silhouette. She had a short story published in Women's World this year and another in the Regency Press holiday sampler. She also had an essay published in the Chronicle's State Lines. Other short stories she has written have appeared in on-line publications. She and her husband George published "The Breathless Moment" online for a year, "until we could not afford it any longer." Jane has been a member of the West Houston chapter since 1993 and has served as secretary (two terms), vice president and president, as well as Emily chair for two years. Even after moving to Burnet last year, Jane has maintained her membership in the West Houston chapter and will be signing her books at this month's meeting. Her husband of 35 years was called to serve First Christian Church in Burnet. Jane is also an ordained minister but is currently making her living teaching Spanish at Burnet High. "I preach when asked," she said. She earned a BA in Spanish from Kansas State University; a master's in Divinity from Lexington Theological Seminary; and a master's in Spanish from the University of Louisville. In addition to teaching, Jane works a lot at the church and is president of the RWA Golden Network. This summer she plans to attend the national RWA conference in Denver. She will also write 8 to 12 hours a day, six days a week. This is her typical summer schedule. She plans to write an inspirational, a short contemp and a Western--all projects she has already started. Jane's advice to newcomers is to keep working. "You'll never get published if you quit writing." In addition to being available at the June meeting, Jane's book can be ordered at BN.com, avalonbooks.com, and amazon.com. Jane said amazon's price is best for the Avalon books. |