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Spotlight on Karen
Young By Cheryl Bolen Having Karen Young in our RWA chapter is kind of like having Barry Bonds taking batting practice with Little Leaguers. She's one of the heavy-hitters in our genre. Karen joined RWA during its infancy in 1981, the year she published her first book, a Silhouette Romance. "Though I lived in Ohio at the time, I attended that first conference in Houston in the Woodlands," Karen said. There, she met Sandra Brown and Janet Dailey. She said she's not since met Dailey but has actually stayed at Brown's Fort Worth home, "And she's as lovely and gracious now as then." In the ensuing years, Karen has published 25 more books, won a Rita in long contemporary in 1992 (for THE SILENCE OF MIDNIGHT), and was selected by Romantic Times magazine for a Career Achievement award. From Silhouette Romance, she moved to Harlequin Superromance. In 1999, she signed for two Mira single titles, while completing other Supers. At the time she was writing for Mira, Zebra editor John Scognamiglio suggested she try her hand at harder edged mysteries for them. The first, KISS AND KILL, was well received, and the second, SOMEONE KNOWS, will be published in March. In the meantime, Mira has enticed her to come back and write women's fiction for them. (They said they are overinventoried in romantic suspense.) She does not have a preference. Two years ago, Karen moved to Houston following the untimely death of her husband of 40 years. One of her three daughters and one of her five grandsons live in Sugar Land. Her eldest daughter lives in Mississippi, which is Karen's home state. That daughter owns her own title company and is married to a lawyer. They have three sons: identical twins aged 11 and a 14-year-old. Her youngest daughter lives in an Orlando suburb and is married to a professor at Central Florida University, where her daughter also works. They have a 5-year-old son. This close family, as well as her close extended family, has helped Karen cope with her husband's loss. When he died (instantly of a heart attack), she was just beginning a Superromance and also had to finish her first Zebra by the end of that year. The Superromance "had a lot of time-line errors and just flat-out mistakes as my thinking was a bit fuzzy at that time," she said. Harlequin editor "Laura Shin did a superb job of fixing it," Karen said. The book (WHAT CHILD IS THIS?) was nominated by RT as best Superromance that year. She quickly followed that with the Zebra book KISS AND KILL, then her husband's death hit her. "I had to finally face the fact that Paul was gone. Forever. He wasn't on one of his many business trips . . . I would never see his face again or feel his touch or hear his big booming voice. Or get a hug. Or see his smile," she said. Along with the other changes in her life, she recently selected Karen Solem as her agent, replacing Evan Marshall, who had been her agent for 18 years. (She still recommends him.) At this point in her life, she wants to be challenged. Karen prefers to do one single title a year, but has challenged herself during the next year. One manuscript is due in May and another on Feb. 1, 2003. She formerly did two a year, if one of the two was a Super. She typically gets to her computer before 10 a.m. and writes until late in the evenings. When she's not writing, she enjoys visiting her out-of-state daughters and gardening although she says it's too hot to garden in Houston in the summer. Karen's web site can be viewed at www.eclectics.com/karenyoung.
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