SEELIE KAY: Postcards from The Ledge: Today in The Loft: Romance author Dee S. Knight!

Joining me today in The Loft is Dee S. Knight. Dee's path to writing sweet, historical, contemporary, and paranormal romance was filled with adventure, and a variety of twists and turns. Since marrying her high school sweetheart more than 40 years ago, Dee has worked as a long-distance trucker, computer consultant, high school and adult education teacher, and a technical writer. Now she spends her days with characters who kill, fall in love, become drunk with power, or sober with responsibility. (No, she does not live in Washington, D.C.) Dee resides in the Midwest with her husband, her "dream man."

Author Dee S. Knight

S: Dee, welcome to The Loft! You have lived an adventurous life, all the while married to the same man. Is that why you write romance?

D: I do have a romantic soul. Hubby and I met when I was 13, started dating when I was 15, and married when I was 21. We've been married for well over 40 years and we still love each other and enjoy being together. So yes, that's why I write romance—the dream that everyone can find that kind of comfort and security in love.

S: Do you believe you only fall in love once?

D: No. Wouldn't that be sad? What if you fall in love with the perfect person and then lose them for whatever reason. Does that mean you're alone the rest of your life?? I think people can fall in love—deep, abiding love—more than once, but I don't believe they fall in love the same way. Not that one is better than the other, just different. Hopefully, no matter how many times you fall in love each is life changing in its own positive way.

S: You're right. I think each time you fall in love, it's a different than other experiences. Let's shift gears a bit. A question I love to ask writers--Where do you do your best thinking?

D: While I'm driving. And especially while I'm driving and listening to the radio. I'm a fan of country music and who can't get ideas for books from a country music song? I know that when driving one should keep her mind on the road, but (knock on wood) I haven't had trouble yet while conjuring up conflict and plots while heading down the road.

S: If you could live in any period of time, what would it be?

D: Truthfully? There's no time like the present. I've told people that when I was younger I used to look at huge houses with walls of glass and sigh with dreams of my future. Then one day I looked at such a house and thought, "Who cleans all that glass? Who vacuums the floors? Who keeps the lawn??" To some that might seem to practical for a romance writer, but to me it seemed as though I'd finally grown up. The same goes for living in the here and now. I had polio as an infant, so I know what it was like living in a time where vaccines weren't available. Anyone who has visited an historical house knows what homes were like back then, and think about the heat of having a fire going all year long in order to cook. Nope, I like the time I'm living in now, even if that seems boring and practical.

S: (chuckles) I have also had those thoughts about MacMansions. And I understand the preference for the present. I have MS and even 20 years ago, I probably would not have survived.

What is the best advice you've ever been given?

D: Relax and be yourself. That's not easy!! But it's also the best advice I can give to someone.

S: Tell me about "Only a Good Man Will Do," which is Book 1 of The Good Man Series.

D: Here's the blurb--

Seriously ambitious man seeks woman to encourage his goals, support his (hopeful) position as Headmaster of Westover Academy, and be purer than Caesar's wife. Good luck with that!

Daniel Goodman is a man on a mission. For years he has striven for perfection, fighting for the pinnacle achievement in his world of academia, Headmaster of Westover Academy. Westover, established before the American Revolution, is still one of the most prestigious schools in the country. They accept only boys whose parents fit a certain mold and only those teachers who hold to a stringent set of mores, on and off campus. Jonah considers his brother a prig. Daniel sees himself as doing his best to serve his students. How much better can he serve them as headmaster? That is what he seeks to find out.

Suddenly, into his cut and dried, strictly black and white life of moral and upright behavior, comes Eve Star, formerly one of Europe's foremost exotic dancers. Her life is anything but cut and dried, black and white. Bad enough that she's enrolled her son in Westover Academy under false pretenses. More, she runs the town's most disreputable bar. Worst, much to Daniel's dismay, he finds himself drawn to her like a kid to chocolate. Nothing good can come of this attraction. Or can it? He is after all, a good man.