Here is my very first interview from July 2006

HRC: What made you decide to become an author, let alone decide to write romance?

Ingela F. Hyatt: "Since I was a little girl I always wanted to be a writer. Of course I wanted to be a rock star, an actress, and a model as well, but those dreams quickly died when it was discovered I had no talent. *grin* Yet, at a very early age I was writing: poetry, short stories, and love songs (ugh). Whether I had talent for writing back then, I have no idea. But it wasn't until I was 19 years old that I finally found my passion for writing novels. I suffered a terrible tragedy when my closest friend died in a car accident on his 19th birthday - and I was never the same again. I was so filled with grief that I needed an outlet, so I turned to writing. I wrote a short story, which my father read. He was so impressed (and he is not easily impressed), that he encouraged me to turn it into a novel. Which I did, turning the story from a comic book to a fantasy adventure epic. And so was the beginning of my novel writing career."

"As can sometimes happen, my inspiration for the fantasy epic (consisting of two novels) petered out. I spent several years of my life aimlessly wandering (mentally, emotionally, etc.) looking for that something which would fill me with passion instead of boredom. (I'm a Gemini, so I need constant stimuli.) During this time I started reading historical romances again. (I read my first romance when I was 14, but then was ‘encouraged’ to stop during high school.) I was quite excited to discover the genre again. That is, until I picked up a new novel from an author who was an old favourite of mine. I was shocked at how lifeless it was. It was like she had lost all interest and was now writing only for the sake of making money. After reading this disappointing book, I thought to myself ‘I bet I can write a better story’. And the rest as they say is history. Did I write a story better than her? I haven't a clue. But one thing I did discover: it was much harder than I ever imagined."

HRC: What did you do before you took to writing? Do you have an interesting or humorous story you would like to share with us from any of your prior occupations?

Ingela F. Hyatt: "Humorous? Actually my jobs were pretty boring and followed along the norm. Girl has to go get job, girl gets harassed by her employer, girl quits job. Girl gets new job, girl works for a year and a half for pion wages, girl finally leaves job. Girl gets another job, works for two years until she can’t take it anymore. Girl quits job, gets new job and loves it but almost has a nervous breakdown from all the stress, girl leaves job. Girl gets another job, etc., etc., add infinitum... I just thank the gods of inspiration that I finally got published. LOL "

HRC: How difficult would you say it was to have your work first published?

Ingela F. Hyatt: "Very! Imagine you're climbing a steep mountain with one leg, hands tied behind your back, over loose rock and impassible boulders, and whenever anything goes wrong, you slide back to the bottom again. Okay, maybe that sounds a little harsh, but I think you get the picture. It took me seven gruelling years, nine manuscripts (A Knight of Passion is my 6th novel), and 128 rejections. So yes, it was difficult."

"Statistics say that at any given moment, there are at least one million people trying to get published in the USA. One million! And with the e-publishing industry on the rise, I would hazard to guess that it's doubled. So that means all these editors and agents are being inundated with manuscripts, much of which (according to various sources) are very bad, or in need of extensive rewriting. Your manuscript is sitting in this huge slush pile, no doubt stacked to the ceiling. How ever are you going to get your work noticed? Not easily. Now, don't get me wrong, I had many literary agents ask to see pa