HOWDY AND ALOHA!

First, I want to say HOWDY and ALOHA!!

I'm Reina Torres!  Born and raised in Hawaii with a heart at home in the American West, And I'm thrilled to be a part of "Smart Girls Read Romance." I hope you'll enjoy getting to know me as I get to you know you!

So with this first post, I thought I'd give you a little background on my start as a writer.

And that means starting with my background as a reader. I love reading. Let me clarify... I LOVE reading. I was a shy kid to begin with, but I was also a kid that stuttered... a LOT. And that stuttering made my life horrible. My friends didn't give me any trouble about it, but the majority of my classmates seemed to take pleasure in taking their digs at me and laughing in class when I had to read aloud. So I spent most of my time reading. And reading... and reading...

So, what did I read? The first book I remember reading cover to cover, stay up all night, flashlight under the covers.. was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. After consuming all of her books, I did the same with Little House, Nancy Drew, the Boxcar Children, and continued on from there.

All through my years in school, if there was a library, I was there. The card catalog was my jam. Oh goodness... I sound like such a nerd... *wink*

The first story I remember writing from start to finish was a detective story based on two characters created by my best friend and myself. They were Laura Diamont and Diana Ryan and they were teen detectives like Nancy Drew and George. I wrote it sitting in the break room of the Post Office while I waited for my mom to finish work one night. It was an old typewriter and I just sat there making the same noises over and over - chunk chunk chunk chunk - kaching! Paper after paper - kaching! Thinking the whole time that I was losing my mind and loving every minute of it.

Wait. I don't think anything's changed. I still think I'm losing my mind with every story. But, even when I'm ready to tear my hair out... I LOVE IT. The fact that I get to share the stories in my heart with other people, just makes me happy and nervous as all get out.

My muse also has a bit of multiple personality elements to her. Maybe I even have a bunch of them hanging out inside my head, yammering back and forth. One day I may figure it out.

So far, I've published in Contemporary Small Town Romance and Sweet Western Historical. Next up will be Paranormal Shifter Romance. I read all across the board and so I'll likely write that way as well.

I hope you'll get to know me and let me know what you think of my posts. This is going to be an exciting journey!

Mahalo - Thanks for this opportunity to hang out with the 'Smart Girls (who) Read Romance'

Reina Torres - www.reinatorres.net - www.facebook.com/ReinaTorresRomance/