Georgia Beers just wants “to become the best writer I can be.” She already has a Lambda Literary Award and six Golden Crown Literary Society Awards to her name and is one of the best-selling authors of lesbian romance. But from the start, she has always wanted to get better.
She began cautiously enough: first a journal; next, essays and short stories; then she met other authors online. And the more she practiced, the more determined she became. She could write what sells best—or she could write what she preferred. And that meant lesbian fiction.
Her first draft was accepted for publication straightaway. Since then, she’s developed a rigorous process for writing. Any idea that comes her way gets written straight down onto an index card. It may be as simple as “A meets B,” or it may be a great line she’s overheard, but once it’s down on a card, it won’t be forgotten. The cards pile up, the details of the story gradually emerge, and when she’s sure she’s got what she needs, she spreads the cards out on the table—and orders the details of the story into line.
Then she gets down to work. Though apparently, she’s pretty lazy. She says she’s got a lousy attention span, writes only in spurts, and sometimes avoids her desk by taking her vacuum for a walk.
Georgia’s first Bywater Books title, 96 Hours, was published in October 2011. It received Gold in the Gay & Lesbian Fiction category of the Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Awards and received a Goldie for Traditional Contemporary Romance. In 2014, Bywater Books also published her novel Olive Oil & White Bread, which won the Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award from the Golden Crown Literary Society in 2015.
