Karen Young

Karen Young, the bestselling author of more than 30 novels and several novellas, has been writing popular fiction for 20 years and is known for her sensitive treatment of contemporary issues facing women.”My novels deal with the concept of the evolved woman—one who’s able to look her personal demons in the eye and solve her problems…regardless.” In her varied storylines, she’s dealt with teen pregnancy, infidelity, alcoholism, domestic abuse and child pornography, but it is her goal to leave her reader feeling hopeful and uplifted.

Karen, too, has evolved as an author, moving from traditional romances to stories with more sophisticated plots, including mystery/thrillers and contemporary women’s fiction. Whatever the “category,” Karen feels comfortable writing books that women want to read.

Karen’s career has stood the test of time, but she might never have become a writer except for a long distance move in 1980 from New Orleans where she had a very interesting and challenging job in politics. She grumbled to her husband, Paul, that she would never be able to have a career, since his job demanded that they move so frequently. By that time, they had already resided in Japan, Georgia, Mississippi, Massachusetts and Louisiana, amongst other places. Noticing her boredom one day, Paul remarked that because of their constant relocations, she needed a career that wouldn’t be affected by their nomadic lifestyle.

“It was as if a light went on in my head,” Karen says. “I told him I thought I could write a novel. The very next night he produced a typewriter, set it in front of me and said, ‘Put your money where your mouth is.’ I can’t believe how uninformed I was then, but I began writing and in three months had a finished manuscript…which I sat on for six months until, at Paul’s urging, I sent to Silhouette Books, who responded six weeks later with the offer of a contract. Boredom was no longer a problem.”

She declares herself a late bloomer. “It took years for me to reach my full potential as a writer,” she says. “Knowing nothing about the craft, I learned by trial and error. But I learned. When I finally won a RITA® Award in 1993, I was genuinely astonished.”

Along with that RITA® Award from the Romance Writers of America® for her book The Silence of Midnight, Karen is also the recipient of Career Achievement and Reviewer’s Choice Awards from Romantic Times magazine. At the University of New Orleans, she taught aspiring writers “How to Write a Romance Novel” and she’s given many workshops. She’s been called, “a spellbinding storyteller who explores complex emotions with great skill.”

Since that move in 1980, Karen has lived in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kansas and—again—Mississippi. She now resides in a suburb of Houston, Texas…for the time being.

Achievements

*Finalist for the 2003 RITA® in the Single Title Romantic Suspense category, Romance Writers of America® (Someone Knows)

Website

http://www.authorkarenyoung.com