The story of Ruis Elder -- a man without psi powers on a world where they are prized. An outcast, Ruis must overcome all society to survive, pursue his passion for restoring ancient Earth technology, and win his love -- Judge Ailim D'SilverFir.

May 2004 is the publishing date for Heart Duel , the story of Holm Holly, the best friend of T'Ash of HeartMate.

- How do we find out about you and your books?

My website http://www.robinowens.com has the first chapters up of all three books, HeartMate , Heart Thief and Heart Duel . There's also the Celta page which has bits and pieces of information about Celta, such as a character interview with T'Ash, a pic of Straif Blackthorn's home, a list of the days of the week, whatever I want to put up on the site. Since I cut Heart Thief so drastically, in May I will start putting up "out-takes" or cut scenes from it. This will probably take me through May of 2004. LOL.

Also for Berkley Jove authors, you can visit There you will find message boards and forums, etc. I belong to a lot of email loops and am a writerspace chat addict....

My email is robin@robinowens.com I try and get back to people, but sometimes am quite delayed as I do still have a 40 hr. week day job.

- How many readers contact you?

Usually one a week who just found me. More like5-10 a week who add comments to their contest entries.

- Do your fans' comments and letters influence you in any way?

Absolutely! People who say they like HeartMate help me keep writing on the series. I've also taken advice from my readers and incorporated it into my books. For instance, I'd been corresponding to a lady called Tal (many of you might recognize her name) about moles and making them sentient as well as the cats and dogs on Celta. I reached a point in Heart Thief where I had a dilemma. I wanted my hero's Familiar (sentient, telepathic cat) to be in 2 places at once. I couldn't decide where Samba should be. Then I recalled the conversation about moles. Ah, ha! I wrote in a mole.

- Do you have a favorite comment or question from a reader?

Yes, I've been writing for a long time and published only relatively recently. I have a contest every month and readers can add comments when they enter the contest. There was one simple line that really touched me and made me tear up. "Thank you for being a writer." It was the most wonderful compliment.

- What is your writing routine?

I come home from work, feed the cats and go up to write as long as I can. I have 2 in person critique groups, one on the first Saturday and one on the 4th Saturday. I write every weekend I can.

- Do you have a set schedule for writing or do you just go with the flow?

Writers that go with the flow aren't professional. You have to sit down and write every day. Sometimes the flow, the zone, is THERE and words/concepts zoom onto the page. Sometimes it's like opening a vein and letting each word drip onto the page like blood ? it's that hard. The thing is, if you're a good writer, the reader can't tell the difference between the "flowing" part and the part you struggled, sweated and swore over.

- Fill in the blank favorites - Dessert. City. Season...

Favorite Dessert. Difficult, chocolate anything.

Favorite City: London

Favorite Season: Autumn

- Who, if anyone, has influenced your writing?

Jayne Ann Krentz, Nora Roberts, and my published critique partner. Sharon Mignerey http://www.sharonmignerey.com

- How many books have you written, how many have been published?

I have finished five manuscripts. Foru have been published HeartMate, Heart Thief Heart Duel,and Heart Choice are out now.

- Which comes first, the story, the characters or the setting?

Characters come to me first, usually the hero. For HeartMate, I thought of T'Ash and that he was using divination dice and the dice said he was going to meet his HeartMate (true love) that day. That was the first glimmer of the story. Since the hero was going to be using divination and I didn't want him to be thought of as stupid, crazy, or a wimp, I had to set up a society where using Divination every day wasn't out of the ordinary, but accepted. Then I wanted him to have made his own divination dice ? and thought of the hero as a jeweler. Since I didn't want him to be a wimp (as many jewelers are seen to be), I decided to make him a blacksmith too. All those muscles....

- What is the hardest part of writing/the easiest?

The hardest part of writing is simply putting the bottom in the chair after a day's work. Also, I find partial scenes ? scenes that I've written and need to be rewritten or added to or extensively revised to be difficult.

Sometimes even more difficult than a blank page.

- Are you in control of your characters or do they control you?

The characters usually shape their own story. Lately, since I've been selling on proposal where I have to submit a story line, they've kept to the general plot but shaped the scenes differently.

- Have you experienced writer's block---> If so, how did you work through it?

I have a bunch of "creativity" books that I use for my creativity exercises up on my website each month. I use those. I sit in my chair and force myself to write, no matter how wretched I think the words are. I give myself permission to write crap, then revise.

- What is the most rewarding thing about being a writer?

Hearing from people who like your books and will buy the next ones!

- If you weren't writing, what would you be doing?

Reading, playing or creating computer games.

- Any words of encouragement for unpublished writers?

As I said in the dedication of HeartMate : Never Quit.

- What question would you love to answer that I didn't ask?

I think you've done a wonderful job with your questions. Very thought provoking. And I love your website! Thanks so much for giving me this opportunity to visit with you.