Sue-Ellen Welfonder
Encyclopedia
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, U.S.A.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) is an American writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
of romance novel
Romance novel
The romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Through the late...
s. She is a USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
bestselling author and the winner of a 2001 award from Romantic Times. Under her married name she writes historical
Historical romance
Historical romance is a subgenre of two literary genres, the romance novel and the historical novel.-Definition:Historical romance is set before World War II...
romances set in medieval Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and as Allie Mackay she writes Scottish-set paranormal romances.
Biography
Sue-Ellen MacDuffie is of Scottish ancestry and was born and raised in FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. She worked as a flight attendant
Flight attendant
Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
for twenty years, flying primarily international routes because she is fluent in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. After spending several years living in Dallas, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, she met her husband, Manfred Welfonder, in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, where they lived for fifteen years. They have since returned to Florida.
Welfonder learned to read before she entered school and has long been an avid reader. She began corresponding with her favorite romance author Becky Lee Weyrich, describing her travels. Weyrich encouraged her to try writing romances. For the next five years, Welfonder struggled to become a published author. While working on her novel, she also published several travel articles, a short story in the anthology Chocolate for a Lover's Heart, and various articles in her clan's newsletter. She completed four manuscripts in that time. She submitted only two of these for publication. The first, a paranormal romance with a ghost hero, was rejected by multiple publication houses. Discouraged by these rejections, she would often stop writing for weeks or months. She submitted a second of her manuscripts, Devil in a Kilt, to Warner Books, and it was purchased within two weeks. That novel and those that have followed are historical romances, set in Scotland in the medieval time period. Many of her novels also contain elements of the paranormal. Welfonder sets her novels in Scotland as a tribute to her own Scottish heritage, and she has extensively studied Scottish history and culture since childhood. She is an active member of the Macfie Clan
Clan Macfie
Clan Macfie is a Scottish clan. Since 1981, the clan has been officially registered with the Court of the Lord Lyon, which is the heraldic authority of Scotland...
Society of North America.
Her ideas generally appear to her when she is visiting the places that will become a book's settings. Once she has identified a the right atmosphere, she first envisions the book's eventual hero, who is usually an "Alpha male: super-sexy, dark, and dashingly handsome." Once the hero's backstory has been fleshed out, Welfonder plans an appropriate heroine. Each story is fully planned well before Welfonder begins writing, although occasionally she detours from her plan. She does her own research and often reads reference books about Scotland or the medieval period for fun. Each book takes her approximately six to eight months to write. When she is finished, Welfonder does not read any reviews of the book if at all possible. Negative reviews distract her, and often leave her unable to write for days at a time.
In 2006 Welfonder released Highlander in My Bed, a Scottish-set paranormal romance, under the pseudonym Allie Mackay. For her pen name she chose Scottish names which were also family names, and made sure the new name was shorter than her existing name.
McKenzie Series
- Devil In A Kilt (2001/Aug)
- Bride Of The Beast (2003/Jan)
- Only For A Knight (2005/Jul)
- Until The Knight Comes (2006/Jul)
- Bride for a Knight (2007/Sep)
- Seducing a Scottish Bride (2009/Mar)
MacLean Series
- Knight In My Bed (2002/Apr)
- Master Of The Highlands (2003/Aug)
- Wedding For A Knight (2004/Sep)
Anthologies in collaboration
- Tails of Love (2009/Jun) (with Lori FosterLori FosterLori L. Foster is a best-selling American writer of over seventy romance novels as Lori Foster. She also writes Urban Fantasy novels using using her first and middle initials, L.L. Foster....
, Stella Cameron, Kate Angell, Dianne Castell, Ann Christopher, Marcia James, Donna MacMeans, Sarah McCarty, Patricia Sargeant)
Her Highlander Series
- Highlander In Her Bed (2006/Nov)
- Highlander in Her Dreams (2007/Nov)
- Tall, Dark and Kilted (2008/Nov)
- Some Like It Kilted (2010/Feb)
External links
- Author's home page
- List of books
- Profile at The Best Reviews