Men Made in America Mega-bundle part 3 [NOOK Book]

There's little wonder that acclaimed author Curtiss Ann Matlock developed a creative streak early in life. She was born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, in an old hospital at the edge of the Pasquotank River, which flows from the great Dismal Swamp bordering Virginia and North Carolina. Slow moving, sultry, and black as pitch, these deep-running waters created an image that still resonates within the writer's very soul.

"When she had me, my Mama's hospital room looked out on the river; I fancy it was one of the first things I saw. Probably that and a book Mama no doubt had in hand."

Curtiss Ann, who comes from fiercely Southern lineage ("tied with family and God, and quite eccentric and rebellious"), learned early that to fit in, she would have to share the family's pervasive love of reading. In fact, Curtiss Ann's mother taught her the joys of reading everything she could get her hands on at a very young age.

"When I begged not to be made to go to kindergarten, she allowed me to stay home, where she read to me everyday, often for hours. I showed up the first day of first grade, able to expound equally on the works of Mark Twain and Humpty Dumpty Magazine!"

Curtiss Ann's family moved often throughout her childhood. Her father was in the Coast Guard, and they lived "almost everywhere, from Florida to Alaska, with a couple of spots in between." Unlike some military children, Curtiss Ann has mostly fond memories of days spent packed in the family car, traveling to a new home. "We saw a lot of Route 66, and I spent the long hours reading, improving my mind but ruining my eyes and having ahorribletime with car sickness."

Three days following her high school graduation, Curtiss Ann married her high school sweetheart, James David Matlock. She was 17, he 19. People often ask her, in an oddly horrified tone, what her parents thought of her marrying so young. "My reply," the author states, "is that they had nothing to say about it. My parents had been unable to guide me about anything for many years. Besides, my mother saw a good thing in my husband!"

From her rich and diverse upbringing springs a wealth of inspiration for the tales that run through Curtiss Ann's head and enliven her dreams. "From all of that — my own Southern family of characters, the traveling and meeting of vastly different people, and a marriage that has lasted 30 years, producing one terrific son — I draw the stories I write. With each novel, I find that I get closer to the bone. I'm finding out who I am by writing my stories, and my readers tell me that by reading them, they can find out a lot about themselves, too."

Curtiss Ann, who enjoys speaking with other authors about motivation and creativity, knows from experience that it is often difficult to become motivated, and creativity doesn't always come naturally. "I had always wanted to write, but writing, like any art, takes confidence, and I had to dig to find that. I managed to find enough courage by 1981 to write an article. It was a tiny thing, about a hundred words, but it was published in a national Sunday school magazine, and I received $15," she relates.

"My courage thus boosted, I wrote a warmhearted piece about my love for my woodstove, sent it off, and back in the mail came a check for $85. Hot dog! I then began writing a novel. Thank goodness it never occurred to me that it was a far distance from a 500-word article to an entire book."

Curtiss Ann sold that book, A Time and a Season, to Silhouette Books, and it was released in 1985. In the following decade and a half, the number of copies of her books in print has reached 6 million. Her work has been published in 20 countries and in 15 languages.

Curtiss Ann and her husband live on 40 acres of green, rolling paradise in a small town about an hour southwest of Oklahoma City. Two years ago, the author transplanted a rose bush her grandmother had originally grown in that thick mud near the Pasquotank River, a cutting taken from her family's home place in High Point.

"I brought a little of the Pasquotank mud with it and mixed it with the Oklahoma red sand. That rose bush not only grew, it flourished bigger and more majestic than it had ever been. Rather like myself, I think — a little Carolina Okie."

It's often said that good things spring from bad, and in Paula Detmer Riggs's case, that's certainly true. Being fired from an executive recruiter position led her to the San Diego library for a little light reading.

Kelsey Roberts sold her first romantic suspense, Legal Tender, in 1993. With more than four million copies in print, her books are distributed worldwide. Roberts has penned more than twenty-five novels; won numerous awards and nominations.

A high school honors student who wrote for the school paper and was editor of the yearbook, Ruth was awarded a full scholarship to college, where she hoped to pursue an English degree.