My Motivation To Write by Margo Hoornstra

Ask any writer why they write and you’ll get a variation of; Because I can’t not write. My reason for writing is much the same and I also write romance because of the happily ever after.

Everyone has a list of life’s challenges, experiences and adversities they’ve faced and, hopefully, overcome. In addition to being slightly older for The Last Rose of Summer line of The Wild Rose Press, the characters in my stories are no different. Not only do they tend to have been around the block a time or two, they are definitely mature and, in some cases, entering the second phase of successful careers and moderately happy lives. They’re everyday people slowing down, pausing to smell the roses, if you will. Who understand, at long last, what’s important in life. Many have been dealt challenges and granted second chances.

In many of my short stories, the heroines especially face, and manage to triumph over, their own adversities. In Forgotten Alliance, Sarah Novak was forced to come to terms with her husband’s infidelity. Greg Novak's journey is to admit to this failure and do whatever it takes to save his marriage.

My first full length book, Honorable Intentions, has single father Chase Canfield trying to rebuild a life for himself and his teenaged daughter. The heroine, Samantha Wells is a retired police officer embarking on the second phase of her law enforcement career.




The three Class of '85 high school reunion books I did, Glad Tidings and To Be Or Not are true second chance reunion stories. Next Tuesday at Two has a going home again theme with a twist. 

My current work in progress, Circumstances Beyond Her Control, has hero Brad Collins, a bounty hunter about to embark on a quest that will affect his life like none other. In this case, he thinks he knows it all and has no idea what’s in store for him. (I'll be totally honest here, neither do I. Yet!)

As is a sign of today’s times, many of my characters end up forming non-traditional families. And, it almost goes without saying the heroines are strong, intelligent and self-sufficient. The heroes are individuals who can eventually acknowledge they may not be perfect or have all the answers.

While, in my opinion, there’s a special beauty in the happily ever after guarantee of romance fiction, also in my opinion, there’s another bonus, the payoff, if you will as we all experience the ups and downs in real life.

In a romance, the hero and heroine find love and acceptance on their own terms and to fit their own lifestyles. Something readers can identify with, maybe even find inspiration in.

They can do it. I can do it. We’re all going to be okay. Which in large part, is motivation in itself.

Links to my books and stories, some for free, can be found on my Blog