Spotlight Interview from Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine
March 2004
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"Late Bloomer: An acclaimed literary author cozies up to romance novels for her third masterpiece"
-- by Cindy Schwab
She'd never be caught dead reading a romance novel, much less writing one. But being broke and drowning in debt -- like most "intellectuals" -- has a way of changing one's mind. Which is how Prudence True Parker, the mid-40s, divorced single parent for whom author Melissa Pritchard has named her latest novel, Late Bloomer, comes to write romance novels. As Parker begins to secretly pen tales for the Savage Passion romance series (modeled after Cassie Edwards' series), her life grows more absurd, chaotic and passionate than Prudence could ever imagine. It all climaxes during the Romance Writers Convention in Houston.
Now what's the director of the MFA creative writing program at Arizona State University, the winner of such honors as the Flannery O'Connor, Carl Sandburg and James Phelan awards, the Janet Heidinger Kafka and two Pushcart prizes doing dabbling in romance?
"Years ago, when I was a new and struggling fiction writer," says Pritchard, "my sister, who managed a bookshop, said, 'Why don't you try writing a romance novel? I can't keep them in the store, as fast as they come in. And if you do write one, make sure you feature a Native American man as the hero.' Those, she said, sell the most copies."
In an early draft of Late Bloomer, Prudence had already taken a Native American lover by the time the author recalled her sister's advice. Adding the Native American romance writing to the mix helped Pritchard pull together the narrative puzzle of Late Bloomer, which as the title indicates, follows a woman through self-discovery.