Patti Rowell writes as Patricia Frances Rowell, and yup, that really is her given name, although no one has ever called her that. She is the mother of many: She and her husband, Johnny, have between them seven children, a number of children-in-law, and eight grandchildren. They live on 32 acres of mixed woodlands in north Louisiana in a home that they built with their own hands. She writes in a room that is 10 feet off the ground, surrounded by trees, and has three walls of glass.
They currently have one little old lady black Labrador retriever, who is more gray than black now, and one genuine Louisiana Catahoula leopard dog, who weighed 80 pounds at the age of six months. He adopted Patti and Johnny, and they haven't been able to argue with him since.
A person who is interested in all sorts of things, Patti has studied subjects ranging from theoretical mathematics to psychotherapy to wedding cakes. Her athletic interests have included such diverse pursuits as ballet and gymnastics, skiing, and scuba diving. She was taking gymnastics at the age of 40, learned to dive when she was 42, and learned to ski when she was 48. A favorite treat is exploring swamps and backwaters and obscure historic sites with Johnny and her brother, John.
An avid reader, she decided to try her hand at writing and wrote her first novel in 1970 on a portable manual typewriter with numerous children cavorting in the background. That story was never published, but after selling her business in October 1998, she got serious about learning to write and publish. She joined the North Louisiana Storyteller & Authors of Romance, the local chapter of Romance Writers of America, and enjoyed immediate results. All her books are the fruit of that association.
