Laura Marie Altom

Laura Marie Altom of Tulsa, Oklahoma is the best-selling, award-winning author of twenty-four books. Her works have made several appearances on both the Barnes and Noble and Waldenbooks’ Best-seller lists. This mother of fifteen-year-old twins has spoken on numerous occasions at both regional and national conferences, and teaches reading at a Tulsa middle school. She’s been married to her college sweetheart for nineteen years.

Laura began writing at the ripe old age of 12 when she penned a romance about a model falling for her photographer on a catalogue shoot in St. Thomas. Up until page 42, she faithfully wrote at least a page a day, but gave up when following her own junior high romantic pursuits became more fun than writing about someone else's!

Fast-forward a few years, and Laura met the love of her life her freshman year at the University of Arkansas. Three years and countless toga parties later, Laura and Terry married. Interior design and marriage license in hand, Laura went to work for well-known Arkansas firms, Perry Butcher Architects and Albert Skiles Architects. Among her many projects were schools, churches, corporate offices and over two dozen luxurious private residences. She'd just been handed a dream assignment of designing her first public library when another dream came true — she discovered she wasn't just pregnant, but pregnant with twins! Destiny soon put a twist in Laura's burgeoning career by adding complications to her pregnancy. Two months in, doctors placed her on bed rest. Seven months later, her life forever changed upon getting her first glimpse of precious boy/girl twins. She briefly considered returning to work, but couldn't fight the desire to stay home with her brood.

Two years later, while she loved being a stay-at-home mom, a part of herself had been lost in the process. Then one day, while sorting through dusty boxes, she came across her old romance manuscript. In finding that manuscript, along with her love of writing, fate gave Laura's life another twist, and she's never looked back.

Since then, Terry's engineering career has taken the family to places like Denver, Salt Lake City, and then on to Tulsa, OK, where she now resides. Throughout all of those moves, Laura never lost sight of her ultimate dream — to become a world-renowned romance author. While she's still hard at work on that ""world-renowned"" part of her dream, to date she's sold over seventy romantic short stories and many romance novels. Now, Laura spends her days contentedly writing and chasing after the twins and their menagerie of pets, ranging from a mutt named Sweet Pea, a mini-long-haired dachshund named Cocoa, a black-and-white stealth cat named Domino and a yard full of ducks and geese who live in the backyard pond but would like to live in the house! When night falls, Laura usually finds time to steal a few romantic moments for herself and her own hunky cover stud!

Laura loves hearing from readers and may be reached via email at BaliPalm@aol.com or snail mail at P.O. Box 2074, Tulsa, OK 74101.