TJ Bennett has been writing romance since 2000, but she’s been interested in it a lot longer than that. It wasn’t the best of romance that got her writing, however; it was the worst. After slamming one particularly awful novel against the wall and complaining to her husband, “I can do better than that,” he challenged her to “just do it.” That was all the encouragement she needed. She joined RWA and never looked back. Since then, TJ has placed in a number of RWA contests, including the Daphne du Maurier contest, the Lone Star, the Lauries, the Heart to Heart, the Emerald City Opener, and many others. In 2005, she received a nomination in the Golden Heart paranormal category for her novel, Dreamweaver. In 2006, The Justice Seeker, a paranormal romance about an alien cop, received first, second, and third place, respectively, in the three contests in which it was entered. Her first published novel, The Legacy, a historical romance set in Early Reformation Germany about the destructive nature of secrets, is an April 2008 release by Medallion Press. TJ knows a lot about the black moments of life, and uses that knowledge to enhance her writing. She believes that nothing is ever lost, and no painful experience is in vain: it’s all research.