Donna McDonald’s Biography

After 35 years of doing everything for a living except writing books, I finally published my first romance novel in March of 2011. Nearly seventy novels later, I am living my own happily ever after as a full-time romance author.

I do my best to give back to the universe by hanging out to write at local coffee shops and helping keep them in business. When not at one of those, I am sitting in my office at a monstrous black desk I bought from my sister which my husband lovingly refers to as my “table”.

My work spans several romance genres, such as contemporary, paranormal, and science fiction. Humor is the most common element across all my writing. Addicted to making readers laugh, I include a good dose of romantic comedy in every book.

My story of writing science fiction and Paranormal romances 

I started out calling these my writer vacation. They were my guilty pleasure and something that allowed me the creative freedom to create whole worlds from scratch. You see, I wanted to write fight scenes. I wanted to write action and adventure. But I also wanted the stories to contain as much romance as any of my books.

Though I had many author friends writing Contemporary Romantic Suspense, my inner geek got involved. I think she had something strange going on with my muses. Next thing I know I’m five books into a Science Fiction series with new aliens popping up in every book. A reader told me the Forced To Serve series was like Firefly, only with more sex. That made me laugh. It also made me very, very happy.

I confess I am now addicted. Lately, I’ve gone deeper into the Science Fiction Romance genre with cyborgs and genetic engineering. I am also writing a Paranormal Romance series about scientifically created werewolves. But I promise, like their Contemporary Romance half-siblings, these “other genre” stories contain humor, strong women, and very sexy men.

My story of writing romantic comedy with older characters

As a life-long romance reader, I was always drawn to stories containing strong heroes and heroines who knew their minds and lived their truths. When I got the urge to write about older women and men, I did so with full knowledge some readers might not be interested in reading about mature characters in love. I also knew there was a good possibility the stories might not sell, but in typical Baby Boomer rebellious fashion, I said “screw it, I’m not making the characters younger, they need to be older”.

Why did I do this? Because at the time I published I was over 50 and my youngest child was older than most heroes. I did this because I’ve had two long term relationships. The first one lasted for twenty-three years. The second is ongoing. I know people of many ages who are still falling in love as if they were a teenager and new at it. Being older–or so it seems to me–just means you just get to the profound, meaningful sex part quicker because there’s so much less fumbling in the dark. Thank heaven for experience. Right?

What has my writing brought me? 

Mostly my writing has given me the pleasure of knowing readers like my work. Your many emails and messages remind me daily why you are the reason I wanted to write so badly in the first place. It gives me joy to make you laugh and I love making you see your significant other with more appreciative eyes.

I hope my heroes and heroines inspire you to keep looking for the good things in life, including your own pleasure in living. I want everyone I come into contact with to know that love, sex, and romance are great at any age.

Thank you for buying my books and helping make my dreams come true. I hope I can return the favor in some small way with my stories.

Much love and happiness,

~ Donna McDonald

PS: I really do believe that it’s never too late for romance and love.

A Special Thank You To My Readers!

I want to say thanks to my wonderful readers, my supportive author friends, my incredible family, and everyone who for whatever reason sent in a nomination on my behalf. You are the best—always have been—since I first published the Never Too Late series featuring my older characters. I’m spreading my arms wide and sending you a huge virtual hug as I write this.

Here is a link to Kathie Lee and Hoda talking about the 50 Over 50 project (Twitter hashtags #50over50 and #ThisIs50). I was on during “Happy Hour”. I truly enjoyed meeting Kathie Lee and Hoda.