About

Who is Laire McKinney

Allow me to introduce myself: I’m the author of contemporary and fantasy women’s fiction. I believe in a hard-earned happily-ever-after, with nothing more satisfying than passionate kisses and sexy love scenes, complex characters and intriguing conflict. When not writing, you can find me traipsing among the wildflowers, reading under a willow tree, or gazing at the moon while pondering the meaning of it all. Originally from West Virginia, I now live in Virginia with my family and beloved rescue pup, Lila da Bean.

My debut release, Destiny Fulfilled, is a fantasy and will be available August 7, 2018, across all formats where books are sold.

Coming in 2019, the first book in the tender yet sexy Wildflower Ridge novels.

Miscellaneous About Author Stuff:

Five fun facts, four quirky questions, and three thoroughly boring but hopefully enlightening bits of writing wisdom:

Facts First:

• Laire sounds like care with an ‘L’.
• I love to take baths, dress nicely and put on mascara. I hate to dry my hair, which undermines the put-together look of it all because it’s frizzy and wavy in a bad way. I also hate uncomfortable shoes and will wear Birks with nearly everything, including dress pants.
• I rarely do things I don’t want to do. For instance, exercise. I get that it’s beneficial or whatever. I just hate doing it, so I usually don’t. Thus the expanding bum.
• I have a snarky sense of humor that I’m having trouble tempering in today’s hotbed of a world.
• I live by my instincts. Logic be damned.

 

Four (not so) Quirky Questions:

• Is Laire McKinney a pen name? Yes.
• Why? Because! Just kidding. Yes, it’s a pen name. Laire is a play off my given middle name Lea (sounds like tea with an ‘L’) and McKinney is my great-grandmother’s maiden name. All my life I heard my grandmother say, “That’s the McKinney in ya,” whenever I did something bold and audacious. Why a pen name? Because in my alternate life, I’m in a field where I don’t want my clients knowing what kind of salacious and sizzling thoughts go through my head.
• Do romance writers live a glamorous romance-writing life? Yes. At any given moment I can be found lounging on a chaise with a naked, muscular and immortal man hand-feeding me champagne grapes. Oh wait, that was in my dream last night. This morning I awoke to reality: dirty dishes in the sink, dog hair all over my clothes, and laundry piled up to the ceiling.
• Can you write a romance novel with me as the main character? Sure. Why not?

 

Writing Wisdom:

• Just write.
• Participate in life; don’t just be a spectator. Experience can lead to provocative and unique ideas for your story.
• Try different genres. You never know which one will stick. For instance, I gravitate toward plotting young adult, I read historicals, but I find I most easily write contemporary romance. Keep all doors open, or at least cracked.