Family by Design

Roxann Delaney

"Simply a Kansas girl" is the best way to describe Roxann Delaney. Born, raised and having always lived in the Sunflower State, she's also traveled to 48 states, Canada, Mexico and, yes, even Cuba. As a child, souvenirs were Little Golden Books, collected along the way and inscribed with her name, date and the location where they were purchased.

Her reading inspired writing and, as a skinny, bespectacled nine-year-old, she bullied the neighborhood children and her younger cousins into performing the plays she wrote. Her romance journey began in high school when she read her first Georgette Heyer Regency novel. In no time at all, she had a complete set of the author's books.

But theater and the performing arts called to her in high school, too, and she became actively involved in the drama department, including playing the roles of Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion, the mother in Life with Father and Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun. Years later, she helped form a community theater group in her hometown, in which she both acted in and directed the group's productions, as well as served on the board of directors. She's come to the conclusion that reading, writing and acting are nothing more than ways to become someone else...at least in her own mind.

Roxann has lived on a farm, in a small town and has returned with her four daughters and grandchildren to live in the city where she was born. Books and reading are an integral part of her family. Her oldest granddaughter is named Scarlett (yes, of Gone with the Wind fame).

When she isn't writing or reading, she's designing Web sites and planning her high school class reunions. But writing is still her first love, and she enjoys sharing happy-ever-after stories with readers, who can contact her at roxann@roxanndelaney.com or visit her Web site.