A fascinating evening with Mills & Boon writer, Julie Cohen

Julie, an American living in England who writes Mills and Boon novels delighted members and guests from Caversham Writers Group with the story of her writing life so far.

She wrote her first novel at the age of 11 and in her early writing she copied the styles all her favourite authors. In her teenage days she wrote fantasy romance, including in her stories the celebrities of the day.

She then studied at Brown University in America gaining a degree in English before moving to England to take a post-graduate degree in English Literature at Reading University. It was after this that she became serious about being published, which took four years and many rejections. She knew she was getting close when the rejections started having long and detailed critiques. Her first three novels sent to Mills and Boon were rejected but she also entered her fourth attempt in a romantic novel competition in America. When it was short listed, Julie immediately contacted Mills and Boon which encouraged them to have a fresh look and led to it being accepted. Writing for Mills and Boon, Julie said, has made her think 100% about the readers and their expectations.

Their stories are more about sexual tension than sexual activity.

Julie admitted to being an obsessive writer. She can write 60,000 words in two months. She finds time to write almost anywhere, she will even pull over the car and write. She finds playing the same music puts her in the correct mood. If she is stuck she refers to the post-it note on her computer which says ‘Write Crap’. What this means is that it is better to write badly than nothing at all. You cannot edit a blank page she said. One of the best pieces of advice she has received when struggling, is to set your self a target to write for fifteen minutes. It is amazing how quickly that will go and your writing will expand.

Julie teaches English at secondary level and has found a switch from a comprehensive to a private school has helped her writing, as the comprehensive took too much emotional energy. Julie now lives in Reading with her English husband and baby son.