Day Leclaire
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Day Leclaire is a best-selling American author of more than forty romance novels.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early Years
Day Leclaire started writing when she was just a child. After a long day of trying to keep occupied in the midst of a snowstorm, Leclaire and her three siblings ran out of things to do. In an effot to keep her own patience, Leclaire's mother challenged her to write her own story. That historical epic, based on Cinderella and set in the Wild West, was the beginning of her love of writing.[1]
Leclaire attended the University of California, Berkeley with the intent to major in anthropology. After her first camping trip, however, she realized she was not cut out for a life without running water and flush toilets, and dropped out of school to decide what she really wanted to do with her life.[1]
Shortly thereafter, Leclaire met her husband, Frank, and the two married after knowing each other only five months. They became entrepreneurs, running a film library in Berkeley, remodeling houses in Seattle, Washington, and then opening a produce market. When Leclaire became pregnant with their son Matt, she decided that she really wanted to be a writer. The next day, her husband bought her a computer.[1]
[edit] Writing Career
Although Harlequin gave her encouraging feedback, Leclaire was not able to sell a book in the beginning. Her career seemed briefly stalled when her younger sister, Nancy, died of a brain tumor and Leclaire, alone in a new city, dealt with her grief. Her husband challenged her to do something to occupy herself, and Leclaire once again turned to writing. The book that resulted, Jinxed, was her first sale, and it was dedicated to Nancy.[1]
Leclaire has since been nominated ten times for the Romance Writers of America RITA Award, the romance novelist's equivalent of an Oscar.[1] She has been awarded numerous other prestigious prizes from a multitude of organizations (see Awards). Since 2000, Leclaire has only submitted her works for consideration for the RWA RITA Award, as she feels "the vanity shelf is full."[2]
[edit] Family
Leclaire was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, which led to a gap between books in 2001-2002. After enduring chemotherapy, she began writing again and published several books in 2002.[3] Leclaire took another break from writing from 2003 to 2006 to deal with health issues, but is finally back in her groove.[1]
She and her husband live on Hatteras Island in North Carolina.[1] Leclaire's only son has recently graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and plans to attend Virginia Tech for graduate studies.
[edit] Awards
- 1994 - Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Harlequin Romance
- 1994 - Finalist for Romantic Times Career Achievement Award, Love and Laughter Category
- 1995 - Finalist for Holt Medallian Award, Traditional Category
- 1996 - Finalist for Holt Medallian Award, Traditional Category
- 1996 - 2nd place - National Communications Conest, National Federation of Press Women for Best Romance Fiction in the US
- 1996 - 1st place - National Communications Conest, National Federation of Press Women for Best Romance Fiction in North Carolina
- 1996 - Finalist for Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Harlequin Romance
- 1997 - Finalist for Romance Writers of America RITA Award, Traditional Category
- 1997 - Finalist for Holt Medallion Award, Traditional Category
- 1997 - Finalist for Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence, Short Contemporary Category
- 1997 - Romantic Times Career Achievement Award, Love and Laughter Category
- 1997 - Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award, Best Harlequin Romance
- 1998 - Finalist for Holt Medallion Award, Traditional Category
- 1998 - Finalist for Romance Writers of America RITA Award, Traditional Category
- 1998 - Finalist for Oklahoma Romance Writers of America's National Readers Choice Awards, Traditional Category
- 1998 - Golden Quill Award, Traditional Category
- 1998 - Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence, Short Contemporary Category
- 1999 - Finalist for Georgia Romance Writers' MAGGIE Award, Short Contemporary Category
- 1999 - Finalist for Holt Medallion Award, Traditional Category
- 1999 - Finalist for Romance Writers of America RITA Award, Traditional Category
- 1999 - Phoenix Desert Rose Golden Quill Award, Traditional Category
- 1999 - Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence, Short Contemporary Category
- 1999 - Finalist for Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Harlequin Romance
- 2000 - Finalist for Georgia Romance Writers MAGGIE Award, Short Contemporary
- 2000 - Finalist for First Coast Romance Writers of America The Beacon Published Author Award, Short Contemporary
- 2000 - Finalist for Greater Detroit Romance Writers of America Booksellers Best Award, Traditional Category
- 2000 - Finalist for Romance Writers of America RITA Award, Traditional Category
- 2000 - Holt Medallion Award, Traditional Category
- 2000 - Phoenix Desert Rose Golden Quill Award, Traditional Category
- 2000 - Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence, Short Contemporary Category
- 2000 - First Coast Romance Writers of America The Beacon Published Author Award, Short Contemporary
- 2000 - Finalist for Holt Medallion Award, Traditional Category
- 2001 - Finalist for Romance Writers of America RITA Award, Traditional Category
- 2003 - Finalist for Romance Writers of America RITA Award, Long Contemporary Category
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Novels
- Jinxed (1990)
- Where There's a Will (1991)
- In the Market (1992)
- A Wholesale Arrangement (1992)
- To Catch a Ghost (1993)
- Once a Cowboy (1994)
- Who's Holding the Baby? (1994)
- Mail-order Bridegroom (1995)
- One Night Wife (1995)
- Make Believe Engagement (1996)
- Temporary Husband (1996)
- Accidental Wife (1996)
- Shotgun Marriage (1997)
- The Secret Baby (1997)
- Her Secret Santa (1997)
- The Twenty-Four Hour Bride (1998)
- The Boss, the Baby and the Bride (1998)
- The Miracle Wife (1998)
- The Nine Dollar Daddy (1999)
- Shotgun Bridegroom (1999)
- Bridegroom on Approval (1999)
- Long-lost Bride (1999)
- Her Secret Bodyguard (2000)
- The Perfect Solution (2000)
- The Brides Proposition (2000)
- To Marry a Sheikh (2000)
- The Baby Gift (2000)
- The Marriage Project (2001)
- The Bride Price (2001)
- The Provocative Proposal (2001)
- The Whirlwind Wedding (2002)
- The Baby Bombshell (2002)
- Keeping Faith (2003)
- The Forbidden Princess (2007)
- The Prince's Mistress (2007)
- The Royal Wedding Night (2007)
- Old Flame, New Sparks (2007)
- The Billionaire's Baby Negotiation (2007)
[edit] Omnibus
- Christmas Treats (1998) (with Lindsay Armstrong, Penny Jordan)
- Her Baby Secret (1999) (with Jacqueline Baird, Lynne Graham)
- Wedlocked (1999) (with Anne McAllister and Margaret Way)
- Mail-Order Grooms (2000) (with Vicki Lewis Thompson)
- Rainy Day Kisses / The Bride Price (2001) (with Debbie Macomber)
- Christmas Wishes, Christmas Gifts: The Heart of Christmas / Her Secret Santa (2002) (with Tara Taylor Quinn)
- Marriage Mergers (2002) (with Susan Napier and Michelle Reid)
- Tender Love Stories: Compliments of the Groom / Who's Holding the Baby?/ One-night Wife / A Secret Valentine/ East *of Today (2002) (with Dixie Browning and Kasey Michaels)
- Western Weddings (2002) (with Susan Fox)
- Kissing Frosty / The Boss, the Baby and the Bride (2002) (with Anne Stuart)
- In Name Only (2003) (with Jill Shalvis)
