M.J. Pearson is the author of two highly commended gay historical romance novels. Her debut novel, The Price of Temptation, came out in 2005 and was a finalist in the Romance category of the Lambda Literary Awards. Discreet Young Gentleman, her second novel, was declared a winner in the Published category of the Great Beginnings contest that is sponsored by the Utah chapter of the Romance Writers of America. In an interview on November 12, M. J. Pearson spoke about her concerns as a writer.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

I've wanted to be a writer my entire life. For years I just thought I didn't have anything important to say. At the same time, I always told myself stories to get to sleep at night - serials that might run for months before they either hit a logical ending, or just faded away. Finally, as I approached my forties, it occurred to me that the stories that entertained me might entertain other people, so I started writing them down.

[My main influence] as a person [is] my mother, who tried to bring us up to care about other people and to look at life with an open mind. As a writer [it’s] Barbara Mertz, who writes romantic suspense and mystery under the names Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters. Her books are consistently smart, funny and romantic — if someone could make the same claim about me once I have a body of work out there, I'd die happy.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

My main concern is telling a good story, and reaching as many people as I can with it. If I can open some minds along the way, even better.

How have your personal experiences influenced the direction of your writing?

I was maybe six or seven years old when my older cousin came out as a lesbian, so gay people have always been a normal part of my life, and as time went on included family members, teachers, co-workers, friends. That, and a certain flexibility in my own sexuality, makes writing gay romance as "normal" as writing anything else.

What would you say are the biggest challenges that you face?

There's still a bit of an acceptance issue. When I first joined the Romance Writers of America, for instance, it was just as certain people began lobbying to exclude same-sex couples from the definition of "romance." That battle should have been won when the RWA Board of Directors made it clear that, in their words, "any definition of romance should be broad and inclusive." Unfortunately, there are members who won't give up the fight.