Photo by John Hall Photography

Each morning shortly after the sun rises over Spokane, Washington, New York Times bestselling author Linda Lael Miller pulls on her cowboy boots and heads for the stables for a few quiet moments with her horses before she settles in to write her pages for the day.

As the daughter of a town marshal, Linda has come home to the western lifestyle that gave birth to one of today’s most successful authors. With more than 80 novels to her credit, the self-confessed barn goddess left Washington years ago and pursued her wanderlust, living in Arizona and London and traveling the world. But now the “First Lady of the West” is glad to be back home, writing contemporary and historical novels that have earned her awards and placements on all the national bestsellers lists.

Linda traces the birth of her writing career to the day when a Northport teacher told her that the stories she was writing were good, that she just might have a future in writing. Later, when she decided to write novels, she endured her share of rejection before she made her first sale in 1983. Since then, Linda has successfully published historicals, contemporaries, paranormals, and thrillers before coming home, in a literal sense, and concentrating on novels with a Western flavor. For her devotion to her craft, the Romance Writers of America awarded her their prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.

Linda's latest New York Times bestseller is The Bridegroom, an August 2009 novel set on the Arizona frontier, the latest in her Stone Creek series. Undercover agent Gideon Yarbro is headed for Stone Creek on a highly secret assignment he can't even reveal to his brothers, Wyatt and Rowdy. Then Gideon is called upon to honor his decade-old promise to help Lydia Fairmont, who is about to marry a despicable man she doesn't love in order to keep her aging aunts from being homeless. So Gideon carries Lydia off to Stone Creek and makes her his reluctant bride. But Gideon neglected one little thing: to ask her permission. Overcoming Lydia's resistance and fending off her vengeful ex-fiancé gives Gideon a passel of trouble, not to mention his dangerous undercover job at the local mine.

Once a struggling young mother, Linda is devoted to helping women who long to improve their lot in life through education.  Each year she sponsors a round of competition for her Linda Lael Miller Scholarships for Women. The stipends, which she funds from her writing and speaking earnings, go to women 25 years and older who have a difficult time qualifying for traditional scholarships. Linda’s grants may be used for childcare, transportation, or any other expense that stands between a woman’s dreams and fulfillment. The deadline for the 2009 competition was September 1, and more than 1700 entries are currently being judged, and winners will be announced on or before December 15, 2009. For more information, check out Linda's scholarship section here on her website.

Linda is excited about her association with The Humane Society of the United States, for whom she has become an advocate for the group’s Pets for Life program. Once someone finds a furry friend to bring into their home, Linda and The HSUS want to help them learn how to keep the critter for life.

Linda has come a long way since leaving Washington to experience the world. "But growing up in that time and place, in a family grounded in Western values, served me well," she allows. "And I'm happy to be back home."