Villa Park author publishes two more books

Villa Park writer Allie Pleiter says she has more fun than anyone she knows.

For her latest published historical romance "Masked by Moonlight," Pleiter learned to crack a bullwhip, took fencing lessons with her then 10-year-son and revisited one of her favorite cities, San Francisco.

Her upcoming contemporary "Bluegrass Hero," due out about Aug. 1, turned her into connoisseur of artisan soap.

What?

Anything, Pleiter says, might spark the idea for a book. Like the newspaper article that made her realize that she really didn't know anything about fancy soap. And the search for a charming Kentucky town to set her next book in and seeing the sign for "Midway Soap Works" in her rearview mirror.

"It was one of those magic moments when you know, if you write inspirational fiction, that God is looking out for you," she said.

So comes the story set in the fictional Middleburg, Ky. of how the lives of the smelly, hired men on Gill Sorrent's horse farm are changed by a trip to Emily Montague's bath shop. Soon the lovelorn farmhands are attracting women instead of working. Gill barges into the shop only to find pretty Emily, his polar opposite, selling soap by the truckloads. What happens from there is what the book is about.

As for "Masked by Moonlight," Pleiter said she was attracted by the idea of doing a dual identity story. English gentleman by day, Matthew Covington turns into the crime-fighting masked Black Bandit by night. His exploits are made famous by newspaper accounts pseudonymously written by Georgia Waterhouse, whom Matthew is falling in love with in real life in what Pleiter calls "the world's most complicated relationship."

Whether writing about swashbuckling heroes is 1880s San Francisco or contemporary farmhands in the Bluegrass state, Pleiter's books contain characters who possess a strong Christian faith or come to faith. But don't expect to be hit over the head with a religious message.

"I think the reason people like my books is because they're funny," Pleiter said. "A lot of people go, 'you weren't what I expected' and I love that."

Readers identify with the characters in Pleiter's books, said her editor Krista Stroever, senior editor at Harlequin.

"She does amazingly sympathetic female characters. They're human," Stroever said.

Stroever said Pleiter, whose books are published under the Steeple Hill imprint, started writing chick-lit before turning to the more traditional romance and historical romance.

"Allie really tackled it like a pro," she said.

Pleiter now has eight books in print, including two nonfiction parenting books. Two more books in the Middleburg, Ky., series are under contract and a sequel to "Masked by Moonlight" is under discussion.

Not bad for a woman who only began writing 10 years ago on a dare. Pleiter said a background in theater might have helped.

"It's playing pretend on paper instead of on stage," she said. "There's something magical about making something out of nothing. That to me is the power to story.

"There is a reason Jesus taught in stories. Stories are able to teach something that facts never could."

Perhaps a background in fundraising didn't hurt either.

Pleiter's friend and fellow writer Charlene Baumbich of Glen Ellyn said she got to know Pleiter before she had any books in print. Baumbich hired her to help with marketing and mailing lists, and Pleiter got an inside view of the life of a published author.

"She really didn't need mentoring," Baumbich said. "She already possessed everything it took, which is perseverance, follow-through, talent and courage."

The two authors share a common Christian faith with the ability to see humor in life.

"The faith element is natural in her books, which I appreciate," Baumbich said. "She just writes really snappy dialogue."

A self-described extrovert, Pleiter said she likes to do her research by talking to people as opposed to just looking up information on the Internet. So when she wrote "Masked by Moonlight," she found a circus arts school in San Francisco that had an open whip night, tried it herself to know how it felt and peppered the instructor with questions like "What is the most romantic thing you can do with a whip?" (He didn't have an answer, but said yes, like Indiana Jones, a man with a bullwhip could wrap it around a woman's waist and pull her forward.)

Her own voracious reading cuts across genres, Pleiter said. Between reading and writing, the busy mother of two keeps her life in balance with a computerized to-do list and the ability to work anywhere, anytime.

"I can write in an airplane, supermarket, Starbucks, hospital cafeterias," she said. "It doesn't feel like work. It's just one of the 1,200 things I have to do that day."

Pleiter commonly is working on three or four books at a time - writing a first draft of one, editing another, proposing a new book and promoting one that already is published.

"The expectation for an author to produce more than one book a year has become the industry norm," she said. "That's the professional challenge. How do you keep your head in four different worlds and not go crazy or forget who you are."

Pleiter doesn't seem to be in much danger of that. On her good days, she revels in having control of her day and being able to travel on the company dime. On her bad days, she eats chocolate.

"You get hate mail," she said.

But mostly Pleiter insists she is enjoying herself and not writing with any particular readers in mind.

"I'm just having fun and taking them along for the ride," she said.

Pleiter's books may be ordered through her Web site, alliepleiter.com or through www.amazon.com.