All About Cynthia

Books and music have always been Cynthia’s two greatest passions. Her love of the written word came from countless of hours spent in her second home (the library, of course!), but at the same time, she recognized that music held its own form of language which spoke it’s own timeless, unique, tale chock full of all the essential elements of good fiction. It’s true! Just look at Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, for example. Is there anything that foreshadows foreboding conflict better than those four ominous opening notes?

As Cynthia grew, she set aside those passions to earn her Bachelor’s degree in the chemical sciences (yet another budding interest), but life sidetracked her career with the birth of her first child. Dedicated to her position as stay-at-home-mom extraordinaire, she decided to meld her passions (books, music, chemistry) for a career of a different sort: that of a romantic suspense author.

Cynthia lives in Arizona with her husband and two sons.

Blog Posts from Cynthia

So Your Phone Didn’t Ring

Posted by Cynthia Justlin Mar 28 2013, 12:01 am in consolation, disappointment, golden heart

You kept your phone glued to your palm for the entire Golden Heart announcement day and it didn’t ring once. Or if it did, it turned out to be a telemarketer trying to sell you oceanfront property in Arizona (if you’re geographically challenged, I’ll give you a tip. There is no oceanfront property in Arizona […]

109 Comments

Guest Kat Cantrell: How bad do you want it?

Posted by Cynthia Justlin Feb 22 2013, 12:01 am

One of the many reasons I love and admire my awesome friend/critique partner, Kat Cantrell, is because of the way she leads by example. Her determination and discipline in going after her goals has taught me how to do the same. When I’m feeling unmotivated, she’s the one who gives me a kick in the […]

42 Comments

Winter Writing Festival: Check-In #6

Posted by Cynthia Justlin Feb 21 2013, 12:01 am

Just one more week to go! The Third Annual Ruby Slippered Sisterhood Winter Writing Festival is coming to the end of its SIXTH week. It’s hard to believe we’re on Day 43 of the festival – people have been doing an outstanding job meeting their goals and it’s time to celebrate! Today we complete our […]

62 Comments

Help! My house is a mess!

Posted by Cynthia Justlin Feb 19 2013, 12:01 am

I admire those writers who can slave away at the keyboard and still manage to keep a pristine house. (especially those that add kids and a job into the mix!). As we close in on week six of the Winter Writing Festival, I’ve come to a hopeless conclusion. If I’m writing, my house is guaranteed […]

40 Comments

Talking Romantic Suspense: Villains

Posted by Cynthia Justlin Dec 3 2012, 12:01 am

KEEPING YOUR VILLAIN REAL We’ve all seen movies (or read books) where the villain looks like this: If your character is Snidely Whiplash, then yeah, you can get away with making him look—and act—like that. But one of the most awesome things about writing romantic suspense is the opportunity to create compelling, three-dimensional villains, ones […]

31 Comments

Make It Golden – Winners Announced

Posted by Cynthia Justlin Oct 8 2012, 12:01 am

WOW! The quality of the entries this year has been AMAZING! You did not make it easy on us, and I think I speak for all of us when I say we loved having such awesome competition and diversity among entrants, even though it made picking the winners SO very tough. Each and every entry, […]

31 Comments

Make It Golden Contest – Post Your Entries!

Posted by Cynthia Justlin Sep 24 2012, 12:01 am in golden heart, hooks, Make It Golden, writing contests

THE THIRD ANNUAL MAKE IT GOLDEN CONTEST OPENS RIGHT NOW! The MAKE IT GOLDEN contest is designed for unpublished authors who are polishing up their entries for RWA’s Golden Heart Contest. We all know how important a strong opening line is in grabbing the attention of Golden Heart judges, and this contest is a great […]

144 Comments

Ruby Blog-o-versary!!!

Posted by Cynthia Justlin Sep 21 2012, 12:01 am in blog-o-versary, Contests

Can you believe it… we’re three years old today! That’s right, The Rubies have been your companions on the yellow brick road to publication for three years! We’ve dodged flying monkeys, faced down the wicked witch, cowered in the face of the Wiz (to find out he wasn’t so scary after all), and finally, been […]

175 Comments