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Betty Byers always wanted to be a writer but life got in the way. Now she uses experiences from that life to write novels. LETITIA STEIN Published February 6, 2004 -------------------------------------- DOVER - Betty Byers stalled on the sex scene. The plot and characters for a novel just came to her while on a Christmas casino vacation. In a Biloxi hotel room, sentences thudded from her keyboard. Pages of them. Her husband, James, savored every word. Until the love story's climax. "Oh please," he said, calling the description almost clinical. "Don't try writing it as if you didn't want to touch it." Byers panicked. What would her neighbors think? Her two sons? The grandchildren? "Some of these books are a little bit steamy, and I didn't know whether to publish them because of it," she said of the trilogy of erotic thrillers that began with her debut novel, Wired for Murder. "I was just embarrassed. It's a hard thing to do." With her husband's support, she rewrote the steamy scenes and forged forward to publish three more books in two years: The Big Payback, Murder Unwired and The Whitlow Sanction. Now, she is writing her fifth book, The Arcana Connection, a sequel to The Big Payback, from her home in Dover. Byers always knew that she would write one day. After graduating with a degree in journalism from Georgia State University, life was full with a husband in the military and two sons. Then came a divorce and another marriage, 10 years working for the federal government in Atlanta, then 18 more as a human resource specialist for Verizon until her retirement. Today, she scripts scenes from life experiences: tales from her childhood in segregated schools outside Orlando. Themes from her tarot cards. An image from an ancient Egyptian print in her living room, which she half-jokingly calls a memory from a past life. Segregated classrooms were the only ones Byers knew growing up in St. Cloud. A member of the Ku Klux Klan once threatened to burn a cross in her father's front yard. It never happened in real life, but the threat became fodder for a scene in one of her books. Books alone could not satisfy what Byers calls her spiritual nature. For years, Byers sought tarot card readers on trips. Then she learned to decipher the cards herself. "I truly believe that nothing happens by happenstance. It's all predetermined." she said. She smiles. Her interests may seem zany. But they give her much to write about. "It takes experience," Byers said. "I'm finally, at this stage, pursuing exactly what I think I should have been doing a long time ago." In her garage, cartons of Mary Kay beauty products that she sells to family and friends sit next to racks of vintage clothes that she collects. She opened a vintage clothing store near Gandy Bridge, but closed when business slowed after Sept. 11, 2001. Writing has opened windows into lives she never dreamed. The idea for her latest book, The Whitlow Sanction, came from a local fan. The book details the exploits of a group of wealthy businessmen who are conspiring to kill. "My eyes were opened wider than I ever anticipated, never to be closed again," she said, reading the introduction to the fictionalized account of the partially true story. The success of her three earlier books, each self-published, in part inspired the creation of the company now printing her books, Banyon Publishing. The small company that Jay Johnson runs from his Brandon home lists Byers as its only author. Byers' books sell by the dozens online, but her best venue is local and national book signings, Johnson said. "She has the whole package," said Johnson, who met Byers through mutual friends. "She has a bubbly personality, and she loves to write, absolutely is driven by it." - Letitia Stein can be reached at 661-2443 or lstein@sptimes.com BETTY BYERS AGE: 60. OCCUPATION: Full-time writer. She is beginning an advice column for the Florida Sentinel, a publication geared to Tampa Bay's African-American community. MUSE: Daddy's hunting gun hangs over Byers' writing desk. NOVEL PURSUITS: Byers enjoys novels by John Grisham, Jackie Collins, James Patterson. DRESSED FOR SUCCESS: Her vintage clothing began with her mother's 1950s mink hat. She tries to wear at least one vintage item with every outfit. "I like the eclectic mix of the pieces, contemporary and something, even if it's not vintage, that's old." BEST SHOPPING: Triage in South Tampa, the Goodwill and Salvation Army stores on State Road 60. BIGGEST FANS: Husband, James, a retired manager of the Lakeland district Social Security office; sons Roshie Jones, a filmmaker who photographs the art for her book covers, and Derek Jones, an auto serviceman at Ferman Chevrolet. NOT BEDTIME STORIES: Of Byers' five granddaughters, ages 2 to 19, only the older girls have read her erotic thrillers. "It's just not something that (the others) would read. They're too young for that too. Thank God." BOOK SALES: Buy books and learn about Byers' upcoming appearances at www.BettyByers.com © Copyright 2003 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved | The BANYON NETWORK | Betty Byers | Whitlow Synopsis | INNER-VIEWS WITH CELEBRITIES | ECLECTIC REVIEWS | BOOK REVIEWER'S CORNER | The NEWS | SHORT STORIES CORNER | | Return Home | GREAT LINKS | WHAT'S NEW? | CONTACT US | |
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