Sin City has treated Squamish author Natasza Waters well.
And it wasn’t on the tables where the local writer has hit the jackpot – it was at the Reward of Novel Excellence (RONE) awards in Las Vegas on July 11.
Waters’ book Code Name: Ghost won the Suspense/Thriller category at the annual awards, but it was another chance encounter in Las Vegas that helped Waters form the universe for the popular eight-part military romance series of books.
“I was in Las Vegas and was sitting at a slot machine and this guy sits down beside me and we started chatting,” she said. “He tells me he’s in the US Navy and I noticed his ring and I knew the Navy SEALS wear a specific type of ring. I told him that’s an interesting ring and he stands up and adjusts his belt and on the belt buckle it says UDT for underwater dive team. He admitted he was a Navy SEAL and we talked for hours.”
That random experience combined with her 30 years of experience working in the marine industry made it a natural for Waters to base her novels around life in and out of the battleground for marines.
“I have so much experience with the marine industry and the SEALS are real heroes,” she said. “They’re like the ultimate warriors and my whole series is about the SEALS.”
Her eight-part series entitled A Warrior’s Challenge began with Code Name: Ghost back in October and continued with Code Name: Kayla’s Fire in November. Code Name: Nina’s Fire was released in May and the series will continue with books being released every few months.
Waters also wrote a stand-alone novel released in January of 2012 called Too Grand For Words but it was A Warrior’s Challenge that has really put her on the map. Amazon has graded all of her books at four stars or above and there are hundreds of positive reviews on the series. She has developed a following and is now close to 1,000 likes on her Facebook page. The growing fan base has been a bit of a surprise to Waters.
“It’s a real mystery why I developed such a following,” she said, noting that sales of her first book were low. “Amazon was promoting my book for some reason and it sold thousands and I’m not sure why, even my publisher was surprised with the response.
A Warrior’s Challenge tells the story of a Canadian heroine hailing from Prince Rupert who ends up working in the United States for the marines. A relationship develops between her and a commander, and the story escalates from there.
Waters said the majority of her sales are e-books, but paperback copies for all of her works are also available. The books are generally around 320 pages and are part of the military romance genre.
She said she sent out queries to a number of publishers when she started the series, but found a nice home with Sweet Cravings Publishing.
“Normally they buy one at a time and see how it sells, but after seeing the first book they came back and said they want to buy all five – I was really happy,” she said.
She admits the writing process can be time consuming but she loves it. She said she writes almost non-stop when she’s off work, but with five books coming she can’t really afford to take too many breaks.
She said the award win was surprising but was a memorable moment.
“I was up against eight other competitors in my genre and I thought I had no chance, but when they announced my name I just thought ‘holy crap I won’,” she said. “I’ve just been totally shocked by all the good reviews, it’s all well and good if a friend or family member says your book is good, but for strangers to say that feels great.”
Waters said new authors need to balance several skills to be successful and offered up some advice to aspiring writers.
“If determination crosses creativity then you’re on the right track,” she said. “Without it you will never finish that book, but the hard part is the marketing.”
For more details on Waters and her novels, visit www.nataszawaters.com.
