PALABRAS: Puerto Rican Novelist Margy Millet Loves Hollywood Endings, Paranormal Worlds

This article is part of "Palabras," the Latin Post Latino Author Series.

Puerto Rican-born novelist Margy Millet has long been attracted to contemporary romance, classic Hollywood endings and the creation of paranormal worlds. So far, the author of "Daughter's Revenge" and "My Vampire, My King" has only published three books that employ these elements, but there are many more novels planned.

Millet was born in the small town of Arecibo in 1958. When she was just 16 years old, her seamstress mother and her construction worker father relocated her and her six siblings to western Massachusetts in search of better opportunities. There, she graduated from high school and gained her associate's degree -- becoming the first in her family to do so. She began a career, got married and had children, then grandchildren. While living this full life, filled with siblings, children and grandchildren, she quietly devoted her time to writing, creating stories about lovers and mercy.

In 2012, Millet lost her job. While she was saddened by the setback, she saw this as opportunity to devote herself wholly to her craft, taking it on as full-time effort. She acquired a literary agent. But unimpressed by the way her agent handled her manuscript, she chose to go it alone and self-publish. On her path to publication, she learned that this can be a satisfying yet difficult road to maneuver.

"Hard. My journey to become a published author has been really hard," Millet told Latin Post.

"Before I self-published, I found an agent, who had my very first book. But, nothing was happening with it. The agent said she was trying, but nothing was happening. So, when I lost my job, I said to my husband, I'm going to go full-time with writing. By the end of 2014, I self-published one book, and this year I self-published two."

"Daughter's Revenge," Millet's first publication, tells the story of a young woman who seeks revenge on behalf of her father. Her thirst to bring her father's murderers leads her to many crossroads, including one that involves not one, but to two lovers. Her sophomore publication, "My Vampire, My King," depicts a young woman who goes undercover to assassinate the Vampire King. However, she becomes distracted by the romantic feelings she develops for a mysteries vampire by the name of Bash, who may not be who he claims to be. "Way to a Stranger's Heart" tells the story of the leader of an armed security team in search of vital information. His mission becomes cloudy when he comes across a stunning stranger.

"I've published three books, but I've written nine," Millet said.

"Also, I'm finishing the fourth book in a four-book series. It's going to be paranormal. I also have two standalone books, which I'm not doing anything with at the moment. I'm working another series. It's going to be three books, and I'm working on a contemporary book. And I want to build a world for my fantasy books, but I haven't really gotten to that yet."

Millet explained her favorite part of writing is the ability to write whatever she imagines. She's inspired by romance, happy endings and very good movies. She takes that raw creative material into her mind to develop ambitious stories. Also, she doesn't need quiet to write: Instead she listens to Latin music and sports while writing, fitting in hourly sessions of writing when she isn't being a busy grandmother.

The author's choice to become a full-time writer coincides with her decision to use a pen name. Rather than write under the name Maggie Perez, she chose to use a nickname given by family member in Puerto Rico, as well as her maiden name.

"I decided to use a pen name because I just wanted my own name. For 35 years, I was known as David's wife. With this, I wanted it to be me, have my own identity," Millet said.

The author confirmed her proudest moment as an author involves holding her first book and seeing her name printed on the cover. A large part of publishing her books, participating in social media and marketing has been recognizing the value of that name, as well as her joy for writing.