Michelle Butler has made becoming a healthy writer a priority in her life. She is nearly 50 pounds down from her highest weight ever and is committed to getting back to a healthy weight for the first time since the age of 20 and making lifetime at Weight Watchers. Luckily, she finds healthy cooking a creative outlet, enjoys classes at the gym such as Zumba, step, body pump (weight lifting), body flow and pilates and is always willing to try new things at least once. One of these days, she’ll learn to appreciate running, but until then the elliptical will remain her favorite piece of exercise equipment.

Michelle writes regency-set historicals and dabbles in other genres and nonfiction. She has served as president, treasurer and programming coordinator of local RWA chapters, presented workshops at the chapter level and been active in Music City Romance Writers, Heart of Dixie, Austin Romance Writers of America, Washington Romance Writers and The Beau Monde. For years, she compiled the second sales column for RWA’s eNotes.

She loves to travel and has done so extensively in the United States, Mexico, Canada and Europe. She has seen Beau Brummell’s Mayfair townhouse, ridden in a gondola in Venice and climbed the Pyramid of the Sun in Mexico. Butler graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in history and Latin American Studies and earned an M.A. in history from the University of Texas at Austin. She currently resides in the Washington, D.C., area.

• Michelle Butler
• Mary Curry
• Sally Kilpatrick
• Trish Milburn
• Anna Sugden
• Tawny Weber

• Rachel Graves
• Keri Mikulski

   

• A huge fan of classic girl books and all great stories, Michelle has
  visited former homes of Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Lucy Maud Montgomery, J.K. Rowling, Shakespeare, and many other authors.
• She is never far from a fresh cup of tea and has a collection of tea
  pots, cups and great teas from across the world.
• Her manuscript "Honor's Redemption" recently placed second in the Sheila 2010 contest's historical category.
• She presented a Healthy Writer Workshop at the 2011 WRW Retreat

Hope and Renewal

Posted by Michelle Butler Apr 8 2012, 9:57 pm in Holidays, inspiration, Michelle Butler, Michelle Mondays

There is something about this time of year with its combination of spring and Easter that always makes me feel some hope and renewal.  I am writing this on Easter Sunday and am still full with the optimism that came from a moving mass and a fun day of feasting and socializing with loved ones and friends, but it’s more than just the one day.  Both Lent and the first buds, blooms and baby animals after winter make me think about rebirth and renewing life.  I want to take this burst of positive feelings and let it help me move forward on my journey to become and stay a healthy writer.

I’ve been working on upping my exercise and making better eating choices.  I have a long way to go before I can start wearing (or return to) smaller sizes, but I’m already feeling a little better for it.  I am going to my local writers group annual writing retreat at the end of the month, and I’m trying to let that event inspire me as well.  How can you get in touch with the season’s hope and renewal and let it help you move forward on your journey?  Any recommendations?

9 Comments

The Five Stages

Posted by Michelle Butler Apr 1 2012, 10:00 pm in Michelle Butler, Michelle Mondays, Writing

At RWA’s 2010 national conference in Orlando, I attended Sandy James’s workshop Freud Knows Romance, a psychology 101 primer to help with deeper characterization.  One of the concepts she spoke about was the five stages.  Most people know it as the five stages of grief first introduced by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her book On Death [...]

8 Comments

The Journey Never Ends, and That’s OK.

Posted by Michelle Butler Mar 25 2012, 9:59 pm in confidence, Expectations, fear, food, Michelle Butler, Michelle Mondays, weight loss

This past Saturday I went to a very fun party a successful member of my local writer’s group hosts every year.  It takes me at least a hour and a half to drive there, and that gave me plenty of time to think.  A good part of the time I rocked out to music and [...]

7 Comments

Fostering Pickiness

Posted by Michelle Butler Mar 18 2012, 7:05 pm in eating healthy, food, Michelle Butler, Michelle Mondays

Being a picky or finicky eater was one of the many things you were not supposed to be as a kid.  I was more along the lines of Mikey, the boy who would eat anything, yet I’ve tried to become a little picky over what I’ll eat.  Fostering pickiness can help you lose weight or [...]

13 Comments

Spring Forward

Posted by Michelle Butler Mar 11 2012, 10:11 pm in Expectations, fear, Michelle Butler, Michelle Mondays

I’m writing this around 11:00 o’clock at night, but it feels like it’s 10:00 thanks to the change to daylight savings time.  While I do enjoy the extra hour of sun at night, I don’t like losing an hour of sleep.  Spring forward time can be a reminder that some benefits may come with a [...]

11 Comments