Welcome!

This is going to short and to the point. After my husband died in late 2016, I have been on a difficult journey which I plan to write about in the future. For those of you who have lost a spouse, you know it changes you on a core level. I am not the same person I once was. I have decided to return to writing with my real name, instead of using pseudonyms. I haven’t decided yet if I am going to retire the name Gillian Doyle from my earlier books. For now, I am making the name change gradually across my website and social media sites as time allows. 

I hope you will sign up for my Reader’s Group. Don’t worry about being inundated with newsletters! (I have only sent one so far.) I will be sending one out soon to verify who is still interested. When I get my core readership settled, I will have a private page on this website for the latest news, giveaways and chats. 

Thank you for your patience. 

– Sue

My background: In a community college writing course taught by poet and novelist Frank Gaspar, I submitted a one-page assignment that led to an invitation to his novel-writing workshop. The dark historical tale of two characters with psychic powers became my first published book in 1989 when St. Martin’s Press released RAPTURE’S LEGACY by Susan Phillips (not the same author as Susan Elizabeth Phillips). Under the name Susan Leslie Liepitz, I wrote time-travel romances for Jove Time Passages and a contemporary romance for Harlequin Temptation.

I took my paranormal interests into the narrative nonfiction, collaborating with private investigator, Deanne Acuña to write LOSING LISA: Intuitive Investigator, Book One and FINDING FAYE: Intuitive Investigator, Book Two. Due to circumstances beyond my control, the planned five-book series had to end at only two.

Moving into Indie Publishing with the creation of Sweetbriar Creek Publishing Company, I released the Intuitive Investigator books and my back list of novels, with plans to continue publishing new work in the future.

I am a member of Novelists, Inc. — the international organization of published authors — and currently serve on the board as secretary. I am also a member of ALLI – the Alliance of Independent Authors.  I was member of Orange County Chapter of Romance Writers of America since 1985, serving eighteen years on the executive board, including Co-President and Treasurer. 

To read more about how I started writing, please see my blog post, “How Writing Has Influenced My Life”