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Ray describes her writing as a journey. "My goal is to take the audience with me. In my books, I allow the characters time to work out their problems. Like real life, it's the problems that bring the characters together."

Judging from her book sales, Ray's approach seems to be working.

"She has an incredible fan base," said Monique Patterson, her editor. "Francis really knows how to create characters that seem like real people."

Besides her writing, Ray was one of the first African-American writers of her kind on the publishing scene. She was among a couple of authors who broke the romance-book color barrier. Before the '90s, romance books did not cater to African-American audiences, or they made African Americans secondary characters.

Emma Rodgers, co-owner of Black Images Book Bazaar in Dallas, says the romance market accounts for 30 percent of her sales. Readers-ranging from teachers, clerical workers and lawyers to CEOs, judges and political consultants-have one thing in common: "They want to escape."

Rodgers is in contact with more than 100 book clubs that request reading list recommendations. "When Oprah's book club was introduced, there was a new interest in local reading groups," she said.

Because of this, Ray's popularity has grown. With a 95 percent sales record, she's become the darling of local book clubs, as well as independent and national chain bookstores, where she is invited to do readings and book signings.

While writing about middle- to upper-middle class African Americans-such as doctors, lawyers, art collectors or teachers-she reveals African Americans in a more favorable light than the way they often are portrayed in the media.

But that's just one reason why she's popular.

"She's accessible," said Rodgers, who has 31,000 book titles in her store. "She responds to her fan mail, she appears at book clubs, she travels to national conferences and she's approachable and down-to-earth. Readers are able to reach out and touch her."

Ray smiles and admits that it's all part of a nurse's training.

Contact Pamela Stone at Pamstone3@aol.com