Jane Porter lived in Bellevue for 17 years before relocating to Southern California this summer. This weekend, the best-selling author (“Flirting with Forty”) returns to the Eastside for a series of events in support of her new book “The Good Woman,” the first book in a trilogy about the esteemed Brennan sisters.

Porter is an award-winning novelist with over 5 million books in print. Her women’s fiction novel, “Flirting with Forty,” was made into a Lifetime TV movie starring Heather Locklear. Jane grew up in central California.

In “The Good Woman” Porter focuses on Meg Roberts – the eldest of the Brennan sisters and her family in Northern California. As she approaches 43, Meg realizes she wants more out of life. More love, more passion, more something. When she embarks on an affair with a California winemaker that shatters her world and her family relationships. Meg is forced to come to terms with the person she was, who she has become.

The Bellevue Reporter recently caught up with the author. who writes romance novels for Harlequin Presents and fiction style novels for Penguin, to talk about writing, her move to California and what fans can expect from this weekend’s events.

BELLEVUE REPORTER: How did you get started writing?

JANE PORTER: It was always just one of those ambitions I had. I wrote my first story in kindergarten. And I wrote novels in middle school. I worked in business and became a teacher and always did writing on the side. I sold my first book at 35 years old – but I’d been submitting since college. So that’s 15 years of submitting, 14 rejected novels. And I was serious about it. I would write and submit, and rewrite and resubmit.

REPORTER: You are touring in support of your novel, Good Woman, which deals with the main characters infidelity – and what comes of it. What inspired this?

PORTER: So much of my writing comes from real life. I’m interested by the things people say at the grocery store and at movie theaters. I am just fascinated by what keeps a marriage together and what breaks marriages apart.  [In my book] I didn’t want the guy to make the mistake. I wanted this character, who fundamentally, has her stuff together, and is responsible, to make a big mistake. Can her family forgive her? Can her husband? When she is irresponsible, can she recover from the backlash? This is real. They say 40 to 50 percent of marriages experience qualms. But it’s such a taboo subject. People don’t want to believe how real it is.

REPORTER: There are four sisters but this series is only intended to be a trilogy. What’s that about?

PORTER: Well right now there is a fourth sister who doesn’t have her own book – she’s just a character in the other stories. But I am lobbying hard for a fourth book – it just depends on how this book – and the one in February sells. Everything today is a matter of sales. But I’m writing the third book right now and doing terrible things to this family. Sometimes I wonder – am I taking this too far?

REPORTER: You recently relocated to Southern California. What prompted the move?

PORTER: After 17 years in Bellevue, I moved. My husband is a surfer and has a surf school in Hawaii. It’s such a big part of his life, and he didn’t have that around him when we we’re living in Bellevue. So he would go to Hawaii – and after years of doing the long distance thing, we decided to move to California. Because he can go surfing, and teach surfing. I have two older sons from a previous relationship.  I also wanted my [three-year old] to be raised in his dad’s world too, and not just mine. It’s very bittersweet. I’ve been pretty home sick. I miss my friends, I miss Bellevue. I mean the weather is beautiful here, but it’s not home yet.

REPORTER: How has the move affected your writing?

PORTER: In the warmer weather my body doesn’t ache, which makes writing easier. But I miss some of the gray because I found it easier to read and write. Here, I live really close to the beach, and so every afternoon, my sons want to go there.

REPORTER: What are you most looking forward to this weekend?

PORTER: The firm writing community. The Emerald City Conference is a big deal, so seeing all my writer friends. And the events in Bellevie – so many of my readers have become my friends. I can’t wait to drive down Main St. But I can’t go near house because that will make me cry.

REPORTER: The next book in your series, “The Good Daughter,” comes out in February. Where will that find us?

PORTER: It jumps ahead about five or six months. It’s about Kit, the Catholic school teacher in Oakland. There’s a really good romance in it. It’s an intense story. But some of my readers love when I put romance in to my fiction stories.

REPORTER: Can you speak to your method of writing?

PORTER: As you write each book characters evolve. In the book I’m writing now I’m introducing new characters – and developing a subplot I didn’t necessarily anticipate. See it’s different then being like a journalist – where you have some facts to work with – I create everything in my head. It’s all made up. I like to go talk to kids about being a writer, and I always tell them I get paid to [make stuff up].

Porter will be lecturing new writers at the Emerald City Writers Conference on Saturday, Oct. 27, at the Westin in Bellevue.She’ll be meeting with fans for Cupcakes and Conversation at the Bellevue Barnes and Noble at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 28.