Ed and Carol Gorman maintain separate writing offices in the same townhouse.

“We write in opposite corners of the upstairs. It’s better for both of us that way,” Carol Gorman said.

The arrangement seems to have worked. This prolific husband-wife author team from Cedar Rapids has written over 50 books combined.

They’ll be making a visit to Big Table Books tonight to discuss some of their latest works.

Carol Gorman is the author of nonfiction and numerous young adult books. Ed Gorman is the co-founder of Mystery Scene magazine and is a well-known science fiction/crime fiction/western/suspense author.

Carol Gorman started writing after marrying full-time writer Ed Gorman.

“I never thought about writing until I married him. I liked to write letters, and I always used to exaggerate the stories to make it more interesting. He would read my letters and told me to try and get published,” Carol Gorman explained.

Her first publication finally came in a magazine with “The Mayberry Method,” an article she wrote after learning good parenting skills from “The Andy Griffith Show.”

“Getting published was wonderful, but it gave me the wrong impression about writing. It made me think that writing was easy,” Carol Gorman explained.

At the time Carol Gorman was also an eighth grade teacher. She decided to try and write books her students would enjoy, and so a career was born.

Carol Gorman keeps busy by traveling around the country giving book readings and lectures to aspiring authors.

“We’re willing to talk to anyone who wants to know about writing,” Carol Gorman said.

Carol Gorman is currently working on a historical novel about a 1910 factory fire in Lower East Side in New York. She started researching this book seven years ago.

“Now I know how difficult writing can be,” Carol Gorman said.

Husband Ed Gorman also knows how difficult writing can be. He has been said to be one of the last writers who has written successfully in so many different fields.

“I’ve written just about every kind of popular fiction there is,” Ed Gorman said.

Iowa State University English Professor Charles L. P. Silet has interviewed Ed Gorman previously.

“He has been involved in the crime field for a number of years. Now he is starting to shift his attention to longer crime thriller fiction,” Silet explained.

“These past few years I’ve been concentrating on mainstream suspense novels,” Ed Gorman said.

This advertising executive turned writer is also the editor of the popular Mystery Scene magazine.

“We cover mystery news around the world,” Ed Gorman said.

“Mystery Scene is one of the primary magazines in the mystery writing field. It’s a combination of shop talk and critical information about crime fiction,” Silet explained.

Writing novels full-time and editing a magazine would exhaust even the most dedicated of writers. Not Ed Gorman.

“I work 365 days a year. I never miss a day. I work so hard because I like writing. That and I don’t have anything else to do,” Ed Gorman said.

The Gormans will be at Big Table Books in downtown Ames tonight at 7:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.