Zachary first began writing as a child, creating picture books with simple dialogue for her younger brother.
[1] In the late 1980s, she began her first novel, a medieval historical romance, but did not finish it because of the research it necessitated.
[2] At a Romance Writers of America conference in 2000, she was inspired by a story told by a fellow author, Kelsey Roberts, about finding a single red shoe under the bed of her hotel room.
[2] Zachary entered two of the love scenes from her novel into Harlequin's Summer Blaze writing contest.
[2] Zachary says that she writes "romance fiction [because it] is stories about friendship and intimacy, love and respect, commitment, and responsibility".