How long have you been writing?
As soon as I could put big, fat primary pencil to paper, I was writing. I used to revise the stories in our primary classroom readers to be more relevant to my friends and get big laughs on the playground. I won essay contests in the upper elementary grades. I had a story published in a magazine in high school. But then, life happened and I quit writing to go to work. I didn’t write seriously until I retired and my mother passed away. All of a sudden, all I had was time.
My first books, Blue Lake and Belterra, celebrated their 10th Anniversary this year with brand new covers.
Describe a typical writing day.
There is no typical day for me. I write when the mood calls to me. It could be the middle of the night. I especially liked winter when the weather was bad and my husband got called out to work at 2:00 in the morning. A few of my novels were written in that time frame. Normally I set aside a few hours in the morning to write. If “it” doesn’t happen, I edit, blog, or market. Late night hours are also good writing time for me, when everyone is asleep and the house is quiet.
Where do you get your inspiration for your books?
Some are life experiences, mine and others. Sometimes it’s part of an overheard conversation or especially touching song will evoke an emotional response in me that needs to be written down. When we were on our second honeymoon in Florida, back to the same hotel where we first stayed, I promised my husband it was a “no writing” vacation. However, I woke up in the middle of the night in a bit of a state of anxiety. Unfamiliar room, etc. For a moment, I couldn’t figure out where I was. The snore next to me brought me out of it, but that made for the beginning of my novel, Charming Deception. I wrote that opening chapter on my phone in the bathroom that night.
Do you have a favorite character that you have written? If so, who? And what makes them so special?
Yes, Richard Mackenzie, the main male characters in my Time After Time series, is my favorite. (Shhh…don’t tell the others.) People ask me if he is modeled after my husband. I laugh. My niece once told me, “Don’t let Uncle read your book!”
Richard is a composite of many qualities I find admirable in a man. He is tall, dark, and handsome, yes, but he’s also loving, strong and vulnerable. Not many men are brave enough to open up emotionally the way Richard does.
When you’re writing an emotionally draining (or sexy, or sad, etc) scene, how do you get in the mood?
Just start writing. Louis L’Amour has a great quote. “Start writing. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” There are days I’ve started with a grocery list. But on really great writing days, that mood comes first and I have to hurry up and write it.
When writing a series how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
I always have more than one project going on at the same time. Different series. Time After Time is a romantic adventure series about the same couple finding each other over and over again in different lifetimes. Cat Collier Mystery is a girl sleuth series. Different genres. Romance, mystery, sci-fi, Christmas. It helps me to bounce around from one to the other. If I don’t think it’s new and fresh and exciting, my readers won’t either.
What advice would you give to other authors?
Everybody has a book inside them. Everyone has at least ONE story to tell. When I taught school, I always had my students keep a journal. Writing things down helps you remember, helps you work through a problem, makes you a more organized thinker, and lowers your blood pressure. Now, that said, it doesn’t mean anybody will want to buy your book. But write anyway. Wasn’t it Edgar Rice Burroughs who said, (paraphrasing here) if you write one book, it could be really bad. But if you write 100, you’re bound to improve? I’m working on #27. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t let someone who never wrote a book tell you how to write yours. And when you get that first awful, terrible, soul-sucking review (and you will because Amazon lets anything with opposable thumbs write a review if they spend $50), read it once, take from it any glimmer of honest, constructive criticism, then forget it as you gently step over the warm, stinking pile and continue on your happy writing way.
What is the one thing you want people to know about you and your books?
My books are about life, love, loss, and lunacy. I bristle at the label “clean romance” because although there are no graphic sexual scenes, they’re written for adults. On a personal level, my advice is: Open up. It’s never too late to be the person you were meant to be. Life is full of second chances if you’re brave enough to take them. Yes, you risk getting hurt. And sometimes you will and it will be sad and pitiful. But the rewards are astounding. Don’t be that old person who says I should’ve done this or that. DO IT!
The characters in my books tend to jump in with both feet, especially my heroines. They are brave and feisty. I don’t know where they get that…
This is a reprint of an interview I did for fellow author and poet Uvi Poznansky.
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