Could you tell us a little about what life was like growing up? Were your parents, big readers?
My mother left my father when I was a few months old and moved in with my maternal grandparents. My maternal grandfather was more a father to me than a grandfather, but he didn’t read much. My mother and maternal grandmother read fiction voraciously, and I read every book on horses in the school library, including all the Walter Farley Black Stallion books by the time I was through fifth grade. Also the Narnia series and Little House on the Prairie series. I began reading Stephen King because my mother was an avid fan and read horror and suspense almost exclusively until I was in my thirties.
What hobby do you miss most from your childhood? Why?
I miss going wading in streams and creeks, looking for crayfish to catch. We always let them go, but it was fun walking around, turning rocks over and seeing what was underneath.
Is it important that an author has other friends that are writers as well? Do you have any?
It’s important to get to know other authors as friends share information with friends, and yes, I have some. I would advise though that the more friends you have from different walks of life, the better. If you were to put your ten closest friends in a room and they would agree on most everything, then you need to look for some additional friends who are outside your bubble. You can’t learn from those around you if you all think the exact same way.
What made you decide to receive a bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a double minor in chemistry and biology?
Not a question I have had before, lol. J I initially thought of being a vet or a doctor and began biology and chemistry course, but I didn’t enjoy the sight of “innards.” My advisor told me that pursuing a math degree would not only give me access to math-related fields but also most business fields as well. I enjoy solving puzzles of all kinds, and I enjoy math, especially algebra (though I admit I have likely forgotten a lot of what I learned). I was great in chemistry as there is/was a lot of math, and biology studies like genetics was also very interesting.
How were you inspired to make a switch from being a health inspector to writing your own novels?
I’m still a health inspector by day, lol, I just write novels, too J. I began writing short essays for a friend that put out a magazine to promote his catnip farm in the early 2000s. When my mom got sick from a drug interaction a couple years later, I had to make good on my promise to write her a book one day. That one book turned into the 18-book Promise Me Series, then spun off into the Lash Series and the Unhallowed Love Series with characters she wanted more of. And the initial non-fiction animal/nature-based essays I first wrote for the catnip magazine are part of the Deep Breaths: Tales of Hope and Inspiration anthology.
What is a good book to study to help you write suspense/ horror novels?
I have not studied any books to help me write, though I have paid close attention to editors these last eighteen years and changed some of my habits to encourage less future figurative red ink, lol. An author needs to feel strongly about a story in order to write it well or nobody will really want to read it.
Do you feel burnt out from too much work as a health inspector as well as a writer?
I did feel burnt out initially when my Promise Me Series was coming out, as I was trying to promote the series endlessly on social media and also keep writing the next series book plus others so I could put out between two to three books a year. I do almost no social media now and try to put out just one book a year, which helps a lot. I have an additional part time job now though also. It’s very hard to balance everything, as I think it’s hard for most authors unless they are retired!
After you reached the end of your manuscript of the novel, Once in a Blue Moon, and entered the "edit till your eyes bleed" phase, what specific types of issues did you look to fix?
My usual problems are name misspellings (pretty ridiculous, right?), wrong place commas, and autocorrected words like “saw” instead of “say.” Also missing words, because I’m sometimes typing so fast I end up with sentences that read more like fragments. I really do need to read aloud to edit correctly. Also, my apologies to all readers who find typos in my works!
What is the best way to begin a book and kickstart the plot?
If a writer doesn’t really grab the reader in the first page, they run the risk of losing the reader. The reader has to care what’s happening and want to know what’s going to happen next. The best judge of this is if you find yourself drawn into the book so you forget you’re supposed to be editing it then you did a good job writing it. If you find yourself skipping or skimming over sections, then rewrite them because if you’re bored, the reader is going to be bored, too.
What books would you recommend for a new romance writer to learn about the craft and genre?
None. Instead ask yourself the following questions:
What’s your fantasy? What romance books did you love the most, and why? What heroine did you most like, and which ones do you hate? What’s your epitome of a man? Write what you would want to read, and don’t try to publish it unless you love what you’re written. That’s why and how I wrote Promise Me and the other romantic suspense books, as well as An Unconventional Christmas.
As a suspense writer, what is your advice to a beginner on how to develop an intense atmosphere, provided that he does not have a big vocabulary?
Just write it, then go back and check to make sure you didn’t use the same word over and over. When you did, use the synonym function in word to pick alternate words. That’s what looking up synonyms is for, lol. Unfortunately, that advice doesn’t work well in erotica though as the synonym function is rated “G.” :)
How frequently do you as a -certified safety and health inspector visit and assess restaurant cleanliness and public safety?
LOL, I am not that kind of Safety and Health Inspector, I am a Safety and Health Manager for a metal fabrication manufacturer. I liaison with insurance officials, code enforcement, and other outside groups, train new hires on all the safety procedures and programs our company has (which I wrote and maintain all documentation for), do inspections onsite of all work areas, and handle all safety issues as they come up. For example, cranes and fire extinguishers need to be inspected yearly and also monthly, deficiencies noted and fixed. Injuries and “almost injuries”—called near misses—need to be documented, investigated, and addressed to mitigate worse things happening in the future. I also have to write up people for not wearing their required PPE (personal protection equipment like earplugs, steel-toed shoes, welding helmets and jackets, cut-resistant gloves, and safety glasses) when they don’t heed my kind request to get the safety glasses off their head and over their eyes.
Have you ever considered writing a book on a metal fabrication shop?
I began a short story called Metal which I hope to include in a new horror anthology for this coming Fall, if I can get it written. It is horror, or course. :)
Are you working on anything at the moment? What are your plans for the next five or ten years?
I have a mystery-suspense gothic novel coming out this year called Dare to Tell. I also just published Deep Breaths II: Tales of Hope and Inspiration, which I need to promote.
I want to go through my WIP (works in progress) and finish of delete all the odds and ends. I want to tie up the end of the Unhallowed Love Series with Year of the Siren and also put out the last four or five books in the Lash Series. There’s also that horror anthology to complete, and possibly a Make Me Behave III, if I can think up enough synonyms, lol J When I get all this done I’ll have to reevaluate!
How long have you been with AllAuthor now and how have you been enjoying it?
I have been with them about four months, and so far it’s been good.
