A prolific multi-genre author, screenwriter, publisher, with new books coming in 2024.

Please, introduce yourself. Tell us about your personal life, family, education.

Hello and thanks for having me here today. I’m a multi-genre author who puts everything I have into writing. I’ve earned two master’s degrees in Creative Writing, one a dual-emphasis genre fiction/screenwriting and one in publishing. Now, I am my own small independent publishing house, where I publish my own works and that of others, and offer author services such as editing and promotional services.

I love writing and authors, and I promote my fellow authors in several ways. I am a voracious reader, also multi-genre, and I write, promote and offer book reviews on my blog Writing to be Read. I also publish a lot of anthologies, featuring other authors, which are great for cross- promotion, so networking is important to me. I’ve met some wonderful authors and been involved in some cool projects due to online relationships.

I’m pretty private about my personal life, but it comes out in my writing. Many of the birds and other creatures who visit my Colorado mountain home are featured in the My Backyard Friends children’s series, which will make its debut in 2024. The landscapes which are visited in my historical fiction, i.e., the Women in the West adventure series, are places that I have visited, not on horseback, like my characters, but on ATV or Jeep. I love the outdoors and it shows.

What do you like doing in your spare time?

Gardening, bird watching, hiking, trail riding, enjoying nature, listening to music, fine dining, soaking in hot springs.

If you are a writer, are you an avid reader?

Absolutely. Was a reader first. Now I write reviews for the books I read, which justifies the time I spend reading.

What is your ultimate writing goal as you see it today?

To become a successful author and publisher. Not necessarily a bestselling author, but I’d like my name to be recognizable, at least in some circles.

What inspired you to write your first book?

A college assignment to write outside of my comfort zone. I was assigned to write in the western genre, and Delilah was the resulting book.

About Book Titles

How do you decide on the title of a book?

Usually, it just comes into my head, and I know that’s what the title has to be. That’s one of the reasons I steered clear of traditional publishers, I want to be in charge of what I write. I don’t want a publisher to come along and retitle my book, and you would be surprised how often that happens in traditional publishing. As an independent author and publisher, I maintain control over my intellectual properties.

Have you developed a specific writing style and why?

I don’t think I have. I’m a multi-genre author, and I think you have to write differently in different genres to offer up the right tone for each one. A romantic comedy is not going to have the same tone and feel as a horror story.

That’s not necessarily true for books in the same genre, or in a series, which need to maintain the same tone throughout. Delilah is now Book 1 in my Women in the West adventure series, and as I prepare to write Book 2, Sarah, for NaNoWriMo this year, I’m keeping that in mind. Each book in the series features a strong female protagonist and at least one real-life historic female supporting character, and they each need to have that western feeling, so I may have a certain style of writing throughout.

How much of your books is realistic and experiences based on someone you know, or events in your life?

I think the author’s experiences can’t help but to appear in their writing, at least if they want their writing to feel genuine. When creating setting, we draw off places that we ourselves have been, even when describing a fictional setting that doesn’t exist anywhere. All we can do is create someplace similar to someplace we know and build upon it.

One of the challenges with The Rock Star & The Outlaw, my latest time-travel adventure novel, was writing in the world of rock music, a world in which I have no experience except from the perspective of fandom. I had no personal experiences to draw off, and I definitely felt like writing the book was more of a challenge. Yet, experiences from my own life still found their way into the book in the barn setting and the character of the raven.

Favorite Writer

Who is your favorite writer, and what is it about their work that really strikes you?

Stephen King has always been my favorite author, since I was 13 and read Carrie. I’ve always been amazed at his talent to make me believe in the unbelievable while I’m involved in the book. I love reading the horror genre, but it’s one I still have to work at in my own writing, although I did have a dark fantasy mermaid story, Melina, which came out in the recent WordCrafter Press anthology which just came out, and Midnight Roost, there’s always room for improvement. Lately, I’ve been interested into writing from the shadow, delving into my own darker side, which is where my horror comes from. I’m hoping this will help to improve my horror writing.

Do you remember the first book you read?

Little Bear’s Visit, by Else Homeland Minarik was the first book I could read by myself. It’s still one of my favorites. I have a children’s book series coming out next year, the My Backyard Friends series, which was partially inspired by this book. My bird and animal characters don’t dress or act like humans as the characters in this book do, but they do talk to one another, even between species. I’ll be doing a Kickstarter campaign to launch the first three books in the series: Heather Hummingbird Meets a New Friend, Timothy Turtle Discovers Jellybeans, and Bobby Bluebird Learns About Teamwork, in 2024.

Is there an author, past or present, you would love to meet? Why?

The dark and mysterious Anne Rice, another of my favorite authors. I’d like to pick her brain and discover her secret for giving her characters such depth, and her settings so realistic. I’ve never been to New Orleans, but after reading her books, I feel like I have. I want to be able to capture that same realistic quality in my own writing.

When you see new authors struggling, what single piece of advice could you give them on a moment’s notice?

Never stop writing. I don’t know if it gets easier, but your writing will always get better. If one thing doesn’t work for you, try something else. Endeavour to persevere. It took me four years to write my first book. The last year, I was also writing my thesis project, which is yet to be published because a single book turned into a series. Between then and recent times, I didn’t publish a lot: a paranormal mystery novella and a short story collection, and a few stories which were included in ezines or anthologies. But all that time, I was learning to write better and become more prolific. I went back and got a second master’s degree in publishing. This past year, I published two novels, a poetry collection, a poetry anthology, and a short fiction anthology, so I feel like all my hard work is beginning to pay off. Never stop writing.

Do you have a blog or website viewers can visit for updates, events and special offers? Include links to any and all of your sites.

My sites are all based off my blog Writing to be Read: http://tinyurl.com/63zzh8vt

WordCrafter Press:

http://writingtoberead.com/wordcrafter-quality-writing-author-services/wordcrafter-press/

WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services: http://tinyurl.com/2us99t82

Kickstarter Profile: http://tinyurl.com/mvt6a8rf