What made you want to be a writer?
I don’t believe I ever had a turning point where I decided that storytelling was something I wanted to do. My mother introduced me to storytelling from birth. She read to me nightly from the time I was born. And introduced me to story crafting at age 2. She would ask me to tell her a story while she was cleaning. It was so she could keep track of me, but also because she really loved stories and wanted to share that love with me.
How did you learn to write?
It seemed like a natural progression to write stories because I had been making up impromptu stories to entertain my mother many years before I could read or write. I pants my way through writing stories until I tried to write a novel. I soon learned that I needed to understand editing if I wanted to pants a full novel, because if you don’t plan structure before you have to add it in afterwards.
What books or magazines do you read regularly?
The New Yorker is the only magazine I read on a regular basis. I read a wide variety of books. Anything that catches my interest really. And I do enjoy reading medical journals for fun, really. I love stories. People fascinate me. I mostly I enjoy reading murder mysteries, paranormal, horror, epic, long running urban fantasy series.
Are you available for speaking engagements?
It depends on my schedule. Please contact me in advance for availability via the chat console in the lower right corner.
Who are your favorite authors?
I love different things about different authors and their series. I mostly love long running urban fantasy series. Some of my top favorites are Kim Harrison’s The Hollow Series, Anne Charles’s Deadwood series.
Where do you get your ideas from?
I get my ideas from real life experiences and my imagination. I enjoy leveraging my subconscious by keeping a dream journal, practicing tai chi, lucid dream napping, taking long walks and meditation.
What is your favorite part of writing?
Taking ideas, thoughts, feelings, experiences or glimpses of something I can’t quite put my finger on and making them into a unified whole that doesn’t exist yet but will fascinates the curiosity and entertain. I basically use my dyslexia and subconscious mind to compile weird, or unlikely, combinations of data.
What is your favorite part of being a writer?
I love connecting with other people, helping them leveraging their imagination, entertaining them and making them laugh.
What is your least favorite part of writing?
Editing, though I am learning to enjoy it more. There is something magical about seeing a manuscript go through a the process of transformation from an immature form to a fully refined story. I used to hate cutting chapters that didn’t work from my books. Now I keep a chapter slush pile and sometimes make them into short stories.
What is your writing process like?
I usually have two books in production at a time. I research/plot/draft one in the morning when I first get up at 6am. I edit the second project in the afternoon.
What advice do you have for writers?
Just start where ever you’re at. All the great writers started at the beginning, just like everyone else. Write regular. Don’t believe everything your inner voice tells you. And don’t believe everything other writers tell you either. You are not them and what works for one writer may not work for you. Every writer is different and has different strengths that they need to learn to work with and leverage in order to bring out their true voice and succeed.
How many hours a day do you write?
On average I draft between 2-4 hours a day. It’s the first thing I do when I wake up, usually at 6am.
If you didn’t write, what would you do for work?
I would be helping other writers. I founded the writer’s support group, Writers’ Exchange, to help writers establish a writing practice, network and grow. It is not my primary focus, but if I wasn’t writing I would still want to help other writers reach their goals.
Do you believe in writer’s block?
Yes, there are many ways a writer can get stuck. Writers often use the term as a catch all, when they are not sure what is happening. And you have to know what is keeping you stuck before you can move forward. Sometimes it is simply that we are overworked and need to take a break. Other times, there is something about a particular story that isn’t working and we have to figure out what our intuition is telling us.
How do you market your books?
I do not rely on social media. I don’t believe it is a productive use of time for most small business. I believe producing a good quality product (not perfection), treating your customers fairly and utilizing emails and newsletters to build fan loyalty works best. Once you have a base and social proof of your product then you can invest in adds.