Interview with self

There are two people who need to send me their interviews but haven't so I didn't want to have a blank space. I decided to interview myself using the same questions I send to others. May you enjoy.


1. What's your genre or do you write in more than one?
I tend to be a dabbler. There are mysteries, suspense of the medical flavor, romance from sweet to spicy, fantasies from YA to adult and some paranormal that touch on reincarnation or on alternate worlds. I've also done some short stories and published poetry. I once wrote a play in blank verse and also did a college paper on Milton in Miltonian blank verse complete with footnotes. There are several non- fiction books among written when I was a ghostwriter for doctors and one on writing written with Jane Toombs.

2. Did you choose your genre or did it choose you?
3. Is there any genre you'd like to try? Or is there one you wouldn't?
Decided to combine these two since I'm always a bit scattered.
I think I tend to write what I like to read. Unfortunately I like to read most everything so I tend to scatter myself over the genres. It's more like what I do not like to read. I do not like horror and don't think I'll ever write in that genre. While I like action adventure I don't think I have the mind for writing that or science fiction, though I enjoy the genre I'm really not scientifically oriented.

4. What fiction do you read for pleasure? Actually reading has sort of been covered in the last question. I am a re-reader and some books I've read more than once. I spent a number of years when I began writing reading many of the classics and some not so classical. I've read Pride and Prejudice 15 times, War and Peace twice and Anna Karenina many times beginning that when I was in third grade. I don't do Steven King. Those kind of stories creep me out. Used to love Dean Koontz but that was when he was writing science fiction.

5. Tell me a bit about yourself and how long you've been writing,
I tell people I've been writing since the dark ages. That means typewriters and carbon paper. I still have a draft of a manuscript on carbon paper. Someday I might see if it's of value. My first short stories were published in 1968 and the first novels in 1972. They were sweet nurse romances and that's where I learned my craft since in those days editors often sent wonderful letters of critique and advice on how to make the story better. Time was taking out to return to a career as a nurse to help put four children through school. In 1993 I returned to writing full time and found a world that confused me. Synopsis and partial manuscripts wanted. So here I am and here I sit.

6. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Authors are like parents. To speak of a favorite character would be difficult. Most of the time, the one I am allowing to tell their story is their favorite but if I was pushed, the villain - Fred - in Obsessions would be my favorite. Who doesn't like a bad guy.

7. Are there villains in your books and how were they created?
There are villains in a number of my books. I'm not sure they're developed but they sort of grow. Nasty people are usually easier to write that the clean-cut kind. At least for me. Mostly they come on stage fully developed and I allow them a bit of room for their evil.

8. What are you working on now?
The fourth and final book of The Henge Betrayed series and saying goodbye to these young people seems to be very hard. Or maybe it's that the holidays are approaching and there are other pulls on my time.

9. What's your latest release and how did the idea arrive?
Latest release was book two of the Henge Betrayed series. How did the idea arrive? When I reached somewhere between 75000 and 80000 words and hadn't even reached the first third of the outline I'd done for what was to be a single book. That's when I knew there should be a second and a third and maybe a fourth.

10. Tell me about your latest book and how it came about. Enclose the opening of the book around 400 words.
Since I put first chapters up on the blog, I'll skip this but if you're curious you can read some of the first chapters I've put up.