When did you know writing was for you?
I’ve been writing stories ever since I was in school. It took a long while for me to realize that not everyone did it!
How would you describe your book?
The genre is paranormal romantic suspense – or paranormal romantic thriller. In the UK it tends to be called a thriller. It’s paranormal because of humans with special powers – mind reading – not because of creatures like vampires. It’s about two people who are caught up in a plot that centres around their special skills, and an attempt by a shadowy organisation to take advantage of them. In the course of overcoming the threat, they find each other – but it is not a smooth process.
What was the hardest part of the writing process for you?
I enjoy writing, but even so it is not always easy to keep going. 90,000 words is a long journey! You do sometimes get tired along the way. I tend to invent complex plots, so sometimes keeping track of who is where, and what they are doing, gets a bit complicated.
What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you as an author?
I’m often told that people are surprised by my books, as romantic suspense is not such a well known genre in the UK – so I’d like people to know that if they pick up one of my books they are going to get a love story mixed with crime and scary stuff.
What does your daily schedule look like?
All over the place! I don’t write on a regular basis with a daily word target. I spend a lot of time planning and researching and then I like to write in blocks and keep going until the end.
What would be your advice to aspiring writers?
Keep at it! Determination to keep improving as a writer and to keep submitting to agents and editors is vital. A few authors have success in their careers without ever having a rejection, but for the rest of us the ability to bounce back is part of the tool kit.
What is your favorite book?
I don’t really have one – there are so many authors I admire, in so may different styles, I could never chose. If I had to pick an author who has enthralled me for a long time, it would probably be Shakespeare, and then it would have to be the collected works.
Favorite movie?
Possession – the film made from A S Byatt’s novel. I love the way the stories of the Victorian writers and the present day researchers who are investigating them are intertwined, and it also has a number of my favourite actors in it.
Who is your favorite literary character?
Again it’s difficult to chose – but I do have a weakness for the villains in Elizabethan and Jacobean plays – there are some wonderful portraits of evil and corruption. I blame them, in part, for the darker side of my writing. I love the theatre, and it gets into the fabric of my work.
Who is your writing inspiration?
All the great American romantic suspense authors – Nora Roberts, Karen Rose, Tami Hoag, Linda Howard – I could go on. I just love the genre.
What is your must have beauty product?
Moisturizer. I’m a sucker for all the promises on the jar and I adore ones that have a nice smell.
What advice would you give yourself ten years ago? Any words of wisdom?
I’d tell myself to keep trying and keep learning. It took me a long time to become a published author, but I amassed a lot of experience on the way that is invaluable now.
