When did you realize you wanted to write novels?
I’ve always wanted to write since childhood, but it wasn’t until my 20s that I attempted to write a book. The first one was never finished but the second one was completed. And it was promptly rejected by every agent I sent it to.
How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?
It was a journey with many stops and starts. I got serious about writing in the late 1990s when I met another author and joined a writing group. During the years between then and when I finally was published in 2018 with my debut novel, The Uninvited Corpse, I worked a full-time job, volunteered in my community, and had a food blog. There was a lot going on, but in 2015 I focused on writing fiction, and a year later I had signed with an agent and then sold the Food Blogger mystery series.
Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?
I am traditionally published.
Where do you write?
Most of the time I write in my home office. If the weather is nice, I’ll go out on the patio. But I prefer my office and working at a desktop computer.
Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?
Silence is definitely golden, especially when I’m in the second draft of a book because I’m doing a deep edit of the manuscript and I need to fully concentrate on those words.
How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?
I typically don’t draw my plots from real life, but of course snippets of my real life do find their way into my stories. I rarely create a character based on people that I know. However, some of their habits, traits, or quirks may make it into a character.
Describe your process for naming your character?
I like to find names that seem to fit characters and aren’t too long to type, especially if they are a prominent character in the story and I’ll be typing it a lot.
Real settings or fictional towns?
Fictional towns.
What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?
That would be Kip from the Cookie Shop Mystery series. He’s always telling baking jokes.
What’s your quirkiest quirk?
I don’t know. I’m sure I have one or two or three. You probably have to ask one of my friends.
If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?
Great question. It would be The Secrets We Share by Edwin Hill. I loved his voice, the tone of the book, the mystery, and the twist.
Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?
Another great question. Here’s the thing, if I had the chance for a do-over, then most likely the things that have happened in my life wouldn’t have happened. It would throw everything out of whack. And I’m really happy with how things have turned out, mistakes and all.
What’s your biggest pet peeve?
Whistling.
You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?
Sunscreen. Mascara. Coffee.
What was the worst job you’ve ever held?
Hands down it was working as a secretary for a commercial scale company. I wasn’t there long.
Who’s your all-time favorite literary character (any genre)?
Jessica Fletcher.
Ocean or mountains?
Mountains.
City girl/guy or country girl/guy?
I’m a city girl at heart.
What’s on the horizon for you?
I have another Food Blogger mystery releasing later this year.
Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?
I love connecting with readers on social media and through my newsletter. I share photos of our Shih Tzu, Connie, and occasionally my recipes.
A Food Blogger Mystery, Book 6
Hope Early has to contend with ghosts, a fatal curse, and a decades-old family secret to catch a killer in the new Food Blogger Mystery . . .
When her best friend’s Aunt Issy falls ill, food blogger Hope Early agrees to help him hand out Halloween candy at his aunt’s house, which is rumored to be cursed. A murder-suicide took place there a century ago, and legend has it that a woman has died there every twenty years since—on Halloween. Hope doesn’t really believe in curses or ghosts, but when all the trick-or-treaters are gone and she discovers a woman’s dead body on the front lawn, she wonders if the curse might be real after all.
Then Hope and her friend discover a cache of love letters linking the dead woman to Aunt Issy’s husband years ago, and Hope is certain they’ve uncovered the motive for murder—and the police are certain Aunt Issy is their main suspect. Determined to prove Issy’s innocence and nab the real culprit, Hope starts shaking other branches of the family tree. But she forgets that Halloween isn’t the only day people hide behind masks, and if she’s not careful, Hope will come face-to-face with a ghoulish fiend who’s not afraid to kill again . . .
Recipes included!
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