When did you realize you wanted to write novels?
There was no lightning strike! I slid into it …
I’ve been writing all my life—advertising, corporate communications, freelance journalism. I wrote short stories on the weekends, to relax. I didn’t think I had the stamina or the time for a book-length project. Then, I took an intensive writing class (5 days a week for a year) to get professional feedback on my work. The Monday evening session was focused on novel writing. A few months later, I had a short crime novel, and I thought, okay, I can do long form after all.
Soon after, a friend suggested we write a science fiction book together. He never followed up on the idea, but I had caught the bug and did it on my own. It led to the 4-book Savage Crown series. At that point I had completely given up on short stories. Ten years ago, with the science fiction saga concluded and out of my head, I went back to writing crime, both books and short stories. There’s spillover, characters from the crime stories find their way into the books.
How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?
That’s a hard question because it depends on how you look at the timeline.
I started the science fiction series thirty years ago. I don’t think that counts. My querying efforts were non-existent. I lived in Europe at the time and sending stuff via snail mail with prepaid international vouchers was like climbing Mt Everest. The eBook of Elymore, the first episode in the SF series, came out thirteen years ago when Kindle publishing became an option.
I believe what happened with Love You Till Tuesday is more representative of what authors looking at publication face today. I imagined the main character, Houston PI Declan Shaw, in 2014. I wrote three books with him in the starring role before this one. I started working on LYTT in 2020 and found a publisher in 2021. It languished in limbo for two years and the publishing contract expired. Shotgun Honey took the book on board last year. It released in August. I’ve been living with Declan Shaw for ten years. I know him very well by now.
Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?
Hybrid. Family and Other Ailments and Love You Till Tuesday are traditionally published. The Savage Crown series was independently published.
Where do you write?
I don’t have an office or designated writing spot. I live on a lake in Texas, and the view is stunning. I either use a corner of our big dining room table, sit on the back porch, or nestle in a big chair in the sitting room. And my laptop goes with me everywhere.
Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?
I’ve never been able to work in complete silence. The hush of a library stresses me. I’m used to having people around me, chatting, TV sounds. I often have music on when I write, movie soundtracks and jazz mostly. Moody songs too, nothing that hops or makes me want to sing along.
How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?
I often use snippets of memories in short stories. They help me create a mood or set a scene. Riding my bike by the railroad track, the sound of roller skates on uneven concrete, sugary doughnuts … that kind of thing. The shred of memory is never the entire story, just a touch of color. In Love You Till Tuesday, the inciting event comes straight from a news headline. I will not reveal what it is because the reader will not find out about it for a while. I’ve also given my main protagonist some of my own personality traits, his impatience in particular, and taste in films, food, and music. We have a lot in common, good and not so good.
Describe your process for naming your character?
I avoid character names that end in S or Z because possessives are clunky: Zeiss’s, Parsons’s, Miles’s. It gets annoying. For the rest, I have few rules. I prefer plain first names: Frank, Kate, Jack, Annie, Steve. No names that sound the same, no Lenny and Benny, Carol and Clare. I will borrow the last names of people I know, if they sound right for the character’s personality. The “harmony” is important. How does the name ring when said aloud, is it smooth or does it rankle? My main character’s name, Declan Shaw, felt right, balanced, from the start. I didn’t spend more than five minutes on it.
Real settings or fictional towns?
Real settings, or close to real. Love You Till Tuesday takes place in Houston where I lived for twenty years. The plot moves through several neighborhoods. The next book in the series is set in a fictional town with features similar to a couple of real ones.
What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?
Declan is a Texas PI who hates guns (for good reasons) which strikes people as odd. On the other hand, he keeps a hunting knife in his cowboy boots, so he’s not completely toothless.
What’s your quirkiest quirk?
You should ask my husband. I’m sure he can come up with a few. I’m blissfully blind to my own quirkiness.
If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?
Hard choice. I am head over heels in love with Tana French’s Faithful Place. She wraps a murder investigation around rich and complex family relationships and every character is wonderfully multi-dimensional. There’s so much heart in that book, and yet it’s never over-sentimental. The writing is so crisp and sharp. I’m in awe.
Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?
I wish I’d started writing crime stories sooner. As a reader, it’s my favorite genre and I grew up surrounded by classic noir novels. Maybe that’s the problem, maybe I was intimidated.
What’s your biggest pet peeve?
Not being able to watch classic French movies on cable. Tomorrow, I might give you another answer.
You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?
Beyond the indispensables, like food, water, and shelter? I’ll need my reading glasses and a couple of good books. Lord of the Rings and Seven Pillars of Wisdom. That should keep me going until a cruise ship shows up on the horizon.
What was the worst job you’ve ever held?
A six-month stint at an ad agency where I fought with my sabotaging boss every single day. I slammed the door very hard on my way out.
Who’s your all-time favorite literary character (any genre)? Why?
Arsène Lupin, the original character written by Maurice Leblanc. He’s perfect. A smart thief, an occasional detective, fun, romantic with a wink, a bad boy with a sense of humor. I read the books as a kid, I reread them often as a grown up and I have just as much fun on my multiple visits. Now that I think about it, Declan owes a lot to Lupin. I definitely have a type!
Ocean or mountains?
Ocean, no contest. I never get bored looking at water.
City girl/guy or country girl/guy?
City girl, but I hate traffic and crowds and standing in line for everything and public transport, and it’s so nice by the lakeside, so …..
What’s on the horizon for you?
More in the Declan Shaw series. Catch Me on a Blue Day is slated for a 2025 release. Hopefully we’ll keep going after that. Then there’s a retro-noir novella written in collaboration that will come out in September next year, Bop City Swing. I’m looking forward to that. And I’m considering another short story collection geared towards horror and speculative fiction.
Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?
I love burying myself in writing a book. There’s a moment in a first draft, about one third down, when the characters and the plot gather speed. It’s a great feeling. Then, after the first draft is done, comes a lull. Some kind of intermission. I go back to writing short stories, to clear my head. I take a break from my main character. I’m unfaithful for a while. Eventually, I go back to him, and we fall in step again. I like that dance.
A Declan Shaw Mystery, Book
The murder of jazz singer April Easton makes no sense, and yet she appears to have been targeted. Steve Robledo, the Houston cop in charge of the investigation, has nothing to work with. Local PI Declan Shaw who spent the night with April has little to contribute. He’d just met her and she was asleep when he left. The case seems doomed to remain unsolved, forever open, and quickly erased from the headlines. And it would be if Declan’s accidental connection with the murder didn’t have unexpected consequences. The men responsible for April’s death are worried. Declan is known to be stubborn and nosy. There is no telling what he’ll find if he starts digging. He must be watched. He might have to be stopped. He’s a risk the killers cannot afford. The stakes are high: a major trial with the death penalty written all over it.
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