When did you realize you wanted to write novels?
I’m originally a surgical Physician Associate (medical provider). I worked 50-60 hours per week doing spine surgery, rounding on hospital patients, and seeing patients in the clinic. I enjoyed my job, but when my husband and I were expecting our first child, I decided to take a long hiatus from medical work and stay home to raise our daughter. I’d worked since I was very young, so this was a steep adjustment for me. I needed something for myself, so I turned to a psychological suspense novel I’d started before college.
It took me months to admit to anyone that I was working on a novel. Then, I gave my first book to my husband and asked him to be honest. I needed to know if I could do this. He ripped my book to shreds (figuratively), and I wanted to let the whole thing go, but then he said, “There’s something here. You just need to fix it. And don’t you dare stop writing.”
To this day, he’s my biggest supporter, and it was because of his honesty, followed by his solid encouragement that I went back to my fictional worlds. And as I edited and edited and edited, I got better. I started to understand the power of words, and I was positively thrilled at the idea of evoking emotion in my readers. I was in love.
How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?
I wrote off and on for years and finished my first book in 2017, my second in 2019, and The False Flat in 2021. It sold last year and debuted this month.
Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?
Traditionally published.
Where do you write?
My favorite writing spot is at my desk. My chair is cozy, equipped with a heating pad against my back (yes, even in the summer), a steaming cup of hot tea (lavender or jasmine) or coffee (cinnamon blueberry crumble, black) or piping hot lemon water. However, I’ve written thousands of words at coffee shops as well.
Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?
Silence is golden for me. Occasionally I’ll play instrumental music or enjoy the background clatter of a coffee shop. I usually write to the melody of birdsong out my office window or the daily sounds of my family moving about the house.
How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?
I love drawing from real life. I think it makes writing richer. And I draw from many people around me, and of course, myself. I never make a character “me,” but I do draw from my life experiences. For instance, in The False Flat, my main character is biracial, like me, and I gave her ALL my hair struggles as well as some of my unfavorable childhood experiences.
My sister also passed away in 2018, and her death absolutely shapes my writing.
And then there are the fun little things that I cannot resist sneaking in.
Describe your process for naming your character?
This is SO hard for me. I always want something unique. I mentally collect names I like as I meet people. But I also search names by meaning. I love double meaning, hidden meaning, and metaphors. Sometimes the characters name themselves, popping into my head out of nowhere. And other times, I agonize until one seems right. But the characters need names for me to really get to know them.
Real settings or fictional towns?
Real, at least so far.
What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?
Penelope Auberge from The False Flat has all kinds of quirks. She has social anxiety, and uses Cap’n Crunch, bicycle riding, and numbers as her coping mechanisms. As a financial planner, she’s soothed by numbers, so when she’s stressed, she envisions people as literal numbers so they’re less intimidating. That was so fun to write.
What’s your quirkiest quirk?
I don’t know if this is a quirk, but it gets me into trouble…my imagination is wild and I’m a perfectionist, and if I think it, I tend to feel compelled to do it. And I usually go overboard and overcommit myself, but I can’t stop until I feel like it’s perfect.
If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?
It’s a toss-up between Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.
Jane Eyre has personal significance for me. I admire the Bronte sisters as well as Jane Austen, and I think it would be so fun to have written this because it’s something I really enjoyed when I was younger.
But as a writer, I adore the idea of writing something impactful and lasting. It’s not about the fame and notoriety, but it’s about significance. There’s something deeply appealing to me to be able to write something that sticks with people, that charms or helps them in some way.
Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?
I wish I hadn’t worried so much about what other people thought of me when I was younger. When I was growing up, I missed out on opportunities and experiences because I didn’t want to draw too much attention to myself. Other people matter, but they also don’t. Living life to the fullest, regardless of what I might seem to others, is so freeing. The small things I sweated were wastes, and I wish I could go back and not let things get to me like they did.
What’s your biggest pet peeve?
When people don’t take the time to see someone else’s perspective.
You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?
My computer (with infinite battery life), an infinite supply of hot tea, and my family.
What was the worst job you’ve ever held?
I’ve had many jobs, and I’ve hated aspects of all of them. However, each one has given me something or taught me something about the world or myself. But if I’m pressed, I’d say when I worked at Toys R Us when I was very young. The environment was stressful and hectic.
Who’s your all-time favorite literary character (any genre)? Why?
Jesus. I haven’t read about a person’s life that has affected me more than Jesus.
Ocean or mountains?
I cannot commit to only one of these. I have commitment issues. However, there is no better place to be than by the ocean with the soft sand under my feet and the crashing waves taking command of my thoughts, where the wind is powerful and the world goes on forever while simultaneously being enclosed within a dome. Until I tire of it and crave the majesty within the tall peaks and the security of layered rock or desire to breathe in the sweet notes wafting off the mountain greenery or stand tall looking over a world that holds infinite treasures.
City girl/guy or country girl/guy?
City, no question. I love being five minutes from a grocery store because my “meal plans” are always incomplete.
What’s on the horizon for you?
I’m in a period of limbo, and I’m trying hard to be okay with that. I’m waiting to see how my first book does, waiting to see if I’ll get another book published, waiting to start a new medical job.
Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?
Links to my social media accounts and a Book Club Kit can be found on my website. Sign up for my newsletterto receive Just Desserts, a free novelette about betrayal, doubt, and sheet cake.
In this uplifting story about friendship, love, and growth, one woman must untangle herself from a past that’s holding her back in order to move forward into the life that will set her free.
Penelope Auberge is at her breaking point. With an overbearing mother, a married boyfriend, and a boss who gives Pen’s high-profile finance clients to male colleagues, it feels like nothing she’s accomplished in her thirty-two years belongs to her.
Determined to build a life entirely her own, Pen moves from Minnesota to Tennessee to open a solo financial business. There, she meets siblings Deanna and Grant, who attempt to coax Pen out of her socially anxious shell. Hesitant to open up so she doesn’t get hurt (again), Pen is slow to develop a friendship with Deanna, and she’s determined to ignore her feelings for Grant, which is difficult given she’s joined his cycling group and a clear something begins blossoming between them.
Pen’s path in Nashville appears to be smoothing out, but she soon learns that packing up her past isn’t quite that easy. If she wants to start fresh, she’ll have to decide what she really wants—even if that means riding away from her old life for good.
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