Can you
tell us a little bit about yourself?
A New England native (Connecticut), I
married my husband in 1968. We lived in
Massachusetts (south of Boston) until 1981, then moved to New Hampshire. We left there in 1992 for sunny south Florida
and have lived here ever since. I
‘retired’ in 2010 and took up writing seriously then. A life-long reading/writing aficionado, I’m loving my ‘retirement’ career.
What do
you do when you are not writing?
All sorts of things, as time allows –
husband first, then writing. I enjoy
reading and writing (of course), using the computer (for all sorts of things), camping,
sewing, some crafts, traveling a bit – nothing unusual, or extreme.
Do you
have a day job as well?
Nope, no day job. I haven’t worked in the conventional way for
about 10 years. Most of my working
years, I was in the small commercial printing field, doing everything,
including owning a print shop for 10 years.
When did
you first start writing and when did you finish your first book?
I can’t remember not writing, just as
I can’t remember not reading. When I
first got serious about writing, I wrote my first book, Janelle’s Time, in
2002-2003, then shelved it. It didn’t
reappear for several years.
How did
you choose the genre you write in?
My favorite subjects in school were
English and History, especially American History up to about the Civil War. My
interest in English History came later. Later
still, was an interest in Romance (after I found my mother’s stash of ‘dirty
books’).
Where do
you get your ideas?
Mostly out of my head. I don’t consciously ‘borrow’ ideas from other
writers. Some ideas are from my personal
or family history.
Do you
ever experience writer’s block?
It’s not so much ‘writer’s block’ as
it is I’m having some problems moving forward with the book, or whatever, at
hand. If it’s just not working, I’ll
shut down the work, open a blank Word document and just start writing what
comes to mind. Usually, it isn’t long
before it starts to congeal into something workable. It may not be the task at hand, but it’s
something that can be developed later into something else.
Do you
work with an outline, or just write?
I just write – a ‘pantser’
writer. I’ve tried outlining, but it
seems to be confining. In trying to stay
with the outline, I can’t let the characters tell me what they want, or let a
situation pop up that has promise.
Is there
any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up
or as an adult?
Every book I’ve read has influenced me
in some way, but, I’m a huge fan of Bertrice Small – her Skye O’Malley series showed
me the way.
Can you
tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?
Oh boy … well, as a newbie to the
industry, I made a huge mistake by signing on with a micro-publisher for my
first book. It was a disaster from the
get-go. The in-house editor does not fit
any definition of editor I’ve seen anywhere – she destroyed my book. The publisher did 4 cover designs and spent
probably 5 minutes on all 4 – they were lifeless, irrelevant, and
horrible. I told him I didn’t like any
of them. Knowing my background in small
commercial printing, he gave me 48 hours to finish the galleys and provide a
cover he’d accept. Galleys, no
problem. Cover, I did a total of 4 but
only sent him one, which he accepted but promptly made a mess of because he
couldn’t use the file, to spec, that I sent him, and he didn’t have the type
style I wanted. The list goes on, and
on, and on. It was a nightmare.
If you had
to go back and do it all over, is there any aspect of your novel or getting it
published that you would change?
I wouldn’t work with that micro-publisher,
that’s for sure!
Can you
tell us about your upcoming book?
Adelle’s Time is book 3 of my TIME
Series. The elder of the twin daughters
of Janelle and Richard (book 1), Adelle grew up a horrible child, demanding but
never getting attention, and in the shadow of her sister, Moria (book 2). But, like most of us, she grew up, and became
the opposite of that child. Her goal in
life is to meet and marry an English duke.
Her uncle and his father before him were the Duke of Devonwood, so she
feels she was born to be a duchess. After a failed relationship with Theo, the
heir-apparent to his father’s ducal title, she goes home to New Hampshire to
recover. After a year, she returns to
London to resume her search, bringing with her the makings of an alter-ego who,
she feels, will enable her to catch her duke.
When she realizes how dangerous this plan is, she turns instead to her
Uncle, the duke. Then, she meets Walter,
and everything changes.
Is
anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?
In a series, there are a lot of people
over several generations, but there are some characters based on people I know,
while others are pure fiction. Some
situations based on things that have happened to me, or that I wished had
happened to me. And, a lot of it is imagination.
What was
your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
Adelle’s Time, Chapter 9. Adelle ‘retired’ her alter-ego as it was
dangerous at several levels, then, the next day, she meets Lord Hastings, a
duke, who is fascinated by her alter-ego, Lady Mysterious. The conversation between the two puts Adelle
on a roller coaster. One minute, she’s
convinced he KNOWS who Lady Mysterious is, but then the next, she’s not so
sure. At the same time, Lord Hastings suspects
she knows something about Lady Mysterious, but then he’s not so sure. It was great fun, yanking these two
characters around for a bit.
How did
you come up with the title?
Originally, Janelle’s Time (book 1)
was a stand-alone. I toyed with
countless titles – some cute, some catchy, nothing seemed to work. The few I liked proved to be unavailable (google
search) . Then, I figured, this was, in
fact, Janelle’s time … she was the main character … so, I went with that. I continued in that vein for the other books
in the series as I added them – Moria’s Time, Adelle’s Time, Logan’s Time, and
Clarissa’s Time.
What
project are you working on now?
With Adelle’s Time published, I’m moving on to Logan’s Time which is a
spinoff of the story of the Grayson family which has been a WIP for several
years. Logan Conor, the Scots Duke of
Muileach, met Richard Grayson at college in England, long before Richard met
Janelle. In fact, Logan’s Time starts 30
years BEFORE Janelle’s Time, but on a different timeline. At 7 years old, Logan witnesses the birth of
his brother, Daniel, by hiding behind a wall hanging in his mother’s room. To his horror, she rejects the infant, rounds
up her ladies and moves to the South Tower.
She had carefully planned her departure from the beginning of her hated arranged
marriage. With money gained by
blackmailing her own father, she renovates the tower surreptitiously. She and her entourage (ladies and guards)
live there until her father dies and the money dries up. She departs during one night to parts
unknown. Logan’s father leaves to find
her, renouncing his title before he left.
Logan was the new Duke of Muileach.
Over the years, Logan and Richard get together from time to time. One time, Richard and Janelle help Logan and
Rachel solve a fiscal crisis in the community.
Will you
have a new book coming out soon?
It depends on your definition of
‘soon.’ I estimate that Logan’s Time
will be published in early 2015. What I
have written so far accounts for about half the word-count, but it needs a lot
of work. Then, I have to finish it, and
then, there’s editing, etc.
Do you
have any advice to give to aspiring writers?
In a word, PATIENCE. Oh, I could spout the ‘write something every
day’ thing, and the ‘make sure you hire a good editor’ thing, or any of a dozen
excellent bits of info for new writers, but PATIENCE is a key word. While the self-pubbing revolution continues,
it still takes time to write the book, edit it properly, and then produce it. Then, depending on the choice of traditional
(which often takes YEARS – finding an agent, time for the agent to sell the
book, fitting into the publisher’s schedule and distribution) or self-pubbing,
which can still take a while (several months, at least), there’s the publishing
time. Then there’s the marketing –
online and not. From conception to
dropping off the best seller list, it’s going to take time. There are no shortcuts. So, you’ll need a lot of patience … lots and
lots of patience. If patience isn’t your
thing, find something else to do.
Where is one place you want to visit
that you haven't been before?
It shouldn’t be any
surprise to anyone that I’d really like to go to England/Scotland to see, up
close and personal, the locales I write about.
I’ve met a new friend who lives a scant few miles from the actual place
I found to house Muileach Castle. He’s
feeding me information about the area, and about my locale in particular. It’s fascinating – but, all I can do is dream
…
Non-writing
questions:
Do you drink? Smoke?
As a teen, I smoked during the summer between my senior year in
high school, and my freshman year in college.
Later, I tried drinking, too, but didn’t really like the taste of
liquor. But, I did a bit of that in the
mid-70s. Later, I realized why. I had a health issue that involved a low
level of pain – the drinking dulled the pain.
After the surgery to correct the issue, no more drinking. I can’t remember the last drink I had … it
has to be 10 years or more. I know, I
know – nothing shocking. I just don’t
have a shocking life. Oh, wait. Maybe this will be a shock! My foray into the underbelly of the drug
world … I shared one joint with 2 friends in 1976. That’s it.
That’s all there is. LOL
If you had a superpower, what would
it be?
Here, I deviate from
the ‘norm,’ if there is such a thing
Most people would probably go for something along the lines of Superman,
Spider Man, or any of the other film or comic book superpowers. I don’t even know if what I’d like is even
considered a superpower. I’d like to be
able to time travel. No restrictions, I
only want the ability to go backward or forward in time to any time and be part
of life there for a while. I’d probably
spend most of my time in the past.
Sometimes, I wonder if I was born 200 years too late, but then I think
of the things people in history didn’t have – modern technology of all kinds,
primarily. I don’t see me
writing books
using a quill pen and ink.
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