Fire Dancer, the 4th mystery in the Ben Pecos series, was released last week. My twelfth book will be out this summer. How did you become interested in writing?
I guess I should say I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in writing!
By the age of ten, my parents would keep me quiet in church by handing me pencil and paper. Lots of strange little short stories came out of those Sundays at the First Congregational Church in Newton, Kansas.
Then, in college I took the easy way out and majored in English/Drama—something I loved. I have a BA in English/Drama, MA in English Lit and a last degree, an Ed.S, in Adult Education but my dissertation was the creation of a unique way of teaching grammar to writers.
Top of my bucket list was always to be a novelist myself—don’t all English majors want to write the great American novel? I was in my 50’s before my dream came true—of getting published, I’m still working on the great American novel!
What is a day in the life of an author like? Do you write a certain number of words, do you write in the morning or evening, etc?
I try to treat writing like a job—I go to work five days a week and usually let whatever I’ve done that week percolate and “age” over the weekends. I work 9 to 3 with a lunch break. I never completely finish or end a scene in one sitting without having something to carry over for the next morning. As a result I never sit down and fiddle around trying to get going—I know exactly what needs to be done. And one scene then usually flows into the next.
I never box myself in by demanding I complete X-number of words or pages per sitting—I work more from completion of ideas—of getting from here to there so I’m sure of what comes next.
Now, as I reread this I realize it seems awfully tidy and scripted—I haven’t mentioned the 2 a.m. incidents of being startled awake with “OMG she couldn’t have killed him, she was . . .” or whatever other flagrant error of time and place I might have committed. Entrenched in a book, that is, past Chapter five I live that book. The people in my head are busy! Sometimes they contradict what I’ve just written or lead me in a new direction. If they share these ideas in the middle of the night, yes, there’s paper and pen bedside.
Do you plot the entire book first, then write or plot as you go?
With my mysteries I always know what’s worth dying for before I start and who is most likely to do what to whom. AND maybe unlike other writers, I always know the title in advance. It’s the one or two words that keeps me focused—Yellow Lies, amber scam; Thunderbird, crash of a stealth fight; Pumpkin Seed Massacre, Hanta Virus and so on. To that extent I do plot first.
Do you use real people and places as models for your books?
As I say in the acknowledgements to one of the books, writing has not made me popular with friends. Yes, both good and bad, even acquaintances can find themselves between the books’ covers. I especially like quirky secrets—for example, one I haven’t used yet—I have a friend who slept with the urn of ashes of her dead husband in bed beside her for years . . . you know, maybe I won’t use that anecdote. But you get the idea, little is sacred when trying for a best seller.
On a serious note, my places are always real. Adding a touch of realism is important for the reader to identify with. I’ve had readers write saying they never would have visited New Mexico had I not enticed them with my descriptions. Now that I’m in Florida and the setting is St. Augustine for the next two books, there should be a bump up in tourism. At least I hope so.
Who is your favorite author?
Oh, toughest question yet! I love Craig Johnson of Longmire fame. I’m a Bosch fan (Michael Connelly), my mentor, Tony Hillerman who made southwest mysteries a genre of their own and now his daughter, Anne, is following suit . . . for a good cozy you can’t beat either one of Connie Shelton’s series.
I also try to read award winners and best sellers in fiction—in that way, writing is a business. You have to know what people are buying. What’s hot this year? Hasn’t every writer missed the bandwagon once or twice in his or her career? Just not been at the right place at the right time with a finger on the reading pulse? For example, that Fifty Shades thing . . .
How do you promote your books?
Back in the day . . . and, yes, since 1999 (when my first novel came out), I’ve seen unbelievable changes in the industry. It used to be I could count on a tour of book signings—up the California coast, across the US Houston to Scottsdale, conferences like Left Coast Crime or Bouchercon and lots of local interest from Indy bookstores and libraries. My physical presence was in demand and was important to sales.
I’ve watched this slowly change. My current community lost its last Indy bookstore to flooding from the last hurricane along with the closing of two local libraries. My personal appearances are now book clubs, non-profit fundraisers in the arts, and offering writing workshops.
My presence is mainly online. I use social media and have a website.
For a review of Fire Dancer, click here.
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