Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
A lifelong lover of literature, I was first published at the age of eighteen . My passion for the written word started early, and as a child I would carry her mother’s novels as part of my wardrobe.
I am the author of three traditionally published books. Salvation, a century-long romp through the life of a maladjusted vampire, was published in 2012 by Melange books. My first literary fiction title, Benjamin, was published the following year, also by Melange Books. Cold Breath of Life, my first poetry collection, was released by Hidden Brook Press in 2013. I have also independently produced a collection of short fiction called Whispers: A Collection of Dark Tales, which was released in 2014, and a young adult fantasy novel, Switch, which is the first installment in a new series called The Witches of Armour Hill. I’m currently writing the sequel, entitled Twisted, which will be released late this year.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The novel I’m currently working on is called Twisted, and it is the second installment in The Witches of Armour Hill series. A couple years ago, my father took a new position in Peterborough, Ontario, and I had a chance to look around the city a little bit. There’s great history all over Peterborough, but there was one story that stood out over all the rest.
In 1840, a woman was tried for witchcraft in Peterborough. They found her guilty, and she was burned at the stake. Yes, in 1840.
How can you not be inspired by something like that?
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I think my most unusual habit is that fact that I’d rather write on literally ANYTHING than type. I hate typing. Something about staring at a blank screen with my fingers on a keyboard – it just doesn’t work. When I’m looking at a blank sheet of paper (or a napkin, or a receipt, or that piece of my coffee cup I tore off this morning) with a pen in my hand though? Everything just flows perfectly.
I usually let myself get to about 5000-10 000 words on random sheets of paper before I force myself to take a typing day, and get it all on the computer.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I like to think that everything I read influences me. The goods things, I try to incorporate into my own writing. The bad things, I know to avoid.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
My advice for new authors is something I wish someone had told me when I was younger – don’t wait for anyone else to validate you. If you’re writing, then you’re a writer. You don’t need an agent or an editor or a publisher to tell you when you’re writer, because you already are. Now, you just need to decide what you’re going to DO with the things you write. (Scary, I know)
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t ever give up the control you have over your own work.
For me, this meant turning to self-publishing, but I know that it will mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people. However you decide to interpret it, it is SO important. Your book is your baby. You put hours and hours of your life into those pages. Don’t leave it to someone else to decide what happens to them now.
What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano, Slow Learner by Thomas Pynchon, and The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams, because I’ve never been any good at literary monogamy.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Don’t do that to me… chances are I’d die from the stress of trying to decide before I even made it to the island!
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