Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written several dog books and created a continuing series for Harlequin some years ago as well a novel based on a popular soap opera. “Another World.” But mostly, I am a writer of continuing dramas for television and have been writing for major networks and cable for most of my career. I also created a drama series called “Ocean Ave.” which was sold internationally and wrote another cable series called “Miami Sands.” I write under many pseudonyms.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is also my first series in print. It’s called “The Blood,” and Book 1 is “Secrets and Lies.”
You’ll figure out why pretty quickly. My inspiration comes from my love of creating characters and inhabiting their lives. I guess you can say I live vicariously through them. How else could I be a top model, a serial killer, a Druid queen, a wolf and vampire-spurned-lover all at once? Speaking of the latter and my specific inspiration for this series, I have always loved vampires and wolves — there’s something magical and marvelously misunderstood about them. I hope you will pick up on that in this series. I’m into Book 2 right now and hope to finish it this summer. You may notice that I dedicated this series to my Celtic boys, my major inspiration for all I write: the nine Irish setters who have owned me and inhabited my life since I was a child — and to the spirit wolf in all of us.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well, I get very hungry when I write, so I try to keep lo-cal snacks on hand! I think writing expends a lot of energy — almost as if you went out for a run, so you get hungry! Or at least I do! I also like to write early in the day. I’m not sure why that is, maybe because my dog gets me up early each morning, so that’s my most productive time … and my hungriest!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Well, you can start will all the Arthurian legends: Mallory, of course, the the more modern writers like T.H.White, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Anne Rice, J.R.R. Tolkein, George R.R. Martin, Guillermo del Torro, Phillipa Gregory, to name only a few. Actually, I love all period fiction, but particularly anything originating in the British Isles from Medieval times to the War of the Roses and beyond; legends, fantasies, and vampire lore
What are you working on now?
The Blood, Book 2: Awakening
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awesomegang is great, as is Bknight and Goodreads and facebook and twitter, I hope will be good. This is really my first time getting involved in the promotion, so I’m feeling my way as I go, which is why I hope I will learn a lot from those who are kind enough to read my book and offer their comments.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just write about what interests you regardless of what appears to be hot or popular. You have to have a passion for your subject, or in the case of a fiction writer, your characters. When they begin “talking” to you, just listen! And then start writing it down!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write what you love.
What are you reading now?
I’m re-reading Lady Phillipa Gregory’s War of the Roses series now that “The White Princess” has debuted as a TV series. As a note, Rebecca Ferguson who played Queen Elizabeth in “The White Queen” played a young character I created on “Ocean Ave.” I am very proud of her!
What’s next for you as a writer?
To keep the Croft and the Clare saga going — I have great plans and many, many more characters in my head.
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?
The Lord of the Rings trilogy; The Mists of Avalon; Bram Stoker’s Dracula
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