Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Not sure if it was out of boredom growing up or the fact that I live in Stephen King country, but I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of storytelling. I often spent my days and nights immersed in someone else’s story and I grew up on watching daytime soap operas. I swear I was hooked on ANOTHER WORLD while I was still in the womb. I enjoyed my little escape each weekday to a different town, hanging out with different “friends”, and following everyone else’s drama. This helped me to forget about my own.
I have always wanted to right my own fictional “Bay City” and be the director of its citizen’s lives. Finally, after reaching the age of forty, I have decided to just do it and self-publish my own continuing novel series.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
MILLIKEN MILLS: BATTLE LINES DRAWN is my latest novel and is the third installment of my MILLIKEN MILLS series set on the Maine coast. It centers around the powerful newspaper publishing family, The Nolans as they battle a dying newspaper industry as well as themselves.
I often refer to the series as my “DALLAS in a book”.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I wouldn’t say I have unusual habits. I do tend to write in quick, ferocious sessions at times and then it can be months before I write another word. I think a lot of writers do that. I wish I were disciplined enough to write a certain number of pages each day. My “real job” requires me to look at a computer screen all day so usually the last thing I want to do in the evening is look at a computer screen even more.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
It is hard not to be influenced by Stephen King when you grow up in the shadow of his hometown. I do enjoy John Saul and Harlan Coben. For my MILLIKEN MILLS series though, I was more inspired by television shows: MELROSE PLACE, DALLAS, and these days SCANDAL.
What are you working on now?
I am now working on a full-length horror novel set in Millinocket, Maine. I am hoping to have it self-published with a release in the fall. The book will be titled, THE LAST SUNRISE.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have used as many “free services” as I can with online sources to promote my books. I have a website, a Facebook Author’s page, and I even use Twitter though I have yet to get a lot of followers. As I am self-publishing it can be hard to get attention but one just needs to keep spreading the word about their works in as many places as they can.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I know it sounds cliche but the main thing is to write and have manuscripts ready. The goal and hope of every writer is to get “discovered” and the last thing that you want is for that to happen without any quality material ready to go when your chance is upon you. Keep writing, editing, and improving your work.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Believe in your own voice. Always write the story the way that you intend for it to be written. If you start changing your work to please others than you won’t be pleased with yourself at the end. This doesn’t mean to ignore all advice about sentence structure or pacing etc., but don’t change the heart of the story just to please someone else.
What are you reading now?
I have started reading Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. I know, I’m so late to the game! But I’ve never been one to read/watch the latest fad just because it IS a fad.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I have started the hard process of looking for an agent but until then I will keep self-publishing, spreading the word online about my works. I hope to work on another installment or two of MILLIKEN MILLS to have out next year.
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?
Jack Kerouac’s ON THE ROAD not only because I enjoy the simplicity of the book but also because I would wish that I could be hitchhiking somewhere off of the island. I’m not a hot weather, beach person so something to take my mind off of that like Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air or Dean Koontz’s Icebound. Hey, I’m from Maine!
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