Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been writing books forever. Not saying they’re good books, just that I’m always writing one. I’m trying to break the habit of writing a book, putting it aside before the rewriting begins, and moving on to something else. I finish the shorter projects – kids books and short stories – but novels continue to languish. I’m trying to change that. But I have to say, the rewriting isn’t nearly as much fun as the first draft.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Monster Girl.
Inspired by our country’s insatiable hunger for war.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
The room I do most of my writing in is my Jester Room….it’s full of all kinds of jesters and fools….no doubt I am the biggest fool of them all.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Most everything I read influences me – sometimes for the good, sometimes for the not-so-good. (Murder mysteries can be a serious bad influence.)
Seriously, I love to read books that pull me under like deep dreams. Those are hard to find. Two that have done that are House of Gentle Men by Kathy Hepinstall and The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot: His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred by Carl-Johan Vallgren.
Faulkner is probably my all-time favorite author.
What are you working on now?
An anti-war novel.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Self-promotion is an alien concept. (Never can get that “And just WHO do you think you are?” voice out of my head.)
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be brave.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Laugh.
What are you reading now?
Stuck on murder mysteries it seems.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Not sure. I’m at an eight-prong fork in the galaxy and can’t decide which way to go.
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?
Blank books so I could write in them.