Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of a prominent psychoanalyst, which was interesting, to say the least. When I was a kid, mainly a teenager, I always wished my dad had a “regular” job, like selling insurance, or maybe being just an “ordinary” doctor,” but having said all that, I actually appreciate all the “psycho-babble” I was forced to listen to at the dinner table at night, when my dad got home from a tough day at work with combative patients, because it’s helped me immensely in developing my fictitious characters now.
To date, I’ve written 19 full-length romance novels, some for Harlequin and Avon in the earlier days, but the later books as an indie Author. I have written both historical and contemporary, and I love both genres. I have also written three non-fiction books, two based on a unique passive solar greenhouse that I designed and developed in 1980. Currently, the City of Ottawa, Canada is putting up a “biodome garden” based on my design. The design was the winner in a passive solar greenhouse competition that someone who bought my book submitted. My latest non-fiction book is my memoir of growing up in New Orleans in the 1940s and 50s. I had a great time putting that one together, with almost 1000 photos, and over 500 pages. I got a little carried away, but I’ve had amazing feedback from readers, totally unexpected.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is entitled FORBIDDEN SPIRITS, and it is Book 10 in my DANCING MOON RANCH SERIES. The series started out with RIGHTEOUS LIES, which is the book I’m offering for free, and which I thought would be a single-title book. What inspired that story was when I read about a mix-up at a fertility clinic where two vials of sperm were accidentally switched, so two women were impregnated with the wrong sperm. So, I started out with my story with my heroine, 7 months pregnant, learning that she’s having a baby by the wrong man, and her dead husband ‘s sperm went to the wife of my hero’s sterile twin. That’s also the incident that set into motion the righteous lies that followed.
So, that was to be a single-title book. What a hoot, when my heroine’s sister entered the story, and things got a little crazy after that, which led to a “sequel” (PANDORA’S BOX). But by the end of that book, the brother of my hero in RIGHTEOUS LIES, whose wife got the wrong sperm, was about to divorce his wife, so he needed his own story (FALSE PRETENSES). By then an innocent lie, from RIGHTEOUS LIES, was taking hold, and since the books are to be read in sequence, the stories were moving ahead in time, and the kids were growing up, and the next thing I knew we were into Book 4 (UNCERTAIN LOYALTIES), and the next generation. By now I was REALLY into this family, and since my original hero and heroine had 7 children, each are getting their own story, plus a couple of new characters. It’s definitely a family saga, which actually spans 30 years, and I’m getting amazing feedback from readers who tell me they’re really wrapped up in my fictitious family and eagerly awaiting the next book. So it’s been a great adventure.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My writing habit is pretty much tunnel vision when I’m into a book. I’m up at my computer anywhere from 5:30 AM to as late as 7:00 AM, and I can write non-stop until bedtime. My husband doesn’t try to communicate much with me during this time because he knows better. He does all the shopping and cooking, which works great. It takes me anywhere from a month to two months to write a full-length novel this way, but I just can’t discipline myself to stop once I get going because the characters take on a life of their own and I need to get it all down. I’m definitely a “panser” which in writer terminology means “writing by the seat of my pants” without a synopsis or background notes. I have the story in my head and I just need to get it down on paper. I an totally enjoying this series now, and I’m eager to get going every day that I sit down to my computer.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Kay Nolte Smith is probably my favorite author. She wrote a book entitled A TALE OF THE WIND, and that’s my “writer’s Bible.” It took her 15 years to research and write the book, and she died shortly after it was released, but it’s an amazing story… actually a Beauty and the Beast romance, though Kay Nolte Smith would soundly deny this if she were here today.
But now for one of my best kept secrets. All the time I was growing up I hated to read because I’d much rather be playing make-believe, and when I was in high school, if I had to write a book report and I could find a Classic Comic of that book, I’d read the comic and write the report. But whenever I was given a writing assignment I gave it my all. One of my more unusual reports was on how to shrink a human head. I got the idea from an article in National Geographic Magazine. I did the research and made a beautiful cover, complete with a drawing of a shrunken head, then proceeded to describe how to fill the skull with hot sand to shrink it. It wasn’t until I was writing my recent memoir (AROUND THE BELT) that I wondered what my teacher must have thought of the daughter of a psychoanalyst writing about how to shrink heads. But even today I rarely read because I’m always writing.
What are you working on now?
Like I said above, I’m working on FORBIDDEN SPIRITS, which is Book 10 in my series. This is the youngest of six sons in the series, and he’s an amazing man with horses, and his claim to fame is Roman riding (riding standing up) six horses as a specialty act during rodeos. My heroine is an American Indian who works at the Dancing Moon Ranch. I established a hot spring cavern with pool in it in the first book in the series, and it’s been an integral part of the stories from the beginning. As the legend goes, if a person sits in the poo while listening to the “voices” (odd sounds that emanate from inside the mountain), they’re cleansed of evil spirits. So in FORBIDDEN SPIRITS, my hero, who’s been intrigued by the “voices” figures it’s nothing but a trapped geyser forcing steam through rock fissures, and he’s determine to prove it. On the other hand, my heroine, a Native American, is certain that bad things will start to happen if my hero continues, and when he does, his troubles truly begin. I’m having a great time with that story too, and it will have an interesting ending.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I tried to make my website as informative as possible. It’s pretty comprehensive, and since I have been an Adobe Photo geek from way back, when I was also a portrait photographer, I do all my own covers. I also put together probably a first for series writers. I made available to readers my DANCING MOON RANCH FAMILY ALBUM, which looks like a photo album for the cover, but inside are over 600 photos of all my characters in every story, including photos of their kids, and their houses and even their weddings. The album also spans 20 years. It available on Amazon and through my website. I use it as a tool to also promote my books. I also include sometimes as many as 15-20 photos for ALL of my single title books. I had fun putting together the photos for the historicals. I get my photos from stock agencies, but it’s a real challenge finding images that are like my characters. I also put links in all my ebooks that take readers to my website so they can see the photos and know what the characters and secondary characters look like.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I have three pieces of advice. First, consider writing a series. That way you can focus on promoting the first book in the series, and if readers like what you’ve written, you can potentially sell as many books as are in the series. Second, if you’re an indie author, don’t post any books until you have at least three completed, edited and polished. And third, have fun writing so you look forward to every minute you’re in front of the computer and hate to quit for anything.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
My best advice was from a senior editor at Harlequin, who received my first manuscript (SWEET PROMISED LAND) which I eventually sold to her as a Harlequin Superromance. Apparently the editor saw merit in the manuscript because she worked with me through a MAJOR revision while teaching me about weaving in story threads. Before that time, each chapter introduced a new conflict, which was like a mini story in that the problem was introduced at the beginning of the chapter and resolved by the end, only to introduce a new conflict and resolution, and this went on for around 20 chapters. I could have gone on forever. So the editor told me about introducing several ongoing conflicts as “story threads” and weaving them throughout the story. I wrote an article about weaving in story threads, which was published in an issue of the Romance Writer’s Review, and it’s also on my website if writer/readers would like to learn about how to do this. It’s VERY IMPORTANT when writing. Incidentally, I got my rights back from Harlequin and re-wrote Sweet Promised Land and it ‘s not BROKEN PROMISES, and it’s up on Amazon. I actually did a major rewrite because I learned a lot wince that book came out.
What are you reading now?
I just finished re-reading all ten books in my Dancing Moon Ranch Series. I do this about every six months, which makes the stories better, I hope. After that much time has gone by, incidents and dialog hit me differently, and I can make minor changes. With that many books in the series (which will eventually be a total of 14 books), that takes some time. I’ll also be re-reading my five historicals, which I haven’t read in probably a year. I don’t think an author can ever finish polishing a book, only making it better. However, that being said, I have a book that a friend sent me, which is all about the journalist, Nellie Bly. My friend knows the writer and did the research for the book, and Hollywood is currently making the movie, which will be entitled Ten Days in a Madhouse, and the movie is being filmed in Salem, Oregon, which is about 30 miles from where I live. The book is over 500 pages of non-fiction, but it looks interesting.
What’s next for you as a writer?
When I finish FORBIDDEN SPIRITS, I’ll start on the next book in the series, which will be entitled IMPERFECT MAGIC. My heroine is the youngest of the children of my original hero and heroine, and the only girl in the family. It ‘s going to be another interesting book to write. I have posted all the books in the series, including the covers and book blurbs for the books I haven’t yet written.
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?
Wow, this is a very difficult question for me. I’d probably take Kay Nolte Smith ‘s A TALE OF THE WIND because I never tire of reading that one, and I learn from it, and I like a book by Susan Kay, entitled LEGACY, which is the story of Queen Elizabeth I, mainly because I think she’s an amazing writer. The book opens in the head of a mouse in the tower of London. He smells human flesh (Queen Elizabeth who has been imprisoned my her sister, Mary.) The mouse is only in the opening though, so it’s not weird that way. The third book might be, ISLE OF CANES, by Elizabeth Shown Mills. It’s an epic account of a multiracial family in Louisiana that, for over four generations, rose from the chains of slavery to rule the isle of Canes in Louisiana. I’m co-authoring a book with a black woman in which we have traced our ancestors back to the late 1600s as living on the same plantations, from the time that her ancestral grandfather, who was brought over from Africa, was sold to my ancestral grandfather. We found that our families stayed together through many generations, ending up on my great-grandfather’s plantation, where her great-grandfather was a slave. We’ve had a great journey tracing these roots back, and the ILSE OF CANES one of many research books I’ll be reading.
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