Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have been writing all my life. I’ve published travel articles, short stories, book reviews, and corporate training manuals. I earned a Masters in Professional Writing from University of Southern California, and I’m an active member of Sisters in Crime. Although I’ve written five novels, Going Home was the first to get published. I also self-published a personal finance e-book, Live Cheaply, Be Happy, Grow Wealthy in 2013, and I write a personal finance blog, Countdown to Financial Fitness.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Going Home, a murder mystery published by Sunbury Press in 2014, was inspired by my mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s. It opens when the baby-boomer heroine comes home to check on her elderly mother and finds her hovering over the bludgeoned body of her caregiver.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t think any of my writing habits are particularly unusual.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Before I became interested in mystery writing, some of my favorite authors were Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Robbins, and James Kirkwood. In the mystery genre, I like Sara Paretsky, Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, and many others that I’m just discovering. I love to read good fiction.
What are you working on now?
I just finished another mystery called Secrets of the Galapagos. The setting was inspired by my own cruise to the Galapagos in 2014. It’s not exactly a sequel to Going Home, but it features two of the characters.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still trying to find the best way to promote my books.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Start building a platform early on. Try to send out advance copies and get reviews before your book comes out, or you will be playing catch-up, like I’ve done.
Don’t expect to get rich.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You have to start building your platform before you publish.
What are you reading now?
For my book club, I’m reading Inheritance, by Victoria Wilcox. I’m about to start Three Women Walk into a Bar by fellow Atlanta Sisters in Crime author, Linda Sands.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m looking for an agent for Secrets of the Galapagos so I can interest a big publisher.
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?
Gone with the Wind, The Great Gatsby, a good anthology of mystery short stories
Author Websites and Profiles
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