Q: How long have you been writing and what other careers or jobs have you had?
A. I’ve been writing for about twenty-seven years, but before I started this career I was a waitress, a copy writer, a wheat-tarp roller (don’t ask), a clerk in a gift shop, a nurse’s aide, an assistant administrator at a nursing home, a bookkeeper, a librarian, a receptionist, a computer operator, a desk clerk at a hotel, a cosmetic salesperson, a maid, a babysitter, a model, and a disc jockey. I’d love to tell you that I became accomplished at every job, but the truth is, I was mostly bored. When I finally tried the very thing I’d been running from for years I felt I’d arrived somewhere important—I’d come home.
Q: Do you write in only one genre and if so which one and why? If not, which ones and why?
A: I write mostly inspirational romance, because I enjoy writing it. I think readers like to go away from a novel feeling better about life and their faith in God. I also think they want to laugh and be entertained. That is a lot to reach for, but it’s what I strive to accomplish with each novel.
Q: How does your faith play into your writing?
A. I try never to preach, but I do write from a Christian world view. I am a Christian, so I can’t write any other way.
Q: How do you choose your settings for your books?
A. I like to set most of my novels in Texas, because people love to read about this state, and it’s where I live. I know Texas!
Q: Do you base your characters on people you know or are they totally made up?
A: My characters are a combination of both, and I think it works. At least I hope it does.
Q: Would you tell us about your current book release?
A: Another Grave Matter is my latest novel, and it’s a cozy mystery. It’s the third and last installment in the Volstead Manor Series. The first two were Another Stab at Life and Another Hour to Kill.
Q: Where did you get your inspiration for Another Grave Matter?
A: I grew up in a creepy, 100-year-old farmhouse in Western Oklahoma. The experiences in that house spawned this whole series.
Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
A: That God works all things for good for those who love him.
Q: Tell us what you like about the main characters of this book.
A: They’re quirky and fun and unpredictable.
Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. I’m working on a story that I hope will reach out to women who loved the Mitford Series. The novel is entitled, A Glimpse of Heaven.
Q: If money were no object what vacation would you like to take and why?
A. New Zealand, because it’s gorgeous and it’s the movie home of The Lord of the Rings.
Q: What is the silliest thing you have ever done?
In college I agreed to participate in an experiment where I kissed a guy who was hooked up to an EKG machine. The young man got so excited when I kissed him that the marking pen flew off the machine. Yes, it’s silly, but I do love telling that story!
Q: What is the hardest thing you have ever done?
A. Write a book and birth a baby. They are amazingly similar!
Q: Anything else you’d like to tell or share with us?
A. I just wanted to add that I think writing is incredibly hard. When I start a new book, it seems impossible. It is impossible! But somehow word by word it gets gone. Just like when kids are born, each completed book seems like a miracle.
Ready to laugh? Swoon? And then put on your thinking cap?