Publish and Promote Your Book Now!

Known as “Spunk On A Stick,”  Diane Wolfe is a member of the National Speakers Association and a motivational speaker. She’s conducted seminars on book publishing and promoting for five years and assisted writers through several author services. Her other titles include “Overcoming Obstacles With SPUNK!” which ties her goal-setting and leadership seminar’s information together, and a YA series, The Circle of Friends. Wolfe travels extensively for media interviews and speaking engagements, maintains a dozen websites & blogs, and contributes to several other sites and newsletters.

I'd also like to brag that she's a friend of mine. Welcome to the blog, Diane!

Thanks, Susan. It's great to be here.

How many books have you written?

I’ve written two non-fiction books, Overcoming Obstacles with Spunk and How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now, plus a five-book YA/NA series called The Circle of Friends.

Do your characters take on a life of their own? If so, which is your favorite?

Several of the characters in The Circle of Friends were very real to me. I even started dreaming about them. The closest to my heart are Sarah and Matt from Book II. There is a lot of me in Sarah. Matt is all about the fun and has a great heart. Their relationship is just very special.

Give a short synop of your most recently published book.

How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now!

Have you always dreamed of publishing a book but didn’t know where to begin? This book walks you through the steps of identifying markets, budgeting, building an online presence, and generating publicity. Get the whole story on traditional publishing; self-publishing; print and e-book setup, formatting, and distribution; finding your target audience; generating reviews and media interest; networking and developing an online presence; and promotional materials and appearances. Uncover your ideal publishing path and numerous marketing options before you begin. Writing is your dream. Give it the best chance for success!

I have this book, Diane, and it has plenty of tips for those of us who've been writing a while, too.

What challenges did you face while writing this book?

Just forcing myself to write it was the biggest challenge. It’s based on two seminars I’ve taught for years, so I have no idea what took me so long to put it together. I think the amount of research scared me, plus the fact there are already so many books on the market. However, there aren’t many that incorporate both publishing and promoting, and I’m really proud of the final product.

What do you think is the greatest lesson you’ve learned about writing so far? What advice can you give new writers?

I’ve learned that marketing is one of the most important parts of the process. If you write the greatest book in the world but don’t know how to market it, then it’s not going to sell. A really bad book will fail no matter what, but successful promotions can make even an average book sell well.

We all know how important promoting our work has become. How do you get the word out both off and online?     

I won’t list everything, but I send out emails and postcards, do a virtual tour, and do a few speaking engagements. I only do a few book signings or book events a year now. Print books just don’t sell as well as e-books now. But I do sell quite a few at my speaking engagements.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?    

Website - http://www.spunkonastick.net/

Blog - http://circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/SpunkOnAStick

Facebook Business - https://www.facebook.com/SpunkOnAStick

Are your books available in print and ebook formats? (please provide the buy link for easy reader accessibility)

How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now is available in print and on all ebook platforms:

Barnes and Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-publish-and-promote-your-book-now-l-diane-wolfe/1113516811

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/How-Publish-Promote-Your-Book/dp/0982713959/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359139094&sr=1-1&keywords=9780982713952

Amazon Kindle - http://www.amazon.com/Publish-Promote-Your-Book-ebook/dp/B00B8X5WEM/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359715649&sr=1-8

Purchase links for my other six books are all located on this page:

http://circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com/p/spunkys-books.html

David A. Ross and Fizzy Oceans

David A. Ross is a writer, editor and publisher. From 1984-1985 he was a columnist and contributing editor for Southwest Art Magazine. His novels include The Virtual Life of Fizzy Oceans, Sacrifice and the Sweet Life, A Winter Garden, Stones, Xenos, How High The Wall, Good Morning Corfu, and his award-winning first novel The Trouble with Paradise (republished by Open Books under the title Calico Pennants).

In addition to his career as a novelist, he established Escape Media Publishers in 1992. Today, he works with Escape Media imprint Open Books as Acquisitions Editor and marketing strategist. He is also the publisher and editor of the online literary magazine, Moronic Ox Literary & Cultural Journal.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, he currently lives on the Island of Corfu, Greece.  

 Welcome to the blog, David. You do realize that I could interview you much better if I come over to Greece, right?

LOL. Come on over, Susan.

In my dreams!

Living in Greece has surely affected your writing.

While I was born in the United States, and lived there for forty-eight years, I always wanted to live in Europe. In 2001, I moved to the Island of Corfu in Greece. The experience of being an immigrant has had far-reaching effects, both personally and professionally. The process of immigrating to a foreign country is not a simple one, and it has posed many challenges, yet, after 13 years on this wonderful island, I consider that process to be one of my life’s most valuable experiences. Has living on a Grecian isle had an effect on my writing? Of course! How could it not? In fact, three of my books – two novels and one memoir – are either set in Greece or are directly about Greek culture. But I am not one of those writers that depend on locale for my inspiration. My other novels are, respectively, set in France, in an unnamed American suburb, in the South Pacific and, yes, one is set in cyberspace.

How many books have you written?

Six novels, one short story collection, and one memoir.

Give a short synop of your most recently published book.

Meet Fizzy Oceans—archivist, researcher, environ- mentalist and adventurer. On her travels she witnesses The Exodus, the Battle of Gettysburg and Hurricane Katrina, as well as many other historical and real time events. She meets notable individuals including Gandhi, Mark Twain, Jacques Cousteau, The Dalai Lama and Saddam Hussein.

Such unique experiences and encounters spanning the world and time as we know them would not be possible for a single individual—especially not for a woman named Amy Birkenstock who works as a medical clerk in Seattle, Washington—but Fizzy Oceans, Amy’s digital alter ego, is not in Physical Life. She lives, works and travels in the virtual world where the dead are very much alive, places like ancient Babylon and Pompeii have been reconstructed, and with the click of a button—WHOOSH!—one is transported throughout the Ages to events and destinations that make up our human history.

Even as Amy’s physical life existence is challenged by encroaching environmental disaster, economic instability, and societal breakdown, Fizzy’s virtual world offers instant realization of vision and inspiration. The Virtual Life of Fizzy Oceans imagines the bridging of two worlds—the literal and the metaphorical—and questions what it is we have created, what has been lost, and what might be possible for us as individuals and for the Human Race.

How much of yourself is hidden in the characters in the book?

I actually love this question because I make no pretense about the fact that Fizzy Oceans is indeed my alter-ego.

Ah, good to know.

Do your characters take on lives of their own? If so, which is your favorite?

I think any character that does not take on a life of his own should probably be scrapped in favor of one that does. That is one of the real joys of writing fiction – when the character begins to behave differently than you first envisioned him. Where do such things come from? Only the muse knows…

What challenges did you face while writing this book?

I suppose the biggest challenge was that it takes place in several dimensions (or worlds) simultaneously: NL, or Natural Life; PL, or Physical Life; VL, or Virtual Life; NL, or Next Life; and ML, or Meta Life. Since all the characters are interacting in all five dimensions simultaneously, it took some author orientation to write lucidly about not only who each character was, but, more importantly, where he/she was in any given scene. But since simultaneous multidimensional reality is the book’s dominant theme (and there are several, from global warming to macro-economics, religion, literature, history, and even the nature of life and death, I also had great license to invent. Just as it is in VL, whatever I imagined, I could create. So, it was fun. The book took three and a half years to write, but considering it spans several millennia (seen through the eyes of a single protagonist), that is not too bad, I think.

Do you travel to do research or for inspiration? Can you share some special places with us?

I used to travel extensively, and I always told myself it was for research. In fact, I think a trip to the grocery store might be as revealing, say, as a trip to Rome. Or maybe not… During a period of ten years, while I was in my thirties and forties, I crossed the ocean no less than thirty times. I visited more than 20 countries. So I have a traveling background. But for the past decade – even a bit more – I have not traveled. At least not in terms of geography. The Virtual Life of Fizzy Oceans required travels of a different kind, and my many voyages into virtual worlds such as Second Life and others were, to me, ever bit as fascinating as traveling in the physical world. The very fact that I was, and am able to immerse myself in VW’s made the book real and believable. And I think it says something about not only my mind and personality, but about all of us, about what constitutes our world-taken-for-granted, about what we label as real and imaginary. Surely those lines blur in our switched-on, instant communication world society.

What do you think is the greatest lesson you’ve learned about writing so far? What advice can you give new writers?

KISS – we all know that one. And passion – gotta have passion for your subject.

Where do you store ideas for later use: in your head, in a notebook, or on a spreadsheet?

Heavens, not on a spreadsheet!

I know, right? We all know how important promoting our work has become. How do you get the word out both off and online?

Online I use all appropriate social media; off line I shout from this highest mountain in Greece (Mount Olympus, I think – you know, where the gods lived).

Can you tell us your future writing goals/projects?

I think I may not write any more novels; then again, one should never say never. A few readers out there are begging for more from Fizzy.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?

Anyone who wants to know more about my work, and about me, can begin here: http://www.open-bks.com/library/moderns/the-virtual-life-of-fizzy-oceans/author.html

Once there, just follow the links. OR… You can just google David A. Ross. There is plenty there to keep any (insane or bored) person busy for a while. But be advised: there is more than one David A. Ross; I’m not the ‘Bill Viola’ guy, or the one who writes about fish.

Are your books available in print and ebook formats? 

My books are available in both print and in all eBook formats.

For TheVirtual Life of Fizzy Oceans the following link will give a full description as well as multiple buy sources:

http://www.open-bks.com/library/moderns/the-virtual-life-of-fizzy-oceans/fizzy-cover.html

For a list (with links) of my other books, start here:

http://www.open-bks.com/library/moderns/the-virtual-life-of-fizzy-oceans/author.html 

and, as they say, follow the bouncing…cursor.

Somehow, you’ll get where you want to go… We all will!

 David, it's been a pleasure to get to know you better.  I wish you the best of sales!

Thanks for having me over, Susan.

Counting Blessings

Early yesterday morning L&L Dreamspell lost one of its co-owners, Linda Houle. She's been battling cancer for several years. The co-owner, Lisa Smith, sent all of us word about a week ago that Dreamspell would be closing. Lisa simply doesn't have the heart to continue without her best friend. "The Dream Team", as we authors affectionately call each other, is devastated by the news about Linda and we truly understand how Lisa feels. They believed in me when other publishers didn't. I owe them more than I can ever repay.

I am sad. I count my many blessings.

My pal, Marta Stephens lost her husband this morning...unexpectedly. She is heartbroken and devastated. My heart goes out to her, and I wish we didn't live a thousand miles apart.

I am sad. I count my many blessings.

I have a multitude of blessings, many more than I could mention here. I'm truly blessed to have a wonderful husband, two fine sons who married fine women, and three grandsons anyone would be proud of. We've been hit with so much death and sadness lately. I pray several times a day, but this morning in church, I really prayed hard for Linda's family, Lisa and her family, Marta and her family, and for my own.

There are so many things going on in the world that I could focus on but none are more important than family and friends. I hope those of you who read this post know how much I appreciate you. As we move forward, let us always count our blessings and be a blessing to others.
Love.
Peace.

Mujlti-genre author, Sable Grey

Sable Grey has been writing sensual and erotic romance since 2004 and is multi-published in both print and electronic formats.  Also a publisher and a cover artist, Sable spends what little spare time she has in the small town of Clinton, Mississippi with a houseful of furry children.  When she’s not writing, she enjoys watching movies, reading, playing video games, and singing karaoke poorly.

Welcome, Sable.

How many books have you written and what is your best seller?

I’ve currently thirty four titles available in romance, erotic romance, erotica, and fantasy fiction.  I’ve currently three titles available in print and the rest are available in digital formats.  I’m published with Liquid Silver Books, Cobblestone Press, Breathless Press, Total EBound Books, and Ellora’s Cave.  I also have 7 titles that I’ve self published.  Almost all of my books can be found on Amazon.  I’ve books written under the names Sable Grey, Amon Bieste, and AJ Searle.

My best sellers to date are:

1. Passion of the Wolf, historical/paranormal erotic romance

http://www.amazon.com/Passion-of-the-Wolf-ebook/dp/B003IWYDIW

2. Latharian Review, sci-fi erotic romance

http://www.amazon.com/Latharian-Review-ebook/dp/B0031LJ4PM

3. The King’s Sword, fantasy fiction

http://www.amazon.com/The-Kings-Sword-ebook/dp/B0070O8OFM

Visit my Amazon page to view all of my Sable Grey titles at http://www.amazon.com/author/sablegrey or my website at http://www.sablegrey.net to see full lists of books available including free reads.

Give a short synop of your most recently published book.

My most recent erotica title is Zombie Lust and is available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B90VRMA for 99 cents.  It’s a short erotica about a zombie, Lucas, who only eats bad people and tries to live a regular life the rest of the time. Yes, I have a twisted sense of humor and yes, I love zombie movies! 

My most recent romance novel is Temptation & Honor, the first in a historical family saga about the Redleigh family.  Thomas Redleigh is a soldier returned to his family's home after his father dies and he receives word that his mother is ill. Until his return, Meredith Claiborne had been caring for Thomas' mother and keeping the household running in his absence. But a twisted ankle forces her to release some of her responsibility and accept Thomas' assistance. The time they spend together leads to a scandalous affair that, if discovered, could ruin the names of both of their families. Their secret is kept until the rumors circulated by a jealous man lands Thomas as a suspect of murder.

Temptation & Honor is available in print and digital formats at Amazon.  http://www.amazon.com/Temptation-Honor-Redleigh-Books-Volume/dp/1481863770/ 

How much of yourself is hidden in the characters in the book?

Oh I guess there is a bit of me in each of my characters.  It’s difficult not to put a little of myself into the characters.  The one who is most like me is Anne from the chapter by chapter book I’m writing on my website called Heart of the Storm.  Members of my site can read the first eleven chapters right now.  This summer I will begin writing a chapter a week to finish the book.

Do your characters take on a life of their own? If so, which is your favorite?

Yes, sometimes they do.  My favorite character of all of my books is Neville Crashaw, hands down.  He’s a secondary character in my Redleigh series but a very important one in several of the books.  While only one of the Redleigh books is available I’ve written four and I truly love Neville.  Readers get to meet him in the first of the Redleigh books and if they don’t fall in love with him after reading Temptation & Honor, they most definitely will when the second installment, The Vicar’s Wife, is published.

He’s a self made wealthy gentleman and lifelong bachelor with connections to very powerful people.  He has homes in Scotland, France, and in the small town where the Redleigh family lives.  He enjoys mayhem and is constantly stirring the pot so to speak when it comes to scandal.  At times he comes across as a snob but beneath that he has a very honorable and tender heart. 

What do you think is the greatest lesson you’ve learned about writing so far? What advice can you give new writers?

My entire career in the industry has been and continues to be a great lesson but I have six bits of advice for new writers:

1.  Read your contracts!  It sounds silly, I know.  I’ve always read my contracts but didn’t realize until I also became a publisher that many authors don’t.  They are so excited to be published that they just sign their name and send the contract back so they can get on with opening that bottle of champagne.  But it’s important to read contracts so you know exactly what kind of partnership you are entering into, for how long, and the details of ending that partnership if you need to in the future.
2. Listen to your editors!  I’ve read in many writing group sites that editors are trying to change voice and style during editing.  In 9 years and 34 books, I’ve never had an editor do such a thing.  If you do your homework and submit your work to publishers with good reputations, you will not run into an issue of an editor doing anything but helping you become a better author.  On a side note, style guides are not the same for every publisher either.  Each publisher has their own style guide.  So while one editor might allow you to head hop a little, another may not.
3. Keep writing!  Don’t wait around to see how one book is going to sell or stress over what reviewers are saying about your book.  Move on to the next project.  That’s how you will build up a following for your name – by getting another title out there. 
4. Ignore asshats!  They are out here in hordes in the publishing industry.   They bash your books on their blogs.  They tear you apart in reviews on Amazon.  No one is safe.  Do not respond to them.  I repeat, do not respond.  It’s what they want because it only fuels the nastiness. 
5. Don’t be the asshat that people ignore.  Focus on your career as an author and don’t worry about what someone else is writing.  Once you start bashing other authors and books, that’s all anybody is reading.  You drive attention away from your own work.  And authors are readers too so you lose those sales as well.
6. Promote, promote, promote!  Once you are published, you will need a website.  But that’s not enough.  Get yourself into all the social media sites.  Build yourself an author page at Amazon’s author central, Shelfari, Google plus, etc.  The more places your name pops up the more readers you get and the more people begin to recognize that name.  This industry is HUGE and it’s easy to get lost if you don’t stay on top of your promotion and marketing.

    Great advice, Sable.                                                                                                                       

Can you tell us your future writing goals/projects?

LOL  I have so many planned that it’s ridiculous.  I think up more stories than I’ll ever have time to write.  But I do have some in the works to be published soon.  The second installment to the Redleigh Books is The Vicar’s Wife.  It’s the story about Liam Redleigh, younger brother to Thomas of Temptation & Honor.  I also want to write a second book for Breathless Press to follow my best seller, Passion of the Wolf (http://www.amazon.com/Passion-of-the-Wolf-ebook/dp/B003IWYDIW). And I need to get the next installment of Charlotte’s Brides written for Cobblestone Press.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?

My website is www.sablegrey.net.  I announce new releases there and for every new release I give away two copies to members of my site by random draw.  And I’m very active on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sable.grey. 

Are your books available in print and ebook formats? 

I have three titles currently available in print:

1.  Temptation & Honor http://www.amazon.com/Temptation-Honor-Redleigh-Books-Volume/dp/1481863770
2. The Vampire Oracle http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Oracle-Eliza-Gayle/dp/1600883540
3. Latharian Lust (written under the name Amon Bieste) http://www.amazon.com/Latharian-Lust-Elloras-Amon-Bieste/dp/1419967266

The rest of my books are available in digital formats that can be purchased through my Amazon page http://www.amazon.com/author/sablegrey or through the links on my website at http://www.sablegrey.net

Thanks for dropping by, Sable. Now, back to work on the WIP!

do you know Johnnie Lewis?

Johnnie W. Lewis was born on an Army base in Kentucky, to a Naval Chief Petty Officer and his telephone operator wife. That incongruous beginning was only a portent of the chaotic things to come to the little girl who was named for her father (instead of him giving his name to one of her four younger brothers!). Seventeen different school registrations before high school graduation gave her a rather "well-rounded" background from which to draw her continual string of stories.

Johnnie and her husband (always called "Better Half" in her writings) have been married more than 40 years and live in suburban Atlanta in Marietta, Georgia, near their daughter (always referred to as "Baby Girl"), son-in-law and PERFECT grandchildren (one of each), and their son (Little Fella) and his fiancee. "Critters" of every species live inside and outside their home and serve as a well-spring of inspiration for the fun, love and laughter in Johnnie's writings, whether those writings take an educational or tongue-in-cheek or romantic or whimsical direction.

Welcome to the blog, Johnnie. 

How many books have you written?

5 or 20, take your pick!  I’ve only written 5 books, but because The Five Finger Paragraph is a graded series for all grades, with a classroom Kit, Teacher Edition, and Student Edition for each of 4 different grade groupings AND Homeschoolers, that parlays into..., let me see..., 3 + 2/5..., 6 + 9 / 13, carry the 2..., 20 books!  All of The Five Finger Paragraph books really are separate books, since each addresses the needs and capabilities of the age groups it encompasses.  Three books (Kit book, Teacher/Parent Edition, and Student Edition) for each “grade grouping”:  Grades K-4, Grades 2-6, Grades 4-8 and Grades 7-12.  That’s 15 books right there.  Two of the others (in The Writing Police series) are children’s picture books, one is a compilation of tongue-in-cheek reminiscences about life above and below the Gnat Line, and the last is my first novel, Hampshire House.

Give a short synop of your most recently published book. 

Kate Brockett was raised in an orphanage, but nothing she ever learned there could have prepared her for her first position outside the Home.  Lord Clayton Bingham had requested her specifically to come and be the governess to his nine-year-old twin boys, but why?  She didn’t know him, didn’t know Hampshire House, knew no one this part of Leicestershire, so why was she going to this spooky place?  Mrs. Hudson was the cold, heartless housekeeper.  All of the maids and crofters showed the appropriate deference, but from the moment she arrived at the gatehouse of the manor house, someone had been trying to harm her, possibly kill her!  Who could it be?  Clayton?  Mrs. Hudson?  Someone from outside the manor house?

Surely it wasn’t Clayton!  His amorous attentions after she twisted her ankle made her head spin, heart pound, and awakened feelings in her that she didn’t know existed, in spite of his hateful cousin, Felicia.  Kate’s duties as governess were expanded to housekeeper when Mrs. Hudson was discharged, and once she was gone, Kate thought she was safe.  Until the attempted rape by parties unknown, and the fire in her bedroom, and...

How much of yourself is hidden in the characters in the book?

The teaching abilities, the fiery spirit in Kate, the hard childhood...,  There’s a little bit of me in almost every character, including the vain and hateful Mrs. Hudson, the housekeeper!

What challenges did you face while writing this book?

I wrote Hampshire House 24 years ago.  Had a baby, no computer and an old Royal typewriter.  Rejection by Harlequin nearly killed me, but I just hung on to that manuscript, KNOWING that it was a winner but the company just didn’t like the fact that it wasn’t FULL of sex.  Pulled it out last year, edited and redirected some of it, put it all into the computer, and published it last fall as an ebook on Amazon.  Responses prove that Harlequin doesn’t have the market cornered on romantic mysteries.

Do you travel to do research or for inspiration? Can you share some special places with us?

I don’t deliberately travel to get inspiration, but I draw inspiration FROM my travels.  The last time I was in England was 39 years ago, yet Hampshire House, set in pastoral England of the late Victorian age and written 15 years later, came FROM the memories of that trip.

What do you think is the greatest lesson you’ve learned about writing so far? What advice can you give new writers?

The same “old” tried and true stuff you’ve heard from every “writing teacher” is the best advice.  (1)Write every day, SOMETHING, even if it’s an inventive grocery list.  (2)Write WHAT you know.  If you know car engines, don’t try to be funny writing about hair styling.  Write about car engines.  (3)Write when your MUSE is alive.  Writing in the morning because someone told you that James Michener always wrote in the mornings is BUNK if you’re a night owl.  Write when YOU have creative juices flowing, not when others do!  My MUSE wakes up at about 11:00 p.m., so I write from then until I don’t realize that my head’s on the keyboard.

Where do you store ideas for later use: in your head, in a notebook, or on a spreadsheet?

On sticky-doos all over the house.  I get an idea, write it down on a post-it note, stick it to the wall.  It’ll fall off eventually.  If I pick it up and STILL like the idea on the note, I’ll tape it back up there and then put it on my “to-do” list.  If I don’t like the idea anymore, File 13 (trash).

Can you tell us your future writing goals/projects?

I have two novels in the works:  Lae of Auwon (cave-man setting and time period) and The Forgetting Wash (futuristic thriller).  I also have 2 more books in The Writing Police series “on the drawing board,” literally.  I have to draw the pictures first, then write the book around them, more or less.  The last in my “line-up” is a novelized version of a true story (because I won’t be getting permission from the family members still living), of a woman in my hometown of Cordele, GA who murdered five members of her family with arsenic poisoning.  Was she crazy?  Or just damn mean?  You’ll have to read Murdered by Love to find out!

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?

People can learn about me by visiting my website at http:www.acloudproductions.com or visiting Amazon.com, BN.com, Kobo.com or Smashwords.com and inputting my name, Johnnie W. Lewis, or pseudonym Cisi Wright. 

Are your books available in print and ebook formats?   

All of my books are available in ebook format for almost all electronic readers (almost all are available at this time) or in paperback on Amazon by June 30th.  Hampshire House is available now on Amazon in paperback; others to come soon.

Thank you for interviewing me, Susan.

Nice to get to know more about you, Johnnie.  

No Substitute for Money!

Carolyn J. Rose is the author of several novels, including Hemlock Lake, Through a Yellow Wood, An Uncertain Refuge, Sea of Regret, A Place of Forgetting, No Substitute for Murder and No Substitute for Money. She penned a young-adult fantasy, Drum Warrior, with her husband, Mike Nettleton.

She grew up in New York's Catskill Mountains, graduated from the University of Arizona, logged two years in Arkansas with Volunteers in Service to America, and spent 25 years as a television news researcher, writer, producer, and assignment editor in Arkansas, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. She founded the Vancouver Writers' Mixers and is an active supporter of her local bookstore, Cover to Cover. Her interests are reading, gardening, and not cooking.

Where do you live, and how has your environment affected your writing?

 I’ve lived in Vancouver, Washington for the past 13 years. The area reminds me a lot of the Catskill Mountains where I grew up. At least the low mountains do—the Catskills don’t have towering volcanic peaks or the rounded domes of dozing volcanoes like Mount St. Helens which I can see from my bedroom window when the leaves are off the trees. Growing up in the mountains in the 1950s imprinted the “small-town experience” on me and I’ve drawn on that in writing Hemlock Lake, Through a Yellow Wood, and A Place of Forgetting. Living and working in the growing city of Vancouver and subbing in high school here definitely influenced my cozies, No Substitute for Murder and No Substitute for Money.

How many books have you written?

15. Many are now out of print. Some will soon be revised and re-released.

Give a short synop of your most recently published book.

Substitute teacher Barbara Reed knows better than to say the word “perfect.” Using the P-word is a sure way to jinx romance, finance, and circumstance.

Despite a chronic shortage of funds, things are looking up for Barb after the events of NO SUBSTITUTE FOR MURDER. She’s completing grad school and hoping for a job at Captain Meriwether High School in Reckless River, Washington. Her drug-cop boyfriend, Dave Martin, wants to move in and his daughter is all in favor. Even Barb’s tiny dog Cheese Puff has no objections—undaunted by size, he’s infatuated with Dave’s partner Lola, a drug-sniffing Golden Retriever.

Then Dave uses the P-word. And Barb’s luck leaves town.

Her car breaks down, her domineering sister comes for a visit, the condo manager plots to ban dogs, her jailed ex-husband begs her to be a character witness at his trial, a computer hacker creates chaos at the high school, and a hulking thug threatens violence.

Just when it appears things can’t get worse, Lola sniffs out a package in her car and a drug dealer decides Barb and Cheese Puff are his tickets out of trouble.

 

Do your characters take on a life of their own? If so, which is your favorite?

They do. Often I wake up at night having dreamed about them and what they “intend to do” in the next few chapters. Characters in Through a Yellow Wood told me they were getting sick and tired of a couple of difficult characters. They assured me they knew I put those folks there to create conflict, but they felt it was time I found other ways to stir things up in the community of Hemlock Lake. I took their advice and killed one character off and arranged for the other to leave town.

Do you travel to do research or for inspiration? Can you share some special places with us?

Most of my travel now is through recollection of places I’ve been in the past—the Catskill Mountains and the Oregon Coast. I’m always inspired when I return to the place I grew and walk those overgrown paths into the woods. And I’m always moved by the crash and thrash of the Pacific Ocean which is just a two-hour drive from where I live now.

What do you think is the greatest lesson you’ve learned about writing so far? What advice can you give new writers?

Not every book is for every reader. Make up your mind before your book is published that you’ll get some one-star and two-star reviews no matter how engaging your characters are or how tight and original the plotting may be. Get mad about that, kick some furniture, punch out a pillow, then face up to reality and get back to writing. Write to tell stories and give your characters life. Write because that’s what you want to do more than anything else. Later, go back to those reviews and read them carefully to see if they contain anything that can help you hone your craft. You might be surprised.

Where do you store ideas for later use: in your head, in a notebook, or on a spreadsheet?

Without my pack of index cards and the calendars I use to keep track of plot progression, I’d still be working on my first novel.

We all know how important promoting our work has become. How do you get the word out both off and online?

I’m terrible at this. I blog and participate in some groups. I should do a bunch more but I keep breaking the promises I make to myself to do that. The messages I received as a child were, “Don’t talk about yourself, don’t be pushy, let others go first.” With that baggage, it’s hard to promote myself.

Can you tell us your future writing goals/projects?

Those Hemlock Lake characters want me to write a third book and I intend to start on that project this summer. But I may have to write a third substitute book first. We’ll see what happens when I clean up my office and get settled at the computer.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?

My website:  www.deadlyduomysteries.com

Amazon Author Page. http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003515CZ4

Are your books available in print and ebook formats? (please provide the buy link for easy reader accessibility)

Most of them are available in both formats.