Interviews

ORIGINAL ANSWER: It kind of depends. Some character let me have my way, with only minor fits, and others are demanding from word one and I can't do anything except let them have their way.

 

2017 ANSWER: This one has changed over the years. I used to be able to drive the characters to some degree, now I am almost completely a pantser kind of writer.  I don't really know where a character is going to take me until we get there.  I do have an idea of how a story will start and how it will end, but the middle - the meat of the story - is always a surprise.

ORIGINAL ANSWER: My husband has a great sense of humor about it all. We even joked about getting T-shirts made up that say "Buy my wife's books – I want to be a kept man" after I mentioned another author's hubby thinking the same way.  And like I mentioned before, he is definitely very supportive of me. Even when I am moody, and cranky, and irritated that my characters have the nerve to want to do their own thing instead of what I want them to do.

 

2017 ANSWER:  Still supportive, but has found over the years that some of her characters scare him.

Oh boy! First she’d be sure to let everyone know that I am not an exciting person. She complains about that often enough to me. When we go on vacations (my family and I) and she tags along, she rushes off to do stuff while I am content to sit back and watch my hubby and daughter – kayak, snorkel, climb up very tall rocks and stand on the edge to look over all the while screaming “look how far down it is”, and other such things.

 

She’d have to tell everyone I often write in my PJ’s and they aren’t even sexy. While she’s flouncing around in a see-through negligee, flirting with my husband (who of course can’t see her), I’m in a nice comfy outfit. She tried though, bless her heart, to get me to be more daring. But I can’t see sitting in a leather bustier and thigh high stocking and garter belt while writing. But it’s nice to dream about.

 

She’s also be sure to make sure that everyone knows that I am not a morning person, and in fact I get grouchy without my 9 hours of sleep, or if I am woken up too early. I used to answer the phone “if you’re not dying I’m hanging up” but my parents didn’t think it was too funny. LOL I am so not a morning person.

 

2017 Update:  Mostly the same, still not a morning person - but I have to be up between 4:30 and 5 am now.  So there is a little more grouchiness than before. 🙂

 

ORIGINAL ANSWER: Wow. Um, don't hold back do you. <smiles> My favorite toy would have to be my nipple nooses as I call them. I don't know the exact name, but they're like nipple clamps, except instead of clamping them on, you loop the nooses around the nipples and tighten them.  As for my favorite position ... I do have several I prefer, and others I won't try. But I think I'll keep that between my husband and me. <smiles>

 

2017 ANSWER: Still the same. 🙂

ORIGINAL ANSWER: Good lord. LOL Um, sheesh. Um … I can't pick just one, so I will answer all three.

 

Go anywhere – Scotland. Specifically, I would visit Culzean castle. I fell in love with the photos of it when I was working on my stories for the Celtic Love Knots line for Whiskey Creek Press/Torrid. I had to take a lot of artistic liberty, because the pictures just didn't do the details of the breathtaking castle justice. I would love to see if, to explore the grounds and look down the cliff in the sea. To witness first hand to effects of time on the stone walls.

 

Be anyone – Living on a tight budget, I think anyone rich from old money would do. Just for 24 hours, I would love to have all the money to spend on whatever I wanted, without feeling guilty. I could pamper myself with a spa visit, or get into a fancy restaurant. Whatever I fancied, I'd do. I think that would be nice, to be able to not feel guilty over buying something. As it is, a new book sometimes causes that "can I afford this" impulse to rear its head.

 

Do anything – I think if I were doing it for only 24 hours that I would like to live in a nudist colony. Silly I know, but it's one of those things I would like to actually experience, but I know I am not cut out for the long haul.

 

2017 ANSWER: 

 

Go Anywhere - I would still love to visit Scotland, but it is now in a three-way tie with Japan and Egypt.  I still want to visit Culzean Castle (have since I was writing Sands of Time - and this question was asked of me shortly after Sands of Time was originally published).

 

Be Anyone - That answer is still somewhat the same, but has evolved.  Now that I am a teacher, I am still living on a tight budget (although not quite as tight as when I was a student) - and there are so many things I want to be able to do (for my family, and for my students) that being insanely rich - even for 1 day - would be awesome.  I could outfit my classroom with a complete remodel, provide all of the labs my students could benefit from that I just can't afford, and arrange a trip (that is desperately needed) with my family.

 

Do Anything - I am not sure anymore what I would do, if I could only do it for a day.  

ORIGINAL ANSWER: I used to joke that my life is a soap opera called “As The Stomach Churns.” But that was just a joke, it’s really not that interesting. LOL

 

Off the top of my head though, I would probably call it Unbecoming Behavior. I have never been one to play nice, just because society says I should. I am blunt, and when someone asks my opinion, they had better truly want it. Plus, well, I write erotica. That in itself is considered unbecoming by many. I also make a point to mention in my newsletter when it is National Masturbation Month (it’s May by the way), and I support sex education in schools (some teenagers are going to do it anyways, might as well protect them from STD’s and pregnancy). And that’s just the beginning. LOL

 

I once had a professor draw a line on the board. At the left end he put a dot and said “This is when you were born”. About a fifth of the way down it, he put a line. “This is where you are right now.” At the right end, he put another point. “This is where the human body will hold out to under perfect circumstances.” He then circled the area between the line and about a fifth of the way from the right point. “This is where you will die.”

 

Talk about scaring the shit out of those that were actually paying attention to what he was getting at. Life is too short for pussy-footing around. If it doesn’t hurt others, isn’t illegal or immoral, why not?

One of the ladies on a mailing list I am on has a tag line for her email about the journey to the grave not being a careful walk, with perfect hair and body, but rather a slide in at the last moment, body worn out, screaming “Whoo what a ride.”

 

I’d rather live my life feeling like the movie of it would be called “Unbecoming Behavior” rather than regret all the lost chances and feel that it should have been called “What Could Have Been.”

 

Alternatively, if they did a movie based on just the last few years, since I started college, it would probably be called “Dazed and wondering what the F*** is going on.” LOL
Probably a lot more than you were wanting, but there it is.

 

The theme song would be Genesis “Land of Confusion.” Phil Collins has a voice that sends shivers down my spine, and some of the lyrics to that song just ring true for me.

 

2017 ANSWER: 

LOL  Oh man, I loved reading back over this.  What a difference 15 years makes, and yet - how little has really changed.  My movie would still be a variation on the original theme of "Dazed and Confused As Hell" with the subtitle of "I have 15 spare minutes - what can I get done ... and Go!"  As for the theme song - yep, still Land of Confusion.

 

 

Oh man. Um, I cringe admitting this, but my first celebrity crush was David Bowie in Labyrinth. I have no clue why, but at end when he was in the white outfit, something about him just caught my attention. Then again, I wasn’t even 10, so don’t hold it against me.

 

As for him still being hot, well, he wasn’t that hot to begin with, in my opinion. LOL Like I said, I wasn’t even ten at the time.

 

2017 UPDATE:  Nothing new needed here.

If a character is whispering in your ear, listen. If a concept comes to you, and you know you could make something kick-ass of it, go for it. But understand, writing is only like breathing to some talented few. The rest of us have to work at it, to slowly get better. The first draft of anything is likely to be shit. What you make of that first draft will mold you into an author. You have to be willing to listen to your characters, and to trust yourself, but you also have to be willing to work hard.

 

2017 Update:  I would add to this - don't compare yourself to any other writer, except the writer you were yesterday.  

 

And this also holds true for experienced writers. I have to remind myself of this on a weekly basis, when I don't get as much writing done as I feel I should have, or I am not making progress fast enough, or I don't have as many likes on facebook, or reviews on Amazon.

I am a geek. A massive geek, to boot. I am one of those people, that in high school, I loved science. Still do. In fact, I am currently a nontraditional student, majoring in biology. Which leads me to interesting fact number one: I hate jelly fish. Now you would think that with a love of nature, and an understanding that the things are not likely to kill me (with certain exceptions of course) and that in the ocean there are things that would do a heck of a lot worse damage than a jelly fish would. Yet, the fact remains, I hate them. Can’t even look at them in an aquarium without turning a bit green, which is rather amusing for the rest of the family; not so much for me though. Having swam in the ocean in Belize recently, and having come across one, I can safely say, I do freak out a bit when they just suddenly appear out of nowhere.

 

I am addicted to TV shows like Numb3rs, West Wing, Stargate, Babylon 5, etc. (But not to the point that I can quote dialog and know episode names by heart) Half the time, I don’t understand what they are talking about in West Wing, or follow the math in Numb3rs, or really grasp the science in Stargate (too much physics for my biology brain), but I love watching them. I also own the DVD’s of West Wing, Stargate: SG1, the Stargate movies, Stargate: Atlantis, Babylon 5 and Crusade, Firefly and Serenity, and now Farscape. What’s more, my addictions have begun to lead to interesting title and plotline choices. One of my recent acceptances, All Alone in the Night, the title comes from the intro of Babylon 5. An older release, Enslaving Heaven, has what some have called a Firefly feel to it. I have been trying to figure out how to get a story out of the title Geometry of Shadows, but that one is still escaping me. I will manage it one day though. Just wait and see.

 

My wardrobe is mostly T-shirts, and most of them are from zoos and festivals. Although, seeing me, you might be able to clue in to that fact. As a college student, I do have the college wardrobe of jeans and T-shirts, with a few nice pairs of pants and shirts thrown in. But only a handful of my T-shirts are plain. In fact, it’s interesting on lab days, trying to find something to wear that I am willing to sacrifice should it come to that. I have shirts from the Miami, Knoxville, New Orleans, Belize, and St Louis zoos. From the KC renaissance festival, and from the Japan festivals in KC and in Springfield. As well as assorted other places.

 

Hum. This is starting to get hard. LOL Trying to come up with interesting things about myself.

 

I am a speed reader. I can devour a book, sometimes two, in an evening. I am hell on the local library’s budget, as well as my own budget. I pick up books from the library weekly, and often more frequently than that. They have gotten used to me picking up a book one day and bringing it back the next, although I try to hold on to it for at least a few days, so they won’t think that I didn’t like it. Most of the ladies at the library even are starting to know me by name, and have known me on sight for months now.

 

And finally . . . I the very model of a modern major general. That’s right, I LOVE that song. I torture hubby occasionally by listening to that song, and teaching our daughter the lyrics. My favorite scene from Babylon 5 would have to be one of the characters trapped on a ship with another of the characters, who decides to just start belting out “I am the very model of a modern Major-General, I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral, I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical”. I about died laughing when I first watched that episode.

I’d rather be snowed in. Although an island has more of an ability to move around, there is only so much you can take off if the heat goes too high. Snowed in, you have more options for warmth.

 

Plus, let’s face it, sand isn’t comfortable in and around certain parts of the body. There is also the fact that, at least to me, sand-burn is actually worse than carpet burn. Youch!

 

2017 Update - Same answer.  Youch!

Not really. I am a T-shirt collector. Most of my wardrobe for classes and such is made up of T-shirts I have gotten from zoos, theme parks, festivals I have visited like the Japan Festival and the Renaissance Festival, and such.

 

2017 Update:  Other than my wardrobe change from "classes" type clothing to "teacher" type clothing, nothing much else has changed.  Wow - 15 years later and my wardrobe is basically the same.  Shit.

I'm not sure where its lair is, but if you could find out when and where the Loch Ness monster hosts its monthly poker party, I am sure the Purple People Eater would be there. My guess, he'll be sitting between the Green Giant and the Easter Bunny. He'll probably be hitting on the Tooth Fairy while knocking back a grape soda too.

I’d either be Marissa or Meredith. I love those names, and always wished my parents had gone a little different way with the M naming. As for what kind of heroine I would write myself as, I’d be soft spoken with an iron will. The hero or other heroine would know that I wasn’t a pushover or a doormat, but at the same time, I would willingly submit to all kinds of delicious intimate torments in the bedroom. It would be an equal partnership, none of this “you stay here where it’s safe while I go risk my life and limb and hopefully come back to you”. Uh uh. I also think I’d be curious, and some of the problems that plague us would genuinely be my fault, but it would be innocently caused.

I’d be fun and enjoy being a villain! The best villains I have seen on shows aren’t the stereotypical tortured, turned bad by incidents in their lives; rather they have fun with it. I’d choose to be a bad girl. I’d be one of the good bad guys though, because I wouldn’t want to do anything too evil, just enough to give a girl a reputation and make people fear me even as they are in awe of me. I also wouldn’t have to stop and explain my plan to everyone I have captured/enslaved. I’d be quick witted, and actually smart.

 

I would be sultrily dressed, black latex/leather wearing, corset top and thigh high slit skirt, at least within my own domain. As for out in the world as I am trying to enact my dastardly plan I would be the height of comfortable fashion, and turn heads, male and female, wherever I go. : )

 

I’d also have to have a thing for the hero/heroine. LOL

 

As for a name, I dunno. Something fun, but yet whimsical. Have to think on that some more.

 

2017 Update: Still no clue on the name.  I am just not a villain writing kind of girl I guess.

The least interesting fact about writing has to be the hours we spend on getting the word out there about our work. Promotions aren’t all book signings and radio shows, and it isn’t all done by the publishing company. A lot falls to the author. There is a lot of grunt work, a lot of planning, worrying, and busy work that goes into it. Not much glamour in it, for the most part.

 

The most interesting has to be creating a whole new world, developing characters with their own personalities, thoughts, dreams and nightmares. They live and breathe through us, and even though they are not real, they still exist in some way. I think that has to be the most interesting, and thrilling, aspect to writing.

Wow. What a list. I have to say, this posed a challenge, and I am not quite sure what to make of my resulting paragraph. It certainly is different, but I wanted to get the whole “story” in, but being limited to a paragraph, I had to imply a lot.

 

Karen leaned back in her booth at the local truck-stop, her weary eyes threatening to close. Forcing the lids up, she glanced at her watch to find that only twenty minutes of her lunch break remained. With a soft sigh of exhaustion, she returned her attention to the hamburger that sat half eaten on her plate, the grease mingling with the ketchup and mustard, until it formed a congealed mess that was slowly, hypnotically dripping onto the tabletop. Pushing the plate away, she looked out the window in time to see one of the local professionals, if they could be called that in her tiny Podunk town, climbing out of a trucker’s rig. The woman’s skirt flared up, for a brief moment showing more of her skin than probably the trucker would even see. Karen wished that she had her camera with her, that she could capture the haunting pain and defiance on the woman’s face as she fought to keep her skirt down. At three am, she was one of the few people braving the cold outside the Wishbone diner, and Karen found herself imagining what would make her so willing to sell herself, to risk her health to make a few bucks. As the woman turned, for just a brief moment, they made eye contact, and Karen could feel herself drowning in the bright depths of her eyes. She was just about to get up, to go outside, when the woman turned away. Unsteady steps brought the woman to a fairly new model car, and moments later, she was peeling out of the parking lot. Glancing at her watch again, Karen gave another soft sigh and slid out of her booth. She had less than ten minutes to get back to work, where she would spend the rest of the night more than earning her minimum wage at the factory. As she stepped out into the cold, her tired and aching muscles protested, but she forced herself to ignore the constant pain as she crossed the icy lot to her own clunker.

Cape, oh yeah. Tights, not a chance. : ) Probably I’d wear sheer stockings coated in an anti-snag spray, with 3” spike heels, cause I wouldn’t have to worry about breaking an ankle. And I’d go for one of those cute full corset outfits, the kind that covers just as much as a leotard, with the underlining of the cape matching the lace ties on it. My “normal” dress however would be a conservative business suit, with a pair of half frame glasses, low heels, and hair done in a conservative style.

Yeah, I’d go for it. I am a biology major, so I think it’d be fun. : ) I’d have to take my family though. Wouldn’t want to be without them for five years.

 

We’d have to have lots of books. Lots of them. And a way to get new ones to me – either paper or e-book. I read about 2-5 books a week, and it is an addiction.

 

I’d want my pillows – all five of them that I sleep with at night (which includes a portion of hubby’s)

 

Also have to have a computer just for me to play on. Nothing work related, just play and write. That’s about all I’d need, beyond the normal hygiene and clothing needs.

 

Hubby and my daughter on the other hand – they’d need music files, game-boys, computer games, somewhere to golf and their golf stuff, drawing supplies and lots of paper and colored pencils, a computer for each of them, the list goes on …

Wow. I guess that differs from person to person. Everyone is going to experience it a bit different, from the breathless anticipation when you have to go a few days without being able to talk, to the simple pleasure and warmth of curling up with someone and feeling cherished and safe.

 

I don’t know exactly when I knew I was in love with my husband. Just one day I knew. That insane fluttering of nerves had steadied into a sense of calm when he was around, and I was thinking about my future in terms of what “we” could do, rather than what “I” wanted.

My favorite saying is "In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught." (Baba Dioum) because it’s so very true, and touches upon the heart of the human condition. So many people I talk to questions why I care if the Amur Leopard goes extinct, or if the coral reefs off of the coast of Belize are bleached, and so on. They don’t understand the leopards and the reefs, and the many incredible natural wonders all around us, and they were probably never taught to care.

 

As a teacher (I may have a couple semesters left, but pre-service or not, I am a teacher), I know that my role will be to try and make my students care, to teach them about the wonders of the natural world in such a way that they will not only understand them, but understand what the lose of them will mean.

 

It also calls to me because it’s the motto I try to live by when I explain things to my daughter. I want her to care about conservation, and I want her to know why it matters. Thankfully, she is starting to get it. What’s more, she is starting to educate others about conservation.

 

2017 Update: Still the same ... although I am out of school now and teaching.  And my kiddo, now grown-up, is still education others about the planet.

Well, I haven't seen many of their works, but I have seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Scenes like this one just made the movie:

 

“King Arthur: I am your king.

Woman: Well I didn't vote for you.

King Arthur: You don't vote for kings.

Woman: Well how'd you become king then?

[Angelic music plays... ]

King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king.

Dennis: [interrupting] Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.”

 

Quote from the Internet Movie Database. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071853/quotes)

 

This is another good one, from the same webpage.

 

“Bridgekeeper: Stop. Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see.

Sir Lancelot: Ask me the questions, bridgekeeper. I am not afraid.

Bridgekeeper: What... is your name?

Sir Lancelot: My name is Sir Lancelot of Camelot.

Bridgekeeper: What... is your quest?

Sir Lancelot: To seek the Holy Grail.

Bridgekeeper: What... is your favourite colour?

Sir Lancelot: Blue.

Bridgekeeper: Go on. Off you go.

Sir Lancelot: Oh, thank you. Thank you very much.

Sir Robin: That's easy.

Bridgekeeper: Stop. Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see.

Sir Robin: Ask me the questions, bridgekeeper. I'm not afraid.

Bridgekeeper: What... is your name?

Sir Robin: Sir Robin of Camelot.

Bridgekeeper: What... is your quest?

Sir Robin: To seek the Holy Grail.

Bridgekeeper: What... is the capital of Assyria?

[pause]

Sir Robin: I don't know that.

[he is thrown over the edge into the volcano]

Sir Robin: Auuuuuuuugh.

Bridgekeeper: Stop. What... is your name?

Galahad: Sir Galahad of Camelot.

Bridgekeeper: What... is your quest?

Galahad: I seek the Grail.

Bridgekeeper: What... is your favourite colour?

Galahad: Blue. No, yel...

[he is also thrown over the edge]

Galahad: auuuuuuuugh.

Bridgekeeper: Hee hee heh. Stop. What... is your name?

King Arthur: It is 'Arthur', King of the Britons.

Bridgekeeper: What... is your quest?

King Arthur: To seek the Holy Grail.

Bridgekeeper: What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

King Arthur: What do you mean? An African or European swallow?

Bridgekeeper: Huh? I... I don't know that.

[he is thrown over]

Bridgekeeper: Auuuuuuuugh.

Sir Bedevere: How do know so much about swallows?

King Arthur: Well, you have to know these things when you're a king, you know.”

 

And here's one more line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

 

“Narrator: A year passed: winter changed into spring, spring changed into summer, summer changed back into winter, and winter gave spring and summer a miss and went straight on into autumn... until one day...”

I actually prefer stand alone stories. Very few of my stories, even in my series, actually intertwine. They are in the same universe, with the same rules and all, but the characters don’t intermingle.

 

I am the same way about my reading tastes. I like books set in the same universe, and occasionally will read a series that is highly intertwined. But it has to grab a hold of me so tight that I am not ready to let go of the characters after one book. Or two … or three even.

 

That very rarely happens.

 

It also seems, especially here lately, that series peter out before the author wraps them up. Because they are selling, and people are wanting more, they keep writing. Which I have no problem with. But when it starts to get old, when it starts to get flat, end the series. Reach the conclusion to the issue thread. Let it go and move on to something else.

 

I hate when I get to the point that I am ready to stop reading because the books don’t interest me anymore, and I have to borrow them from the library rather than buy them, just so I can skim the book to find out how the encompassing arc is resolved. I hate the feeling when I want to email the author and say, ‘Just end it already. Sheesh.’ Which is why when authors say ‘this is going to be an open-ended series’ I am less likely to give it a try than I am if they say ‘I am doing so many books and that is it for this series’.

 

I am also starting to get sick of the trend of writing a book that isn’t a full book. One author I used to auto-buy has started doing that. The series is so continued that at the end of the book, I am left feeling that nothing happened. No great resolution was reached. It’s always ended with an unspoken ‘to be continued …’ like the series finale to most TV shows. Not resolving everything is fine. Keeping the main story arc is fine. But there needs to be some semblance of closure at the end of each book. So yeah, mark me down in the stand-alone column.

 

2017 Update:  For the most part, this still holds true - most of my own series aren't true series.  Each story stands-alone, they are just all on the same theme, so I call them a series.  There are exceptions however.  I am working on one series that does have a continuing arc - but each book will focus on a different main couple (except for in the cases of slight offshoots or slices of life kind of stories, since the series I am writing will need to have continued character development for one couple, so I might do a short for them that runs timewise concurrent to another couple's book).

 

I also do have ONE series writing author that is an autobuy for me - Nalini Singh - she does series that have long spanning arcs.  Then again, she could write and publish a grocery list and I would probably buy it she is that good of a writer.

 

Although I hope that she doesn't ever get to the point my other (former) autobuy got to - where new books are going back and covering existing characters stories - because they have "problems" come up.  I don't mind if the next book continues the couple's evolution together - Singh has one of those as well - but this author is taking happy couple's and screwing with them, when there are a TON of other couples that could have time devoted to them.  I may be slightly soured though since recently she published a book with two couples in it - and at the end she killed of one member of one of the couples.  Other books had miracles occur - and I was ok with that due to the paranormal nature of her stories.  This one did not.  I was so mad I threw the book across the room (and I cherish and baby my books).