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      All writers have glimmers of the passion to come from a young age-events that shift into perspective the longer we commit words to the page.  From the moment I wrote a story in second grade about my mother, the school nurse, being a stripper, I tasted the power writers have to move others (in this case, to tears of laughter!)  Not one childhood year passed without tentative footsteps into poetry, fantasy and short stories, even a murder mystery novel.

    As an education major in college I came into contact with an unconventional English professor who orchestrated her class as she hoped we would someday-with a voracious appetite for reading and writing workshops.  One half-sheet stationery page with the words Let me know when your first novel comes out galvanized me to the writer within I'd suspected all along.

     During my six years in the classroom, I wrote a young adult novel set aboard the Titanic and a dark love story set against the turmoil of 1680s colonial Massachusetts.  I became active in three RWA chapters across three regions, serving as President and Newsletter Editor of the Magnolia State Romance Writers and Membership Chair for North Texas Romance Writers of America.

    In 2007, my time thriller Chasing Midnight was named a finalist for RWA's prestigious Golden Heart, an award honoring the best unpublished manuscripts in the romance industry.  I also began work on Chasing Destiny, the sequel to Chasing Midnight; and, in 2008 completed The Night Caller, a time thriller set in present day and nineteenth century Clear Creek county, Colorado.

     In May 2008, The Wild Rose Press published "The Lost Highway" as part of their Love, Texas Style anthology, a collection of twelve romantic short stories set in Texas. 

     My stories encompass a fascination with time theory, conspiracies, and the quest for a happily ever after in dimensions that sometimes seem worlds apart.  Shades of influence from Hitchcock, The Twilight Zone, Poe and Koontz play like a dark movement behind my unyielding belief in love's power.  

 

 

 

Q :: How do you get your ideas?

A :: Most of my ideas, especially the science-fiction/time travel twists, come from reading non-fiction.  Books on quantum theory are notoriously dry, but even Stephen Hawking was able to breathe life into physics.  Books like "Real-Life X-files: Investigating the Paranormal" by Joe Nickell attempts to explain other-worldly phenomenon from a scientific angle.  Popular science magazines and journals always contain articles on the cutting edge of what's possible. 

Q :: How did you get the idea for Chasing Midnight? The Night Caller?

A :: I had seen an old X-files episode about a man accused of murdering his wife that had been told in the framework of one week in reverse narration.  I also loved the movie Memento and was intrigued by the idea of a love story told this way.  Each day Beck travels backward in time, he falls more in love with Emma, but to her, he's a stranger.  It's a strong emotional barrier that presented a unique challenge. 

The Night Caller came from serious reflection on every way time travel communication had been handled before.  A phone presented a unique challenge, the simultaneous intimacy and limitations, and a 1920s crank phone in my childhood home had always fascinated me.  I wanted to explore the sense of mistrust people felt toward the phone in the late nineteenth century and the echoes of that subversive fear that resonate with today's technology.

Q :: How do you write?

A :: I'm a definite plotter.  Keeping my highly organized left brain tangled in lists and post-its frees my creative side to produce.  After a very rough, lightening-fast first draft, which allows me to understand the scope and magnitude of the story, I write a meditative draft at a much slower pace to flesh out characters and plot threads.  Usually during this draft, I'm able to see themes emerge, symbolism resonating through the novel and paint better, more unique imagery. 

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Awards/Nominations

 

2008

1st Place Winner ~ Best Paranormal

"The Night Caller"

Great Expectations Contest

 

 

2008

2nd Place ~ Best Flash Fiction

"Home"

Western Pennsylvania Romance Writer's Contest

 

 

2007

RWA® Golden Heart Nominee

"Chasing Midnight"

Novel with Strong Romantic Elements

 

 

2006

1st Place Winner ~ Best Paranormal

"Chasing Midnight"

Southern Heat Contest

East Texas Chapter RWA®

 

  

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