My dad was a printer before he retired. I remember him bringing home the Grade One Reader when I was still in kindergarten. As soon as I learned to read, I was hooked. Every year he brought home a new reader. Then I moved onto Nancy Drew. That evolved to Dean Koontz novels and Time Travels by Constance O’Day Flannery. I wrote my first short story trilogy at the ripe old age of 12. It was about three astronauts who traveled to other planets and met interesting aliens from diverse cultures.

One summer I went to visit my cousin. She had an old typewriter out (anyone remember those?). I asked what she was doing. She told me she was writing a book. A book? Only authors did that. It never occurred to me that regular, average people could just decide to be authors. The idea stuck with me. And when I was 18 I started writing novels. My first one was a whopping 50 pages long. Part one of a two part series. The novels have progressed since then. They’ve gotten a lot longer. Though I still tend to think in series. Of the last five or six ideas I’ve come up with, four of them could be turned into a series.

They say you should write what you know. The only things I know are banking and bartending. Not very exciting. So, I immerse myself in research. I love learning so writing books about things and places I don’t know feeds my love of writing and my pursuit of knowledge.

I’m currently working on disturbing (according to my critique group) suspense/thrillers, urban fantasies and paranormals. For now, I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada but hope to move to Cape Breton some day soon. If I can steal the cats away from my sister.

FAQ

Q. Nice painting. Did you use paint by numbers?
A. No. I actually do paint landscapes.

Q. Where do you get your ideas?
A. I have a subscription to Ideas Monthly. The mailman drops them in my mailbox every month. Seriously, they can come from anywhere at any time. I got the idea for the first historical I wrote from an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Q. Why do you use your mouse upside down?
A. I don’t use my mouse upside down, everyone else does:) The first computer we got was just after I flew a flight simulator at the NATO base in Germany. It made sense to me for the mouse to go down if I wanted to move up. For me to right click I actually have to left click.

Q. Do you believe in ghosts?
A. This question gets asked a lot at work for some reason. Considering I lived with a ghost for 19 years, you bet I believe in them.

Q. You’re creative, can you think of anything?
A. I write fiction. Accounting, project management and business analysis is not fun – or creative. But I’ll do my best.

Q. How do I get published?
A. If there was an easy answer to that everyone would be published. Advice I’ve received from published authors is always the same. Read, read, read. Then write. Write every day. Learn the markets. Target your manuscript to the right publishing house/editor. Get in touch with other writers. Most important to me – if it’s something you really want to do – don’t give up.

Q. Have you ever been accosted in the woods by a man in a mask, carrying a chainsaw?
A. Yes. Haven’t you? Freaks you out. If you’re ever in Cape Breton around Halloween, you have to go on the Haunted Hayride at the Ridin High Ranch.

Q. Are you from Cape Breton?
A. If home is where your heart is, Cape Breton is home.