Q: In one sentence, tell me something that describes you as a person?
A: I love waking up in the morning and facing new challenges.
Q: How many books have you written? How many of those are published?
A: I have written four books, all of which have been published.
Q: Do you have an upcoming release? If yes, tell me the title and impending release date.
A: My newest book, Chasing Hindy, was just released on April 1, 2017.
Q: Tell me about how you come up with your titles for your stories. Do you create the title before or after you write the book, and does it ever change from the initial title?
A: Titles are difficult for me. I usually create a title when I start writing a book, but rarely keep that same title when the book is finished. For Chasing Hindy, I made a list of almost two hundred titles before I finally decided on the final one.
Q: Out of all your characters in all of your books, who/what (sometimes a setting can also be an important “character”) do you think is the most interesting and why?
A: The protagonist of my previous book, Gil, is one of my most interesting characters. Gil is a high school baseball coach who discovers that he can pitch with lightning speed. However, he learns that he has a rare disease and the more he pitches, the faster he leads to his own death. What I like about Gil is that he must decide whether to fulfill a lifelong dream (to pitch for the Rockies) or whether spend more time with his family. That struggle is what ends up defining who he is.
Q: Without quoting your back cover synopsis, tell me about the last book you published.
A: Chasing Hindy tells the story of a patent attorney, Addy, who thinks she has landed her dream job with a company that has purportedly invented a car that can run on water using an innovative catalyst. But after resigning her partnership, Addy discovers she’s been used by her employer, Quinn. She is arrested for stealing US technology from the patent office and must find a way to clear her name while salvaging her dream of propelling this technology to the world.
Q: Tell me something about yourself that is separate from writing.
A: I am a practicing patent attorney and travel the word handling patent cases from Russia to Australia. I also love being outdoors, doing things like skiing, fly fishing and running triathlons.
Q: Who is your favorite Author?
A: I’ve always loved John Grisham. His firm novel, The Firm, came out when I was a first year law student. I remember staying up almost all night engrossed with what happens in the legal profession.
Q: What is the last book that you read? (Not counting anything you wrote)
A: I just finished reading Mrs. Lincoln’s Rival, a piece of historical fiction about the Chase family.
Q: When writing, do you have a system or something you plan, or do you just write?
A: I am definitely a planner. I outline the story and then do character profiles. I like to know what drives a character to do what he or she does. When writing thrillers, I have plot points that drive the story and I make sure these are all well thought out. Of course, things change when you start writing, but at least I have a solid guide to go by.
Q: Why do you write?
A: I write just because I love to write. I love doing the research, then finding an intriguing way to craft a story. I’d write even if I couldn’t get published.
Q: Do you read your own work a lot? If so, what does it do for you?
A: By the time I’ve got a work to the publisher, I’ve usually read it so many times that I’ve got to move on to something else. Having said that, it is fun after a few years to pick up one of my old books. It reminds me of the journey I went through at the time I wrote the book.
Q: What is your favorite type of music? Is there one genre (or song, band etc...) that brings out your creativeness more than others?
A: I don’t have a favorite genre. I love just about every kind of music, except for perhaps heavy metal. The last concert I went to was Mumford and they were awesome. They’ve given me a few ideas for books.
Q: As an author, I find that the hardest thing to write (for me) is the synopsis that will be on the back cover or book’s description. When you write, what is the hardest line to write, the first line, the last line or the synopsis for the book?
A: I agree about the synopsis. I usually go through hundreds of attempts before I get to the final version. Condensing 80,000 words into one or two paragraphs is very difficult.
Q: Any final thoughts that you want to give to your fans or even future authors?
A: I like a saying from Stephen King that as long as you can wake up and write another day, everything is going to be okay.