What’s the story behind your career?

I have had an unplanned and varied career. My first foray was as a dentist. That was my dream going to college. Everything about it came true. I was a busy, successful dentist. Only I didn’t enjoy it. Sold my practice and started a financial services business. Enjoyed it for 15 years, sold out, and moved from Atlanta GA to beautiful Fairhope, Alabama on the Gulf Coast.

Through my church I visited people in the hospital. I decided to get an RN degree, then decided to get a Nurse Practitioner degree.

Now the answer. While getting the NP online degree I was partnered with 4 busy women who were in other parts of the US and the assignment was to write 5 papers TOGETHER. They worked, had jobs, kids, and husbands. I was older with free time. I volunteered to write the papers and do the research. Their job was to edit. They jumped at that deal. They never changed a word. We got an A on every paper.

On the last paper I decided I enjoyed the process of writing although medical/science papers are far different than a crime novel. I stopped in the middle of the last paper and started the first words of the crime novel BLACK POINT. It took me several years to complete.

Like most writers I’m a voracious reader.

I set a goal for myself. SEE if I could write something and e-publish it. It took several years to complete.

I loved the process and have written two more---it’s a series.

I am now writing book 4.

But I do work full-time in urgent care medicine.

What makes your subject interesting?

I write about crime. Humans love crime. I basically attempt to write what I like to read. I feel that humans are more infatuated by the worst in others rather than the best. And although the vast majority of us are overall "good"--meaning we would never perpetrate significant violence on another person---I think we are astonished at the level of depravity living in some people. We just don't get excited to hear that John Doe goes to church every Sunday and never misses a day of work.

How many times have you wished you’d started writing earlier?

I often wish I had started earlier. As a lifelong reader I wondered what it would be like to write but I never seriously believed I could tell a story. I do believe I can now.

Who are your favourite authors?

I stay in the shallow end of the pool as a reader. I mostly read the popular guys. John Sandford, Connelly, Meg Gardiner, an occasional Grisham book. Harlan Coben sometimes. David Baldacci. I am currently re-reading some John Sandford Virgil Flowers books.

Do you have a set writing schedule?

I only write in the mornings on days I don’t work in medicine. 4 hours maximum. I spend as little as five hours and a maximum of ten hours per week. I do not write as if it’s a job. I spend more time exercising to actually maintain my mental sanity and energy levels. My main place to write is on my screened in back porch that is covered by a tin roof. I sit in a cushioned, weathered adirondack chair with my feet propped on another chair. The view is of deep green woods. No traffic. Quiet. Whether I use a heater or a fan I can write here in temps from 45 to 90 degrees.

Occasionally I use the city public library. 5 minutes away.

If not on the porch, and the library is closed, I borrow the breakfast area in a Hampton Inn Hotel located a three minute drive from me. Free WiFi.

What’s the biggest hurdle to getting words on the page and how do you overcome it?

Getting the book overview in my head. I’m a pantser but I need some direction of thought to push the story forward. I don’t call that writer’s block per se. But the biggest hurdle is time---I just don’t have enough free mornings. When I miss a few days because of work it takes me some time to start moving the project forward. I lose the momentum.