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Writing

• Where do you get your ideas? What inspires you?

  Honestly, everything inspires me–movies, books, people I know, places I visit. But my greatest inspiration comes from the simple question “What if?” “What if the plane that flew over my house disappeared while I was watching it? What if I woke up one morning with the ability to read minds? What if vampires are real?” With each question, my imagination takes flight. And books are born.

• Do you follow a strict writing schedule or do you follow the muse?

  I definitely need structure and deadlines to produce in a timely matter, but I’ve experimented over the years with what that means. I used to try to structure my days, but I’m not a natural multi-tasker and it never worked well for me. If I’m working on the book, I want to be working on the book. Nothing else. So now I structure my weeks. Five or six days a week I concentrate on the writing, depending on how close I am to deadline. I’ve dubbed Thursday my To-Do List day when I write blogs, work on website updates, run errands, etc. Saturday is my day off when I can afford it.

• What advice would you give an aspiring author?

  First and foremost, write. Attend writing workshops, read how-tos (the library and bookstores are full of them) and study the authors you love. Above all, don’t give up. Getting published (and/or finding a reading audience) takes skill, hard work, luck, and perseverance, but I’m convinced it’s the perseverance that makes the most difference. Without it, the others might not ever get the chance to matter.

   

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