What was your path to the writing life?
I’ve always enjoyed reading and writing stories, and submitted to magazines since my teens. I fared well in some of the Writer’s Digest contests, and landed a short story sale with Shroud Magazine, but my first big writing break came in 2004 when I got a contract to write a text book Correct Coding for Medicare, Compliance, and Reimbursement. At the time, I worked as a medical coding expert for a local hospital, and it was a big deal for my career. I married in 2005 and kept writing fiction. Between then and now, I decided that I was most suited, at the time, for indie world. I had a lot going on, personally, which didn’t lend to meeting deadlines that weren’t self-imposed, and my writing was pretty experimental. I self-published Dead Spell, Crisis Hospital, Cure, and Afterbirth between 2011-2013 and Cure was optioned for film.
How did you choose to write about scary subjects?
I don’t know that horror was a choice, as much as it chose me. I write stories that I’d like to read, and horror comes naturally. I love horror movies and, up until recently, the stories that came to me were all very dark. My earliest writing influences were horror writers and I’m sure that had something to do with it. I read tons of Anne Rice, some Koontz, and some King as a kid.
What was your inspiration for your books in the Strandville series, Cure and Afterbirth?
My inspiration for the Strandville series was a combination of an early fascination with The Walking Dead TV show and years of working in a hospital. Most of my stories are medicine-influenced and the z-virus lends itself perfectly to a medical thriller theme. I couldn’t help thinking, “What if there was a cure?” The rest of the twisted tale developed and the Strandville survivors materialized.
Which authors and books do you most admire?
Hands down, the author I admire most is Dennis Lehane. I finished reading Moonlight Mile, the follow-up to Gone Baby Gone, and I was so in awe of his prose that I couldn’t read another book right away. Book hangover, right? That’s what it’s called?
Other favorites: Anne Rice (circa 1990’s), Joe Schreiber (Eat the Dark), Greg Hurwitz (The Crime Writer), Martha O’Connor (The Bitch Posse), and pretty much all of Charlie Huston’s backlist.
What is it like for you working outside the major publishing houses as an indie?
It’s busy. Traditional authors write and edit. Indie authors do all that, plus have to deal with their own marketing and branding (though I understand there’s some of this in traditional world, it’s not like what indies deal with). There’s e-formatting, cover design, and print-on-demand formatting. I have to file my own copyrights, and had to deal with an intellectual property attorney on the film option. I also co-wrote the script which may or may not ever come to fruition. The producer worked hard at getting studio backing, but some things are harder sells than others. It was an honor to have gotten that far.
What makes a good book in your opinion?
A good book, to me, has an innovative plot, three dimensional characters, and it invests the reader, emotionally, in a fictional world. I love the feeling of being so drawn into a book that I have to keep going back to see what comes next.
What advice do you have for other writers?
Don’t quit your day job. I used to hate to hear that advice, but if you rely on your income to survive, wait until you’re a big success before taking the leap. The hardest part about being a writer is striking the balance between time spent honing the craft and living life. I used to begrudge the time the day job took away from my writing. I then resented the writing taking time away from my family. It seemed there weren’t enough hours in the day, and there wasn’t. I had to write, many days, when I was too mentally exhausted to be at my best. That led to nightmarish editing. Fortunately, there has been enough of a change in our circumstances that I no longer work outside of the home, but it’s stressful if you depend on writing income because it fluctuates, is unpredictable, and is almost entirely out of your control.
What’s next for you -- another Strandville book or something new?
Some readers are asking for another Strandville novel, but the story stopped talking to me with the ending of Afterbirth. Yes, eventually, I think there might be more to that world, but I’m taking a break from horror and have ventured into the medical thriller genre. The new book, Lethal Donation, is expected to be out in October 2013. The title is a working one, and may change, but the first draft is almost finished. Here’s the blurb:
A cutting-edge procedure meant to create lives, destroys them in this romantic medical thriller with a forensic twist.
Paramedic Anneliese Ashmore's routine shift takes a startling turn when she answers the call she was never meant to hear—a call to a crime scene where her sister, Sydney, is the victim of an overdose suicide.
The evidence says otherwise.
In the midst of a heated divorce, motive implicates Sydney’s husband and mistress, but while the police focus on the single lead, Ana investigates others.
A mysterious business card and a chain of e-mails between Sydney and her surgeon's office set Ana on a search for answers about her sister's recent diagnosis and the life-altering treatment that saved her. The body count rises as Ana closes in on the truth, and on the man of her dreams.
With the help of Dr. Jared Monroe, an unhappily married physician with a bit of a crush, and Dr. Marco Prusak, the biggest detractor of County Memorial Hospital's new organ transplant program, Ana uncovers a ring of greed and corruption, and exposes the fact that Sydney’s medical treatment may have been the catalyst for her murder. Unfortunately for Ana, she may be next.
