Recently I conducted an interview with my dear friend and best selling author Tabitha Winter. At the conclusion, she challenged me to do the same and answer similar questions. As I told her at the completion: challenge accepted.
So here's a little look inside my brain as a fiction author.
1. Let’s begin with a bit of back story about you. What part of your education made you decide to go into that as a career?
So, back story. I am the only child of two educators; with my mom giving up her career after I was born. I went into college thinking I would follow in the family footsteps, with four people in my family in the education field, plus two relatives in the publishing world. When I was told that there were no teaching jobs I switched that up to a liberal arts education, graduating with a BA in Communication Studies and minors in English and Radio and Television Production. And, by graduation: no jobs in those fields…but we need teachers! When I got out, I stayed at the company I had worked for all through college and ended up staying there for a total of 37 years before going out on a medical.
What that work experience, along with college, gained for me was what I feel is a good knowledge of people: how they act, things they say and do, and how they look. I think I am fairly skilled at my descriptions of people and places and my dialogue feels real and not forced. YULETIDE was easy from that aspect as I was so familiar with the locales, including some places that the general public never saw. ELECTRIC FAME has similar vibes as the depiction of the college that opens the novel and some other aspects are truly spot on. Even the college president has confirmed that.
2. Something that plays a role, even if minor, in your work is religion or, more specifically, faith. Is this something which has been deeply held since you were young or something that has gained prominence in your life since your career began? And how does your strong faith play a role in your writing and your process?
I was raised Catholic. Have made my First Communion; made my Confirmation…married in the Catholic Church. I have held a strong view of a Higher Power since my youth; even make a point to Thank God in every dedication of every book I have published. This isn’t just words on a page-I believe that any success I have is due to a Higher Power. When I was a young teenager, it was a no-no to be up until all hours of the night/morning to watch a concert or a Hammer Horror double feature. I would get shuttled to my grandmother’s where I would wheel out a folding cot and go to sleep around 8 at night, then get back up around midnight to watch that double feature, then back to bed. The deal was that I needed to get up the next morning and walk up that big hill to go to 9 AM Mass. And I did: every time I slept over.
When my mother passed, my father basically lost any faith in his religious beliefs where I became reacquainted to it. Over the years, it has been a part of my life; not totally evident to most until someone asked. In ELECTRIC FAME, before the climax of that novel, it rises within my protagonist, as it did earlier in a moment within a college chapel. That carried over into the eventual sequel where the hero’s youngest child is named Faith Hope because that is what everyone needs. When my youngest child came into my life, I named her Hope, after that character. In recent months, my faith has been brought to the forefront once again thanks to my friendship with Tabitha Winters. She is someone I can discuss my beliefs with regularly and was the first person among many who used the phrase that I was “doing the Lord’s work” in my day to day interactions. That means a lot to me!
3. Moving to your writing career. What was it that made you decide you wanted to be an author? When did you first have those aspirations: youth, teen, college or beyond? Or have you always had a voice in your head wanting to get you to create stories? Is that, in itself, its own type of therapy for you?
I always think of myself as a frustrated comic book writer. I have been crafting stories since I was a young child, even reaching out to Stan Lee and throwing X-Men plot ideas at him. Of course, I was 8 and he later told me that the postcard I received back was a fake as he “never listened to anyone’s ideas!” Having an uncle and an aunt who were journalists also inspired me. And my dad was always a huge reader, sometimes blowing through 6 library books in a week: all genres, all lengths…often going into historical fiction novels and correcting the glaring errors he discovered!
Post college, I was responsible for creating and designing a monthly newsletter for my employer, which I did for almost four years. I was simultaneously writing and designing a newsletter for the model building club I had been involved with since I was 8 years old. I wrote and produced a monthly comic book fanzine for five years and have been publishing it online since 2011.
I have always been writing something, be it long form fiction or short form pieces. I have always had it in me. It fuels me; nothing else but that.
4. As an author, which novelists are your inspiration? Who are the people you look up to when you are in writing mode? Do they all manage to become part of your writing experience or do you also have works and authors you read purely for pleasure? Who is foremost amongst those?
When I was young, maybe 8 or 9, my dad had me read a book called AN OLD CAPTIVITY by Nevil Shute, who was one of my dad’s favorite authors. It’s about three people who get transported into the past of the Norseman of Greenland. I was hooked and have read all Shute’s work; all of which are from my dad’s personal collection. He is such an underrated author whose most well-known works are ON THE BEACH and A TOWN CALLED ALICE. So, Shute is my personal hero who turned out over 20 novels in his 40 year career and I often look to them a inspiration. Revered in his native Australia, his stories are simple and often touch on spirituality and aspects of reincarnation.
I often reference some of the novels that have inspired me into my works, including Shute, Stephen King, Jack Kerouac, Hunter S. Thompson, Carlos Castaneda (whose work changed my life and the way of thinking about the world around me), Patricia Cornwell, and Janet Evanovich, among others. Their books sit next to my bed and I often look to them when I find myself getting down because I see literary fame as an unattainable goal. True story: I wanted to publish my first novel right out of college, sell a million copies, get rich, move to Vermont where I could lock myself away for six months at a time and create. That never happened and I probably would have ended up like Jack Torrance!
I do read for pleasure when I have time. I have what is probably a serious addiction to comics, based on what I purchase each week and there is a whole cadre of authors I gravitate to whose works I respect. Currently, Tom King, James Tynion IV, Tom Taylor, Jonathan Hickman, and Matt Fraction are in that group. Of course, I always pick up anything by those “crazy Brits”, as my daughter often calls them: Garth Ennis, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis, and Jamie Delano. And Terry Moore will always have a special place in my heart. His dialogue is always fresh and he writes females characters in such a way that it has always blown me away. I think I kind of subconsciously channeled Terry when I started writing ON THE ROAD TO SANITY. I was writing about two best friends and the relationship between his two main characters in STRANGERS IN PARADISE certainly was a part of my road map.
Currently I am reading Jasper Fforde and his THURSDAY NEXT novels and having a ball with them and will soon be sliding into his NURSERY CRIME series! I’m also dipping my toe into Marilynn Harper’s works which are definitely aimed at a mature audience! And then there is Tabitha Winters, whose psychological thrillers are just so captivating that they are almost impossible to put down. And such grit coming from the most caring person I know! I truly credit Tabitha for being my major source of inspiration for ON THE ROAD TO SANITY and how it turned out. If it were not for her, that book would still be sitting in my computer waiting to be finished. I can never thank her enough for her friendship and guidance on that one!
5. Let’s look at your novels, starting with your first published one-ELECTRIC FAME. Where did the original idea for that novel original from and at one point did it become more of a reality as opposed to a germ of an idea? Did you originally plan for this to be a series or simply a one-off? And where did the idea for the title come from?
ELECTRIC FAME first started to come together in college while taking a rather boring English class. It was a very rough version of what became the first two chapters, written long-form into my class notebook. I knew the characters right off the bat and what I wanted to happen to jumpstart the plot. Over the course of the next two years, I developed the story further, while also pouring a lot of my time and energy into 1,479, which was constantly changing and being added to.
Out of college with 1,479 basically completed, I went back to finishing ELECTRIC FAME, which was mostly done-all in long form. I edited my first draft, typed it up on an old Smith Corona manual, just as I did with 1,479. Eventually, it got re-edited and was computerized on an old-school TI-994A computer with a whopping 49K of RAM and was printed out by a colleague of my dad’s.
When I attempted to get it published, I found out just how difficult it was to do and garnered enough rejection notices to wallpaper my bathroom. Dejected but not totally turned off, I turned my attention to 2,940: even if it would never see the light of day. I had the need to finish the story.
WHAT PRICE FAME came about many years later; fully realized after I was married and raising a family. I was happy with how ELECTRIC FAME had ended but felt that any potential readers needed to know what happened next as I did leave a few breadcrumbs on the table. Much of what happened there was inspired by what had become my relationship with family. More on that later.
Regarding the title, as grammatically incorrect as it may be: it was all around the idea that these musicians were seeking fame and trying to achieve it with their electronic instruments. There is a line early on, in the first chapter, where my protagonist mentions that everything was there-“the power, the electricity, the fame.” It described their world perfectly: the power of being onstage, the electricity a performer feels and the desire for fame. That was the genesis. By the way, I have taken some heat for the cover, which depicts a guitar being crucified. Credit Coldplay and Jay Z for that in the song ‘Lost’: “if you succeed, prepare to be crucified.” Our hero specifically has a moment where he is betrayed and vilified/crucified by critics. That version of that song resonated with me and I felt that it represented how fame is fleeting and that, at any moment, your audience could turn on you.
6. Regarding the plot: did you know early on in the writing process the direction it would ultimately take? Did you plot out a bunch of story ideas and then throw them together to see what made sense? And how often do you come up with an idea and either walk away from it completely or file it for later use?
I usually know where the plot is going to go early on. I used to plot everything out as an outline: Roman numerals and all, with sub headings. Sometimes things change along the way and proposed chapters either get shifted or broken up, depending how the action takes me. There are exceptions to that as it’s not a hard and fast rule with me. 1,479 grew organically as things in my life and that of my fictional narrator happened. WILDEST DREAMS is an anthology, so those are free standing tales with no real connection to anything else I have written. ON THE ROAD TO SANITY has no plot except “two girls, road trip, and stuff happens”. All I know with that is their route and some of the places they go: that is plotted out. What gets said, what happens along the way? It happens when it happens. They guide me…and no, as a friend has said, I’m not insane!
There is only one time I can recall tossing away a story idea. When I was working on what became MEET ON THE LEDGE, I knew there would be a big moment in the book that would change everything for my characters. And I did have a big moment that changed everything but also set in motion a plot point and major storyline that I didn’t see coming that represents the final arc in the novel. Honestly, I couldn’t do what I had originally planned because I couldn’t do what was devised to one of my characters; just didn’t have the heart. As it turned out, the new ending is so much more satisfying than what I would have had happen and I can’t even remember how I was planning to paint myself out of the original corner I had proposed.
7. Can you talk briefly about your other novels? What was the idea for them? How did they come about?
Well, I’ve talked about ELECTRIC FAME, so that’s out of the way. 1,479 was originally just about me writing a diary of sorts about my college experience. I still have the diary that had every single day of my college years documented. But I quickly realized that no one would want to read this because I was a nobody and no one would care. So it quickly became about a fictional author describing HIS own experiences, which is where the title comes from: 1,479 days from high school Prom to college graduation. To be clear: it is a fictional novel by a fictional author. There are parts of it from my own experiences, those of classmates, various stories told by friends, and a bunch of made-up stuff for color. For me, it was a cathartic journey from college to full adulthood and would hopefully be seen as such for anyone who cared to read it. It wasn’t so much a roadmap as it was just one person’s experiences; fictional or otherwise. During the process, I connected with a high school friend and he acted as this other voice in the process, which explains how he is the co-author on the book.
I always say that much of it is fiction and not things I directly experienced, although some have been influenced by my own experiences. Two chapters specifically are 99% me and those were the hardest to have to relive as it was written as they represented some wonderful moments and some really traumatic ones at the same time. Over the next few years, I crafted the sequel, 2,940, covering the next four years in my hero’s life. Eventually, when I made the decision to finally publish it, I added an epilogue that brought the character up to date and finally provided his happy ending. Also of note: after I had completed it, I tied the book into ELECTRIC FAME and that whole universe, as it were, by referencing that author and that book ; talking about how it was his generation’s CATCHER IN THE RYE. It also represented the first mention of ON THE ROAD TO SANITY as a failed play. Who knew that all those years later it would become a real thing…only much longer and a far different story!
I will also note that author K.G. Palmer, the fictional author of that book, is distilled from a lot of people I knew during my college career. He is sometimes thoughtful, sometimes brash, and very often misogynistic. That aspect totally represented almost every 18-21 year old male I knew back then. To that end, Palmer comes off as an a**hole and should not be considered to be a hero to readers. He is just one somewhat typical male from that period.
WILDEST DREAMS came about as I had all these various pieces I had written that were all based on dreams I had experienced. Back then, still single and living at home, I regularly slept with a notepad near my bed and would wake from a dream and jot down things I had experienced in the middle of the night-in the dark and then try to make sense of them the next morning. WILDEST DREAMS is almost entirely based on those, with the exception of three pieces: the eulogy I read at my grandmother’s funeral, a minor sequel/spin-off to ELECTRIC FAME, and a humorous piece written by Randy Blake and myself. I should also note that YULETIDE-with the concept of great destruction in a shopping mall-came entirely from a dream.
Speaking of YULETIDE: to that point, it was my longest and most challenging tale. There were over fifty major characters enduring six days as captives of terrorists with a mixed bag of demands. I was dating my future wife at the time I was working on it, banging it out on that afore mentioned TI-994A, which I would then later transfer to a typewritten copy by looking at the monitor and transferring it that way! I had a very good but also frustrating impetus to turn out a certain number of pages as my future bride would not speak to me until I had turned out at least 5 pages!
This was also the first book where I plotted out full chapters and plotlines and, with so many characters, I created several photo reference sheets of those characters pulled from my high school and college yearbooks. They weren’t necessarily people I knew-just interesting faces that I could craft into interesting characters. It was also the first time a true crossover with my previous works occurred as a few of my ELECTRIC FAME characters made appearances and, at the same time, a few made their way into future novels.
WHAT PRICE FAME came into fruition several years after I was married and living in a home instead of an apartment. Even though I had not approached trying to get published since ELECTRIC FAME, I still had the burning desire. And I wanted to revisit my protagonist and his life after fame and tell the next part of that story. It was a slow, frustrating slog at first, even though I knew what I wanted the major storyline to be. My hero is enjoying family life but still has that itch, leading to issues within his family. Throw into that mix another character with an offer too good to pass up. I knew how it would play out and how it would ultimately end, but I still couldn’t figure out the middle.
I ended up dipping into a moment from about six years prior when I attended my cousin’s first marriage and, during that reception, I had an interaction with a mysterious redhead that led to an interesting conversation that bolstered my confidence regarding the band. Recalling that night led to that inspiration I needed to continue on. What ground me to a halt was an communication online with someone who dissed the work as I wasn’t revealing the plot. I put that novel aside for nearly four years, picking it up sporadically. It wasn’t until after I finally published ELECTRIC FAME that I got the confidence to go back and finally finish it.
I was done with that story and those characters at that point; even had my protagonist give his “final interview” to put a ending to the story. That lasted about two weeks and I got the idea to come back to these characters I loved one more time. That was what became MEET ON THE LEDGE-set 26 years AFTER WHAT PRICE FAME ended.
8. What is your usual writing ritual like? Is there a certain place that you do that and
that is your strict ‘writing place’ or does that matter? What is the space like? Candles? Music? Beverage? Anything else to get you into that creative space?
From the time that I went back and re-edited ELECTRIC FAME, adding about 200 pages to what I already had, and making it a much more immersive experience in my mind, my ritual would be setting up my laptop on the center island of my kitchen, with a cold beverage-usually iced tea-some music and some incense. That held true all the way through ON THE ROAD TO SANITY BOOK ONE and I was poised to continue with both BOOK TWO and RECOLLECTIONS. But, in early March, I lost one of my fur babies who had been with me since she was 8 weeks old and, being the puppy that would be on the floor by my side while I worked or even in my lap, I lost my inspiration at the same time. But I found another place to work besides home and, with an army of friends around me, have found new inspiration. The ritual is similar: music, candles and emotional support.
I still do work in my kitchen with music and candles and a cold beverage. But, because of my support from so many, I find I can work in a number of spaces with equal results.
9. Once you have a germ of an idea for a story, what is your creative planning process like? Do you have your rough ideas plotted out or do you do a lot of stream of consciousness writing or a combination of both? And what do you start with first: developing sketches of your characters or concentrating on the plot and then placing your creations into this world?
Up until SANITY, my full-length novels were almost entirely plotted out ahead of time. SANITY had no plot, as I have said before. And my characters were only partially fleshed out. Who they were and what they became changed as it went and there was a major plot point that changed everything about them. I have let them tell the story and direct me on where to go. As a rule, my characters come later in the process after my plot, unless they are the ones I have previously used. Any one new to a story gets dropped into the plot and then I create their back story.
10. Which of your characters are the most enjoyable to write and which ones are the most difficult and why?
My primary protagonists, Joe, Mike and K.G., are the easiest to write as they are all extensions of me to some extent: the wanna-be musician, the frustrated novelist, and the college student. I know them all so well, but also know Joe’s wife equally as well and the “core members” of ‘You R. I had been through two novels and was working on them in a third, so I knew their faults and flaws very well. MEET ON THE LEDGE created some problems as those characters had all aged up and were nearing retirement age. And their children were all adults now with their own lives and careers. To create their back stories was a challenge and to weave them into a connected story was a challenge.
The most difficult one to write is Matt Hewitson. Over the course of two novels, he moves from being a ‘second banana’ to a star and, with taking on a lead role, has taken on a bit of an ego. To flip the script on him was tough and I was determined to make him more of an antagonist along the way. It was a creative choice that worked, in my opinion. But it was a tough choice to turn him from ‘face’ to ‘heel’, to use some wrestling terms.
11. Many authors draw from real life interactions and often combine elements from those people into a character or characters? Is this how you work or is everybody in your universe totally sprung forth from your exceptionally vivid imagination? Are any of your characters an amalgam or people you have interacted with, past or present?
The short answer is most of them are based, even to a small degree, on people I have known, starting with the band. They were all people I knew from school or work and just manipulated them to my needs, even if it was just their appearances that inspired me. Joe’s first wife was inspired by someone I knew of from school but never associated with and then, when she came to my job and quit almost soon after, she became the love of his life who exits the scene in the process. One of K.G.’s girlfriends is directly based on a person from my life I refer to as my ‘white whale’. And sometimes, that doesn’t turn out as I planned. SANITY introduced a character named Rosie who was inspired by Tabitha Winters. But, as that story evolved, she only became Rosie in terms of appearance only, as Rosie’s persona is far from the author I know so well.
12. What led you to make MEET ON THE LEDGE be written as a time-jump?
Once I got the urge, I decided I needed to look at a new generation of characters and had planned for them to be my featured characters going forward. But I also felt I could not carry the novel on them alone, which led to bringing in their parents to flesh things out. But I also knew I needed to not just have them enter the picture, as there were so many good characters from other novels that needed to appear, and they all would have the own chance to have their story over a two decade period told.
I am super proud of that book for what I did with it by weaving multiple characters and plotlines together into a heartfelt story that touches on many themes from my previous works.. The biggest challenge was the decision to have the big plot point that closes the book be a massive Rock concert. In my mind, I needed to create all the performers to fill that concert bill. There were a multitude of bands and styles and they all needed to be believable. I’m really delighted of what I came up with regarding one particular act; so much so they are revisited in RECOLLECTIONS.
13. How did the idea for ON THE ROAD TO SANITY come about?
SANITY had been referenced in the revised version of ELECTRIC FAME; part of those added pages I felt I needed before publication. It was Palmer’s failed play and I wanted to make it a full-length story. But instead of my heroines going from Rhode Island to California, I wanted them to do all 48 states over the course of the summer and early fall. I also knew it would be a story too massive to fit into one book and had planned for it to be in two books. Lo and behold, that first book only got them to Washington state, which is when I made the decision to make it three books, with the second being set solely in California, and the final taking them from Nevada back to Rhode Island.
While I don’t know all of the details, except for their travel route, for books two and three, I do know a couple of things. Book Two ends with six words. And Book Three ends with an epilogue that finishes the story. What happens in the middle, except for them revisiting a previous location and a previous acquaintance? No clue!
I will say that the close friendship between Bonnie and Cassidy was inspired by my youngest daughter’s friendship with her best friend: their attitudes and the way they watch each other’s backs. And the success of that book, as far as it getting done as quickly and satisfyingly as it did, is all due to Tabi. The story is told in a first person narrative by one of the girls and I truly wanted a woman’s perspective; not wanting it to sound like a man writing a female character. I did something I never do: let someone read a work in progress. But I trusted Tabi’s instincts and let her read it, chapter by chapter. Her enthusiasm for them and constantly asking what came next forced me to write; even as I did not know what would come next. She was so inspirational to that novel that it was better because of her input.
14. How much of your work, if any, gets inspired by dreams you may have had? Does a dream play out in a way that makes you think you could manipulate that into a storyline or a character? And, if so, how often does that occur?
Not as much as it used to. Now I usually go to sleep thinking of plotlines and hope they will plant a seed that will root and grow. Sometimes they do and other times they are lost to sleep. SANITY BOOK TWO is almost halfway finished and I am currently taking a break to put a lot of my energy into RECOLLECTIONS. Much of that is because SANITY requires a lot of research regarding locations in 1983. It is not just about the plot; it’s about accuracy as much as possible. Also, Tabi has been busy working on her novels and has not had the time to devote to any new SANITY writings, which leave this skiff a little rudderless. RECOLLECTIONS features visits to plotlines she has not gotten to read yet and I would rather work with that so she won’t be hit with spoilers. Either way, she is still encouraging my work on that novel.
15. Is there a point that you write your story and you are done with it or do you always second guess yourself; wondering if the plot works or if you could have done something different? Do you sometimes think about what you’ve written and believe you could have done it better? Is any book every really done in your mind?
The only time I second guessed myself was in my initial plans for MEET ON THE LEDGE. I was determined to have the plot move in one direction but could not bring myself to pull the trigger on it. When I shifted what occurred to another character, I thought I sold out and took the easy way out. I didn’t bother to write it two ways: I went with my second choice and let it play out. A reunion with a friend I had not seen in 20 years helped to color one of the key scenes and that made me decide I had made the right choice. A certain gesture between she and I still gets utilized to this day with my fellow author mentor.
I think every writer looks at their work and says they could have done it better. I do not write for readers-sorry folks-I write for me. So I need to be happy with it. As a rule, I am happy with all of my work, with 1,479 the one I find hardest to convince people to read. K.G. and his friends are just tough to get through in a post ‘Me Too’ world.
Every book is done when I say it is. My problem is I finish a book and realize I might not have been able to say everything I wanted to and that leads me to writing a sequel. Or a sequel to a sequel, etc.!
16. After a day of your regular work and/or your writing stints, how do you unwind? Or does the urge to create always sit in your psyche to a degree?
I was always told to write something, even if it is only a paragraph, every day to keep those mental muscles fresh, so thoughts of creating are always in my head. And I no longer have a “regular job”, just a part-time one. After a day working at that, I usually come home and write some more, in between handling household duties. I don’t unwind until the end of the night when it either becomes a movie or some comics. That usually doesn’t last long as I find sleep comes early and deep. My time to unwind is either cooking a meal for the family or crashing in bed with the sound of thunder from my white noise machine lulling me to sleep.
17. Do you ever see the possibility of dipping your toes into a different genre? And, if so, what would it be and why?
Since I never know what to call the genres I write within-I simply call them “contemporary fiction” and find myself explaining the storylines and let people decide for themselves…although Amazon lists YULETIDE as a psychological thriller. I have tried to step out into new genres and I think that is best evident in WILDEST DREAMS. MEET ON THE LEDGE has one of my characters writing detective Pulp fiction and I labored with it, although I love that genre. I just didn’t have it in me. I would love to write a Science Fiction story and have one sort of moving around in my mind, but haven’t worked out all the scientific mumbo-jumbo to make it work. There is an idea for a satirical superhero story that I have tucked into one of my future novels and that may happen, although I would love it to be a collaboration with Tabi. I just think she will be busy with her own franchise for years to come and I will end up writing it alone.
18. Where do you see the future of this franchise? Would you like to see it adapted into a television mini-series or a feature film? If so, who would you cast in those key roles? And, as a fan of the graphic arts, would you like to see these novels adapted into graphic novels?
When I was first working on ELECTRIC FAME, I would tell people that I would be in the middle of something and it was like someone turned on a movie projector and I would see the action and the dialogue and race to at least to catch that lightning in a bottle and get it down on paper before I lost it. I think most of my novels have those moments that would play well as a film or mini-series. But my books are LONG!!! Really long!!! SANITY clocks in at close to 300,000 words! That is something like an entire 24 episode series! And it is also more of a character driven piece than my other titles. It’s a lot of driving, a lot of music, a lot of sightseeing, food and motels, along with a lot of dialogue and inner monologues. Not exactly a story that television executives gravitate to.
I have a number of people I would love to see as my characters but most are far older than I would like them to be to play them, especially in the ELECTRIC FAME/WHAT PRICE era. If MEET ON THE LEDGE were made into a film, most of them would fit perfectly. Unfortunately, I don’t know a lot of 25 year old actors who could fit the roles in ELECTRIC FAME.
Graphic novel? I have always said I am a frustrated comic writer so yeah: I could go with that with the right artist handling it.
19. How soon can we expect a new novel or more? Do you have a timetable in mind or are you just seeing where the spirit moves you?
My goal was always to have nine books in print before the beginning of 2026 but I don’t see that happening. RECOLLECTIONS should cross that line and hopefully be in print around Thanksgiving. It is at the halfway point, including the addition of some special surprises in it. The book features my characters reminiscing on moments in their lives so why not show the reader what these people look like in 2025? That is the surprise. As of now, 1/3rd of that book has been laid out and I love how it looks.
SANITY BOOK TWO may make it to the finish line, once I dive back in again. The girls are within a few weeks in their timeframe from reaching the end and those six words. If I can truly push out those final eight chapters in RECOLLECTIONS to my satisfaction, I can take a breath and get the girls back on the road. The pause is a mental reset for me as well as the dynamics have gone from three people during the first half of the novel back to two and I need to reacquaint what that relationship was like. Time will tell.
2026 looks to have me doing the second part of the RECOLLECTIONS piece, entitled REFLECTIONS. It is not so much of a sequel as the other side of the coin, with the same characters dealing with topics that have affected all of us over the last eight years.
20. Any last comments or things you would like to add to this?
I am just glad and grateful to those folks who have bought my books and enjoyed them. And I just hope that they tell their friends about them in the process. I realize they are long and not something to read in a night or two, but I hope there is enough there to make the journey worthwhile. I am proud to have been able to put seven books into the marketplace in less than three years-some 3,000 pages worth! I am proud of the support from my family as they understand how this is an addiction, even if it is not a big revenue source. Writing keeps me young, I think. My Hope gave me the greatest gift of all for Father’s Day 2023 when she presented me with a Spotify playlist called SOUNDTRACK TO ELECTRIC FAME that featured every song referenced in that novel in chronological order!
I thank God for the support and faith to persist despite lackluster sales. And to my sister from another mister, who dropped this challenge into my lap in my email VERY EARLY this morning: thank you for your kindness, our seemingly unbreakable bond, your invaluable assistance, your sarcastic wit and your constant encouragement. Without being repetitively told how I am prolific and a great author, I would probably just stop. I am now and always will be eternally grateful and look forward to sitting back and watching your success.
One last thing: my photography team in Colorado Springs refer to me as “The Storyteller”, mostly because I enjoy regaling tales from Cons or life in general. I wear that moniker with pride with them; maybe I should remember that when I get embarrassed by compliments from friends near and not just far.
