Speaking Topics

• New Author/Imposter Syndrome
• 3 ways to Write – Characters come to you, a plot comes to you, a place needs to have a story. I write character-driven fiction, so I’m a pantser not a plotter
• Women’s issues including poverty, single parenthood, emotional abuse, following your dream, homeschooling, parenting adult children, divorce, remarriage, choosing to be a stay-at-home mom, starting a business, etc
• Cycling Adventure - I rode across the country on a tandem bicycle during the COVID 2020 summer and learned lessons about people, relationships, God, and living a full life (see http://doublebuttedadventures.wordpress.com) while raising money for Toys for Tots.
• Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Author Q & A

1. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Yes! Seriously, it does both. I find the writing very exciting and when I am through for the day, I often talk over everything with my husband. However, after a long session at the computer, I sleep hard for the first several hours.
2. What are common traps for aspiring writers? Trying to edit while writing. Believing there is only one way to write. Getting caught up in the minutia rather than writing down your thoughts. Feeling like an imposter.
3. Does a big ego help or hurt writers? Too much or too little of anything hurts, so having a big ego isn’t optimal. On the other hand, neither is self-denigration. As an author, you won’t be able to sell your work if you don’t think it is worth buying. Before anyone else will believe in it, you must believe in it. I think it is important for authors to understand that their work is valuable. Entertainment has value – just look at how much people spend on it every year! If you are giving readers the very best version of your writing that you can offer given your experience level, then it has value. Keep that in mind!
4. What is your writing Kryptonite? Real life. I work best when I can escape from the house and my office. Put me on the beach, or at a writer’s retreat, or even at my mom’s house when she’s gone away for a week, and I’ll get more accomplished than I can at home. Why? When I’m gone, things like dishes, laundry, meal prep, and taking the dog out don’t get in my way. I can focus entirely on writing. At the Weymouth Writers-in-Residence, I am able to write 50,000 to 70,000 words in one week!
5. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? I have. I just couldn’t find anything that appealed to me at the moment. The best way to get over it is to join a book club. I’ve been amazed at the great books I’ve read that I wouldn’t have picked up on my own.
6. Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym? No. I am who I am. I have no reason to be anyone else.
7. Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want? I hope that I do both. Characters come to me with a story they want to have written, so I write it. I don’t follow an outline or a grid or tropes. I simply write the story. My goal is to connect my readers with characters they’d love to invite to lunch.
8. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Yes. If an author is imaginative, observant, and good with words, they don’t have to feel all the emotions of their characters. They simply have to be able to capture those emotions on paper.
9. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? I want each of my books to stand on their own. However, my body of work is connected by character development, each character being one that my readers would love to invite to lunch.
10. If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be? Don’t be afraid. Just get the story out of your head. The more you write, the easier it will be.
11. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? I’d have to choose the unicorn. I went to the North Carolina School of Science and Math, graduating in the first class in 1982. We chose the unicorn as our mascot, so it means a lot to me. Plus, it was at NCSSM that I expanded my thinking and began to see the world with my own eyes rather than through the eyes of my parents or my teachers.
12. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? My characters are never based on one person and often have a large dose of me. I owe the real people a character that is not trite, shallow, incomplete, or stereotypical.
13. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? I currently have four novels in various stages of completeness, an inspirational non-fiction based on my trip across the US on a tandem bicycle, and three children’s books waiting for an audience.
14. What does literary success look like to you? Having a core of readers who look forward to the next book.
15. What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book? I read books and look up information online. I tend to research while writing rather than before. The story needs to get out of my head, and then I do the research to make it realistic and truthful.
16. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? I once saw comedian Mark Gungor explain the difference between the way men’s and women’s brains worked. (See the YouTube video here) Men, he said, have specific boxes that they take out, use, and then put away. They even have a box with nothing in it, so when they say they are thinking of nothing, they are being honest. Women, on the other hand, have a bazillion connections between everything so nothing is put away. For me, it is difficult to create a male character who thinks so linearly.
17. How long were you a part-time writer before you became a full-time one? I began writing non-fiction as a business writer for small businesses. I started that part-time in 2000 and have been full-time for the last 10 years. I began writing fiction in 2017. I’m as full-time as I will ever be because I have so many things that take my time: family, church, walking on the beach, ballroom dancing, playing bridge, learning the piano, and volunteering.
18. How many hours a day do you write? It varies. When I get away from the house, I often write 8 to 10 hours a day. When I’m home, I tend to write an hour or so.
19. How do you select the names of your characters? My characters usually tell me who they are. However, when I wrote Sunflowers Beneath the Snow, I Googled Ukrainian names and read the list until I found names that appealed to me.
20. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I enjoy teaching others, but I wouldn’t enjoy teaching in a public school. So, I would try to find a way to teach.
21. Do you Google yourself? Of course! Though, I don’t do it very often.
22. What is your favorite childhood book? I read all the time, so I had many favorites. The first story book I remember having read to me was Over in the Meadow. I remember reading Mrs Piggle Wiggle’s Farm over and over again. I also read all the Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew mysteries, as well as Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret.
23. Does your family support your career as a writer? My husband is my biggest fan. He is always telling me that I’m going to be uber-famous. It makes me laugh, but I love his praise. My four children support me but think it is more of a hobby than a career.
24. How long on average does it take you to write a book? I can get 50,000 words of a story out in a week. I can flesh it out and do some basic editing in about two weeks. Of course, this is if I am at a writer’s retreat.
25. Do you believe in writer’s block? Sure. Writer’s block happens when other things take precedence over writing. The only cure is to fix whatever is “top of mind.”
26. What genre do you write? My current book, Sunflowers Beneath the Snow, is Women's Fiction and what I'm calling a hybrid 20th century historical fiction/contemporary fiction. It is set in the Ukraine in 1970s but continues until modern day. I have another book that I hope to launch soon that is historical fiction. I haven't really found "my genre" yet, with ideas in my head that range from fantasy to young adult dystopia. Instead of genre, I focus on creating characters and letting  them drive the action in my stories. 
27. How did you get started writing? I began writing my first novel in 2017. I had a story line in my head but had been afraid to put it on paper. I went to a one-week writers-in-residence during NaNoWriMo and completed 50,000 words. That particular manuscript hasn't gone anywhere. I will have to do a lot of rewriting if it ever does because I couldn't give my main character any flaws. I loved her too much! I was also about to separate from an emotionally abusive husband, and I think I needed my character to be strong and capable and unbreakable.  My second manuscript has some of the same problems, though I was getting the hang of it.  Both of those manuscripts are contemporary, character-driven fiction. My third manuscript, An Enemy Like Me, is historical fiction  that I would like to release after Sunflowers Beneath the Snow.  It is loosely based on my grandfather who is of German descent and fought in WWII in the US Army in Germany. My fifth manuscript is Sunflowers Beneath the Snow. I decided to release it now because it is timely - the Russians are amassing on the Ukrainian border once again, which is a pivotal point in the plot of the book when it happened 2014.  I have another partially finished manuscript that has a fantasy lean to it, but my father died while I was writing it. Every time I try to go back to it, I just can't seem to find the words. And I have a dystopian fiction idea and a humor spoof about menopause in my head.
28. What advice can you give to writers & aspiring writers? Write. Write. Write. The only way to get better at your craft is to do it. Don't wait until you have gotten a degree, taken enough classes, read enough books. Just start writing. Your first stuff will likely be crap, but that's okay. Everyone starts there. Very few people write the Great American Novel the first time they pick up a pen.
29. What is a recent book that you have loved? Gentleman in Moscow. I read it because of a book club. I would have never picked it up on my own. I hated the title. I didn't care for the cover. It was thick and the print was small. BUT, I loved the story and the main character. The author's use of language was amazing. I took so many notes that I could have led a four-hour discussion!
30. What are five words or phrases you would you use to describe yourself as a writer? Eclectic, character-driven, emotional, complex, fresh What five words or phrases definitely don’t describe you as a writer? Order, pigeon-holed, formula, eccentric, savvy