Next Big Book Thing: Author Interview

What’s your favorite place in the entire world? Wherever Mark is. If he’s not available, I’ll be in the cheese aisle.

How has your upbringing influenced your writing? My family moved a lot when I was growing up, and the constant re-inventing of myself and having to make new friends instilled in me an adaptability that has been quite handy in the quickly changing publishing world. It’s also given me a LOT of characters to choose from.

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated? I wrote my first story at the age of seven. It was an illustrated, tongue-in-cheek comic book about the joys of housework. I’m still cleaning-challenged. Then I read Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett, and I was hooked.

When and why did you begin writing? I completed my first novel in 2006 and never looked back. Don’t know why it took me that long to write one. Wish it hadn’t.

What inspires you to write and why? Almost everything. The news, television, an errant conversation, movies, travel, the radio, dreams, dirt—you name it, and it inspires me.

What genre are you most comfortable writing? Thrillers and action/adventure. I really, really like to blow things up.

What inspired you to write your first book? It was a satire about earth’s funding being cut, along with social commentary on the evils of factory farming and corrupt politics, and it will never see the light of day.

Who or what influenced your writing once you began? Carl Hiaasen. I love how he incorporates black humor with scathing political commentary.