1) What inspired you to become an author?
I’m a natural storyteller. Stories, characters, and imaginary worlds have filled my head since I was a child. I’ve always wanted to put them on paper, to give them an existence outside of my imagination. Over time, I became more ambitious. I wanted not just to write the stories down, but to write well. I studied the craft of writing and worked to hone my skills.
2) Do you write in different genres?
I write paranormal and post-apocalyptic romance. I love both genres, but PNR is my happy place. When I set out to write my first novel, it was a story close to my heart about a pack of wolf shifters in my home state of Washington. A few chapters in, I realized that I didn’t possess the writing chops to do the story justice. I set it aside, took classes and workshops, and read dozens of craft book. When I felt ready to try writing a novel again, I wrote the first of what turned out to be a five book, post-apocalyptic romance series. The wolf shifter novel I abandoned always called to me. I returned to it, confident that I finally had the skills to tell the story. That book became Secrets of Shooting Star Lake, the first book in my Black Rock Guardians series.
3) Is there a genre that you’d like to write that you haven’t tackled yet?
I love romantic suspense and might try my hand at that someday. I’m playing around with ideas for a standalone, Gothic romance ghost story.
4) Is this book part of a series? What is the next book?
Marked Under the Midnight Sun is the third book in the Black Rock Guardians series. I’ve started work on the fourth book, Beneath a Shifter’s Sky. I love this series and would like nothing better than to keep playing in this world for years to come.
5) Is the book, characters, or any scenes based on true life experience, someone you know, or events in your own life?
I weave real-life experiences into every book I write. In the Black Rock Guardians series, the Hagen women own and operate a bakeshop named after their Norwegian-American grandmother. My Norwegian-American grandmother passed down her love of baking to many of her grandchildren. The dog in Marked Under the Midnight Sun was based on and named after a friend’s dog. Many of the pets in my books are based on real-life animals. The Black Rock Guardians series feature close relationships between cousins. I dedicated the series to my cousins, who were my best friends when I was growing up.
6) Who designed the cover of your latest book?
I swoon every time I look at the beautiful cover for Marked Under the Midnight Sun. I struck gold when I hired Lori Jackson to design the cover of my first book. Eight books later, she’s still the person I turn to whenever I need a new cover design. She’s one of the best in the business. She knows the market and makes sure that every cover reflects the genre and sets the right tone and mood. She’s easy to work with and is endlessly patient and kind. Of course, it helps that she’s working with amazing images from photographers Wander Aguiar and Golden Czermak.
7) Do you have advice for other writers?
Yes, I do. I’d tell beginning writers not to pay attention to anybody who says there’s only one correct way to do things. Some people need outlines and beat sheets in order to make progress. Other people find that their creative muse goes on strike if they try to outline a book. Some people will urge you to write a rough and dirty first draft and absolutely not to edit as you go. That may work for many people, but others need to edit as they go or they stall out. We’re all different. No advice works for everybody. It takes time and experimentation to figure out the writing system that works with and not against your inherent brain strengths. Be willing to challenge your assumptions about what might work for you. Because I’m well-organized and like check lists, I thought I needed to outline. Wrong. Outlining shuts me down. My best advice is to feel free to ignore advice that doesn’t work for you and how your brain is wired.
8) When you’re not writing, what do you do? Do you have any hobbies or guilty pleasures?
When I was younger, I felt guilty about things that gave me pleasure, especially romance novels. I thought I needed to read “worthy” books. Now, I’m older and wiser. I freely admit that I’d rather read about the Ice Planet Barbarians or the Dark Protectors than any prize-winning literature. When I’m not writing, I read and love genre fiction.
I also love to bake. I’m an old fashioned,
from scratch, home cook. Cooking relaxes me. Pies, cakes, and breads are my
specialty.
Excerpt:
Liv huddled next to the campfire, a flimsy Mylar sleeping bag wrapped around her shoulders. Soaking wet, her cheeks flushed scarlet from the frigid air, the human was in trouble. The sun had dipped below the horizon and the temperature was plummeting.
I glanced at my shivering captive. “Gimme your coat, dress, and boots.”
“What?” she sputtered. “Dude, I’m not stripping in front of you.”
My lip quirked. Nobody but this feisty, gotta-be-freezing-her-ass-off woman would dare call me dude. Most pack mates cringed in my presence, and referred to me as Mr. Creed, or sir.
Not Liv.“You’ll never warm up if you spend the night in wet clothes.” I pointed at the sticks wedged into the ground next to the campfire. “I’ll put your things close to the flames to dry out.”
“Forget it.” She yanked the emergency sleeping bag up to her ears.
I bit the inside of my cheek. I never got a good look at her body underneath the sodden down parka, but her legs were shapely and I bet her figure matched.
What the hell am I doing?
Was there any thing more pointless, more self-destructive than being attracted to the woman I’m turning over to my heartless alpha?
Time to shut this shit down.
I stepped toward her and deliberately shaped my features into an intimidating scowl.
“You telling me you’d rather freeze to death than take off your wet clothes?”
She didn’t answer, probably realizing how foolish she’d sound if she said yes.
“My orders are to bring you safe and sound to Medved. I can’t let you get hypothermia.”
“And a flunky like you doesn’t dare disappoint his alpha, right?” Scorn dripped from her voice.
“That’s right.” No point in taking offense when she spoke the truth. I lowered my chin and put command into my voice. “So either you strip or I’ll do it for you.”
Color returned to her cheeks in an angry flush. “Try it, buddy, and you’ll lose a hand.”
I could easily overpower the mouthy woman and peel her clothes off. Grizzly shifter versus human? Hell, no contest. Liv wasn’t stupid. She had to realize how powerless and vulnerable she was. Still, she jutted out her chin, and her pretty brown eyes shot sparks.Rubbing the back of my neck, I debated how to handle the insolent human. I’d ripped her away from everybody and everything she knew. Her next few days were bound to be rough, especially if she shot off her mouth in front of Medved. Why not cut her some slack? If she saw me as a reasonable man, she might be more willing to listen when I warned her to mind her manners in front of my alpha.
“How about I turn around and look the other way while you undress?” I proposed.
The fingers clutching the top of the sleeping bag had turned bone white, and she trembled from the cold. “Fine,” she said reluctantly. “Do it.”
I put my back to her. “Just don’t get any crazy ideas about picking up a branch and clobbering me.”
She snorted. “We’re in the middle of godforsaken nowhere.” I heard rustling as she dropped the sleeping bag and shed her wet clothes. My imagination filled in the details as I imagined her naked behind me. “Even if I managed to knock you out, where would I go?”
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