What genre are you most comfortable writing? Contemporary fiction. That’s the only genre I’ve touched.
What inspired you to write your first book? My now ex-husband was always dragging me to look at dilapidated old houses in very remote, miniscule towns, and insisting we live there. As we were having our share of problems at the time, I became suspicious that he was plotting to dump me in one of these places. That started Running Against Traffic, and then the characters took over.
Who or what influenced your writing once you began? I never write about something I know nothing about. It has to be real to me, so I often draw on my own emotions, like a method actor. I am also very curious and pay close attention to people, their motivations, relationships, how they hurt and save one another, and why. I find it all fascinating, and it is what I like to write about. Earlier writing pulled more from direct experiences, and these novels will come out eventually.
What made you want to be a writer? I think when you are a creative person, it’s impossible to live a fulfilled life without a creative outlet. I would have to do something. I read, I play violin, but I have to create. My mind would melt down if I didn’t. My soul would wither.
What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general? I believe I have undiagnosed ADD, so it’s very hard for me to stay on one project long and finish it. While all of my projects are vividly alive in my head, wrangling one project into a finished novel has been a true challenge. I’m too flighty.
Did writing this book teach you anything and what was it? It is my first finished and published novel, and I made a decision to be honest in it about my characters and their flaws. It taught me to risk writing about the good, the bad, the ugly, and not tie everything up in a pretty bow. This is life.
Do you intend to make writing a career? Absolutely. I always did, but I have been sidetracked frequently, forced to labor in office jobs to pay bills. Stupid mortgage.
What is your greatest strength as a writer? I take risks. I break rules. Or rather, I don’t know what the rules are?
I unintentionally break rules. Which still makes me a rebel, mind you.
Have you ever had writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it? My most effective cure for writer’s block is to go for a nice long run, without a pen, or smart phone. My brain inevitably will start churning out scenes, and I have no way to write them down. It gets me through fitness ruts, as well, because I have to sprint home.
Can you share a little of your current work with us? Running Against Traffic is a dark comedy about a woman named Paige who, for many reasons, has given up on life. Then her husband gives up on her, dumping her in a small town where she knows no one and has nothing, and she has to figure out why she got there, and how to live her life. This is done with the help of unexpected friendships, facing her past, and a pair of running shoes.
Paige Scott is done in. Done for. Done with it. Having spent her childhood shuffled between relatives who ignored her, and her adult life hiding within the walls of her relationships with men, she is prepared to live out her empty days in her crumbling marriage to David Davenport. David has other plans, however, and flings her into a remote, impoverished world, in stark contrast to the wealthy cosmopolitan one that was all she knew. Here she is forced to face the betrayals of her past and learn, for the first time, how to care for herself, and for others.
Hilarity and tragedy, addictions, unexpected friendships, and Paige’s discovery of running and the relief it brings propel her on her journey toward the mending of a broken spirit, and learning how to truly live. Step by step, mile by mile.
For a limited only, $2.99
Genre – Contemporary Fiction
Rating – PG13
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