1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I'm a mother, musician, and writer. I grew up in the military, which was a great way to see the world and meet a wide variety of people.
2. What do you do when you are not writing?
I keep myself busy with quite a few things. With nine children, there's always plenty of cleaning, laundry, and school events, or just spending time with them. I'm currently working on my home. I enjoy playing several instruments, writing music, and studying languages.
3. Do you have a day job as well?
Yes. I'm lucky to have a job I love. I teach music lessons on harp, piano, guitar, and most wind instruments.
4. When did you first start writing and when did you finish your first book?
I started when I was 8 and wrote on and off through high school and college. I finished my first book when I was 24.
5. How did you choose the genre you write in?
I feel like it really chose me, by way of a children's book, a piece of trombone music, and the flash of an image of a man gambling away his livelihood and conning his girlfriend into rescuing him. Put together, they pulled me right into medieval Scotland and time travel.
6. Where do you get your ideas?
In general, they come from anywhere, from a conversation overheard, a news article, a human interest story. For The Blue Bells Chronicles, my ideas came from the children's novel In the Keep of Time, the old folk song and trombone theme and variations, Blue Bells of Scotland,and the image described above.
7. Do you ever experience writer’s block?
Not often. Usually, it's more a matter of realizing I have to explain how something came to pass, and being stuck on that question, or doing the necessary research, before I can start the actual writing again.
8. Do you work with an outline, or just write?
A bit of both. I find that characters don't always co-operate with an author's outline.
9. Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult?
I would have to say Margaret Anderson, who wrote In the Keep of Time, but really, all authors of great children's novels. I think one thing that particularly inspired me was books that brought history alive and gave it that human touch, made it matter, as opposed to history classes which often managed to distill it down to dry facts.
As an adult, I would say C. S. Lewis inspires me.
14. Can you tell us about your upcoming book?
I would love to! However, I'm currently working on The Water is Wide, Book 3 of The Blue Bells Chronicles, and it's difficult to talk about it without giving spoilers for books 1 and 2. For those who haven't read any of the series, however, I'll talk about that. The Blue Bells Chronicles revolves around the Shawn Kleiner, an arrogant, self-centered modern American musician, and Niall Campbell, a devout, medieval Highland warrior who is about to head off on a mission vital to struggling nation of Scotand. When they fall asleep in a castle tower, on the same night, seven centuries apart, they wake up in the wrong times. Because they look identical, they're trapped in one another's lives. It's historical fiction, time travel, adventure, and a story of inner growth and redemption.
What is your favorite food?
Shrimp!
How do you feel about fuzzy socks?
I haven't spent enough time thinking about fuzzy socks to have feelings one way or another, but living in Minnesota, I'm pretty partial to socks in general, especially in the winter!
Share a secret with us!
Well, there was this guy, years ago, probably in the 1920s. He had a very risque deck of cards. You could even see the women's knees and bare arms! This was such a big secret, he hid them in the rafters of the tuck-under garage in his basement, and 60 years later, while doing repair work, my dad found the cards and his secret was totally blown! Now it's on the internet and the whole world knows. Oh, wait, you didn't mean my secret, did you?
LINKS:
TO PURCHASE:
Blue Bells of Scotland:
smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/
The Minstrel Boy:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/
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