1.      What would you consider to be your Kryptonite as an author?

My weakest point is physical description of settings. I love dialogue and find that easiest to write. The characters speak rapidly, with vivid variety; my toughest job is keeping up with their conversations.

2. Favorite childhood memory involving books?

In third grade, I used our daily in-class assignment of writing one “perfect paragraph” to craft a multi-chapter saga of a boy and his elephant, Daisy. The novella was an epic adventure with action and dialogue galore! Did I always want to be a writer? You bet!

3. If you could dine with any literary character, who would it be and why?

I would dine with either Jay Gatsby or Lord Peter Whimsy. I know the conversation would be dashing, dangerous, and quirky. And the meal would be sumptuous. They would definitely want to show off to impress me!

4. If you had to describe yourself in three words, what would they be?

Creative, inquisitive, eloquent

5. What is your most unusual writing quirk?

I write in haste; I revise in languor.  I wrote six full-length novels in less than one year, all for my private eye mystery series. Of course, these were first drafts, so now I am slowly revising each of them. I often switch between books during a single writing session, correcting bits and pieces in several novels at a time. Jumping from one plot to another seems to fit my mind’s mode, so I never get lost. I find that this hopping helps me keep continuity of the characters’ personalities, voices, and histories from one book to the next. I also re-read my previous books frequently. This sound quite conceited, but in fact I do get re-inspired by my own writing if I hit a snag or a slow spot. My favorite way out of writer’s block is re-visiting my old books.

6. If you could own any animal as a pet, what would it be?

I am a cat person and grew up with them. I would love to get another one. However, my husband dislikes them. Their haughty style and selfish ways are what infuriate him. Of course, those are the traits I find most endearing in cats. So, we’re at an impasse. And my cat fancy has to emerge only in the fictional pet owned by my private eye.

7. How do you select the names of your characters?I spend huge amounts of time thinking about character names. I look through newspapers, baby name books, gossip sites online, store fronts, telephone directories, billboards, and elsewhere in my search. But the name of my main character came to me on my commute to work. One day, I saw a produce truck with the name “Shelba” scrolled on the side in fancy italics. I wondered who would have a name like that? I decided it was a mash-up of two parental names: “Sheldon” and “Alba.” So, I named my private eye, Shelba Julio Rook, to reflect his bi-cultural, bi-lingual, bi-racial complexities. Only his mother calls him Shelba; his close friends call him SJ, because the long version got him into plenty of fights from kindergarten on up. And he just calls himself Rook.

8. What are your top 5 favorite movies?
I’m an oldies junkie:
1) Casablanca (of course!); 2) Laura; 3) The Maltese Falcon; 4) Swing Time, and 5) A tie: Shane and Red River.

9. If you were the last person on Earth, what would you do?
Keep a detailed journal. I’d want to record the experience and leave it for whoever arrived from another planet to find our lost world.

10. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Have fun with your writing. If it doesn’t give you pleasure, stop and do something else. Read widely, contemporary books and classics in equal measure. If you can, study another language. The effort stretches your mind, teaches you humility, increases your vocabulary, and gives you a new perspective on the world. Take advice from many sources, but always trust yourself. Your instincts and taste are unique and will always steer you in the right direction.

11. What book do you wish you had written?
Huckleberry Finn, for sure. I love the language, insight, empathy, and vigor of that darn boy.