I do! Haha. I was nine years old and wrote a four "chapter" mystery story called The Diamond Caper. It took up all of two pieces of lined paper. LOL! I gave it to my mom and told her I wanted to be a writer. She read the story and smiled, and then told me I could be whatever I wanted. I found the story safely preserved in my mom's possessions, as I went through her belongings after she died several years ago. I couldn't believe she had kept it for 30 years! Everything I had ever written was in that box, from award winning essays, handmade cards, love notes, letters, poems, amd other short stories. She kept them all. I recently visited with a woman who is a psychic. She told me she felt my mom was the one who loved my writing and was pushing me in that direction. After finding that box with my "firsts" in them, I agree. That box is more precious than gold to me now. (Thanks for believing in me Mom!)

I actually get asked this question a lot, and now that I have been at this for several years I don't really see that I have a definitive answer. You see, I am very visual and audio inspired. So instead of necessarily dropping lines of a story, I'm cultivating a whole picture in my head, just like a movie, with action and motion. As with any creative project, they are all different. So I find I tend to approach my stories in the same manner. Depending on what kind of story it is, I will be researching widely different things. I try to experience certain things the characters might, if I'm able to go to the area I'm writing about. Sometimes I dream it all up in my head first. Sometimes I simply pick a beginning, middle, and end point, and then let the characters evolve each chapter as they see fit. I know that sounds crazy...but the characters really do control the story. I always listen to that because it is usually a change for the better. In the end, for me, my process is "just keep writing, the rest will all work out." #GoWithTheFlowProcess

I had books read to me as a baby. So I know there are many of those little golden book type stories I had. I do remember having a big beautiful volume of Walt Disney's Cinderella. Cinderella was one of my mom's favorites as well, so she read it to me often.
When I was five, my mom started dating my soon to be step father. He would get down on the floor and color with me and read me stories. I loved it! One day I told him I would read Cinderella to him. He didn't believe me because I hadn't started school yet. So I climbed on his lap and read this slightly lengthy story to him. At the very end he started laughed and I turned and looked at him. He said, "That was a really good job, but I don't think you were reading."
"Why not?" I replied.
He pointed to a word on the very last page. "You said a completely different word right here. Do you know what it is?"
I sadly shook my hand and he laughed again. "Man!" he exclaimed. "I can't believe you memorized that whole book! That's impressive!"
I got a lot of books after that, and I did learn to read. By age 8 I was into Nancy Drew, and classic stories Like Tom Sawyer and Little Women. I was hooked for life!

I lucked out in this department as I had already been studying graphic design weel before my first book. My first covers were designed by publishers I was with, and I didn't always have the final say. Once I took over my rights and started my own publishing company, then I started hiring graphic artists for a few, simply because I'd never done book covers. After lots of practice things all started clicking for me so I do all of mine, except for the two prior series I hired a graphic artists for, and I've designed for a few other authors here and there if my schedule permitted.
When it comes to deciding the cover everything has to be considered, from what appeals to certain genres, and what kind of feel you want to have, even down to how it catches the eye and makes it travel around it. For instance, I once designed a goreous cover that people were raving over for an upcoming release. However, as I neared the end of writing I realized the story had changed and it was a little too "tough" for a sweet, beautiful cover. So following my instinct, I changed the cover to a hot guy with abs, with a girl's hands on his chest and in his pocket.
People were disappointed with the change, but I asked them to trust the decision and read the story. Once they had read it, every single person responded that I was right to change the cover. That book is Allure, by the way. And it EXPLODED when it released. So when it comes to designing covers, it's kind of like a puzzle. Keep moving things around until you get that "click" of when it finally falls into place. Man, I love the sound of that click! :)

Oh, this is hard. Let's see:
1. Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain: Why? I was young like Tom when I read that book and I loved it! Being a small town country girl myself, I could kind of relate to some of the lifestyle...white washing fences, having to do chores, going to the school house, having a schoolyard crush, picnics, getting chased by Injun Joe...okay, maybe not that last one. Hahaha. We didn't have any Native Americans in our area, but the hills were scattered with ancient pottery shards that are now protected. Does that count? It was a lot of hard work, but the community was close knit, and had fun customs. My town was like that. We didn't have Jackson Island, BUT my last name was Jackson and a DNA test of my blood just revealed I'm 18% Native American...how can I miss all those syncronicities? Haha

2. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott: Why? I got this book the same time I got Tom Sawyer. I read both of these books until they literally fell apart. I love historical stories, and I love Little Women. I believe between my sister and myself we own all versions of the movies that have been done of it. Just a great story full of all kind of emotion.

3. Anne of Green Gables, by LM Montgomery: Why? LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE. Hardcord love. I saw the movies first, then read the books and little spinoff stories. I own them all and excited to hear new movies are coming. Ms. Montgomery makes the sights, sounds, and smells com alive in her world. You can see everything so vividly. And her character are true and real, but hilarious in all their quirks at the same time. I just love everything about this series, passionately!

4. Let's see, something more modern, Ah, yes, The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Why? This answer is very easy. Only two words. JACE WAYLAND...isveryhot! Dang it! I just couldn't keep that last part in! Hahahahahahaha. Seriously though, I love everything about this series except perhaps some of the "gooier" creatures in it. I loved the movie as well, and the tv series is really awesome and coming into its own. JACE WAYLAND. ;)

5. For five, I'm going to step out of the box and pick a work of nonfiction. Troublemaker, by Leah Remini. Why? As a person who was going through something very similar, but with a different church, I admired her guts to stand up and say she felt like something wasn't right. Now don't get me wrong, I know next to nothing about Scientology, and if people want to be there, more power to them. But as individuals we are responsible to ourselves as well, and if your intuition say something is wrong, you need to listen. It is SCARY to walk away from something you've done and been taught about your whole life. It is scary to know that people are going to attack you, sometimes very viciously. Her story was much more "brutal" than mine, but I felt and understood her pain and sorrow. That wasnt the life the felt right to her. So she left and found one that did. If we could all be so brave.

Hahaha! I have the Kindle App on my Macbook Pro, my iPad, and my iPhone. I also have a Kindle Paperwhite that I love. And I had a Kindle Fire, but my kids stole it from me. So Kindle is my choice on any device. I choose what I read depending on where I am and how I'm feeling. Blind....go with the iPad. Hands are tired...go for the phone. Going to be in daylight....paperwhite has got your back. On an airplane...read on my computer in between writing chapters for my next book. Hahaha. Yes, I'm a tech junkie.

Hands down easiest question I have ever been asked. One free ebook launched my career. I put it free around Christmas hoping I could maybe get a couple thousand downloads, but secretly hoping for somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 downloads. What I got was 150,000 downloads! I was FLOORED! Then all those people started coming back to buy the other four books in the series. Haha. I honestly went from making a couple hundred dollars a month to being listed as the 45 highest paid indie author in the world. Now granted, I was lucky enough to be caught up in the end of that first wave as ebooks were first becoming a "thing." Everyone got the new kindle for Christmas and they all wanted free books. I hit it just right. The industry has changed greatly since then, sadly, and while we arent hitting the same kind of astronomical numbers anymore, free still works, and I still consider it my very best tool in expanding my reach.

I have a desk in my office, but I never use it. I have my kids do their schoolwork there. I'm a laptop girl. My computer IS my desk. I carry it all around when I'm writing. I like to be mobile. Haha.

I grew up in the beautiful forests of the White Mountains of Arizona. Most people don't realize Arizona isn't all desert. In fact, the joke around the state is, "If we had an ocean, we'd have everything." My small town is nestle in the middle of two ski resort, though there is a third ski resort on Mount Lemon near Tucson as well. We are also home to a wonder of the world, the Grand Canyon, not mention canyons that housed ancient peoples, old west towns, and a dormant volcano.
Those are all wonderful, but I like the quiet things too. There are gorgeous fishing lakes, all around us in all direction, that are only a short drive away. There are bubbling springs, rivers, creeks, elk, deer, antelope, and even the occasional bear and mountain lion. Watching these things while the breeze sways the pine needles, making the trees whisper back and forth. It feel a little like what I imagine heaven to be.
As you can see, my love of nature is often reflected in my writing, though I'm no stranger to city living, either. They both have their pluses. I simply want my reader to be able to share my experience with me...to see what I see and smell what I smell, feel, what I feel, no matter where the story is set.

After my 9 year old "debut" (snickers) I wrote a lot of things off and on through my teens, Those were mostly funny notes passed back and forth between classes, and then a few short romance stories getting girls with guys they like, poetry, that kind of thing. I was well into my twenties when I decided trying to write a fantasy adventure story. I just wanted to get it bound into a few copies to give to my younger siblings for Christmas (they were all significantly younger than me and still living at home). Technology wasn't great for me right then. We had a wordprocesser and I wrote some on it. Evenually a desktop was purchased and I wrote a little more, but I didnt finish the book until many years later when I got my first laptop, 14 years altogether. By that time my siblings were grown. I printed of a copy of the story and gave it my mother-in-law and one of my nieces for their opinion. I took a deep breath and hoped they liked it because I was never going to try writing a book again! Hahaha. Of course it was like two days later that I got the idea for The Trouble with Spells, book one in my Of Witches and Warlocks series. I honestly pushed the idea out of my head and told my brain to shut up. I was not writing another one. After about a week of that and still getting ideas, I finally decided I would just write the ideas down in case somewhere in the future i felt like doing something about it. Naturally, six weeks later the book was finished. One week after that, the second book was finished. Three weeks after that the third book was finished and I was starting on the fourth and outlining ideas for the fifth and final one in the series. My mother in law and neice LOVED this book, setting the other aside to read this one. They said I HAD to try and get it published. I sent out about 25 query letters and got answers from about 20. I signed with the very first one. (Don't EVER do that. Research everyone first. Trust me!) So on November 25, 2009 I got to hold my first published book in my hands. It was so exciting!!

I wanted creative control over my work. While technically I am a hybrid, since I am both traditionally and indie published, I wanted to be able to put my product out my way, not mention earning royalties as an indie author is MUCH higher pay than traditional sales. I did a lot of research in the busines...and I'm still learning more every single day. There is a lot to know, but it can really pay off in the long run. However, I worked straight 15-20 hour days for two years straight, trying to get things rolling before they took off. It worked, but only until my health crashed. I was simply taking on too much, between writing, marketing, signings, and events, my business was literally my life. So after a year of bad health and being unable to run the business, things had to be revamped. That revamp is still in progress, but I am smarter now and can control things better. Indie life is very rewarding, as long as you don't over do it. Would I take a traditional offer? It would have to be a big one. I like working for myself and my readers in my indie world. It's one of my joys in life!

Thanks for stopping by!