A Little About You……….
I’m an urban fantasy novelist, originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, but now living in Southern Arizona. 
I’m married, have two kids, three cats, and a Border Collie. I’ve been writing since I was 12, but just in the past year or so, have I decided to pursue getting my work published. I’m not getting any younger and I want to leave my kids with the impression that they can do anything they want as long as they’re willing to put the time and effort into it.
When I’m not writing, I’m reading or knitting or crocheting or watching the NHL on TV. I’m a huge fan of the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
A Little About Your Writing……….
I write the kind of stories that I like to read about. I like paranormal, fantasy, and murder mysteries, and I try to have elements of all these in whatever I write.
FAERIE TALES, which is set to be released on the 27th of September, is my debut novel, but it’s a story that’s been kicking around my head for the better part of ten or eleven years now. It’s about a reporter who is also a were-cat, and her numerous run-ins with the Fae. In order to protect herself, she agrees to steal a magical artifact and bring it to the Summer Queen. It’s the first book in a trilogy that I’m calling The Revelations Trilogy. I’m currently working on the second book in the series. It’s called–for now, anyway–SILVER SHACKLES.
The trilogy is introduced with a short story, called THE NIGHT OF REVELATIONS, which is available on Amazon.
What Inspired You To Start Writing?
Believe it or not, it was a song by a 1980s hair metal band, called White Lion. The song is called “Lady Of The Valley” and it’s a story about a boy who loses his older brother in a war. He brings his brother’s body to a witch or a healer or something like that, and asks her to bring his brother back to life. I was 12 when I wrote my story and I gave it to my English teacher to read and edit. She said it was really good and I was hooked.
How Has Writing Changed Your Life?
I honestly can’t remember a time when I wasn’t making up stories to one degree or another. I think I was born to be a writer. Writing them down and getting them out of my head has taught me discipline. It’s taught me to accept criticism, to not internalize bad reviews. It’s given me purpose and direction and an excuse to have my nose in a book whenever my fingers aren’t on the keyboard.
What Is Your Favourite Book, Ever?
This is not a very fair question! I don’t have favorite books, I have favorite authors. Two of them, in fact, and their writing has had a HUGE influence on my own writing.
The first is Diana Gabaldon, who writes the Outlander series. Her vivid descriptions, her characters, her ability to capture a lost period of time in such an amazing way and make it seem as if I were actually there in mid-18th century Scotland or fighting alongside the Colonists during the American Revolution is something that I greatly admire. I try to bring that to my own work.
The second is Jim Butcher, who writes the Dresden Files series. His voice, I think, is what captured me. His ability to blend serious and sarcastic in the same scenes is so frighteningly similar to the way I am that when I first read STORM FRONT, the first book in the series, I knew I’d found something special. And the fact that he has Fae in his books, too, certainly didn’t hurt.
What Is The Best Piece Of Writing Advice You Could Give, And Why?
It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be written.
The first draft should be your vomit draft. Just sit down and write. Don’t edit. Don’t worry about the details of proper grammar or even spelling. Don’t go back over what you wrote the day before and edit it. Just purge the story from your system. Once the first draft is done, then allow your inner editor to go mad. But until that first draft is done, don’t allow that editor to speak a single word.
If You Were A Dragon, What Kind Of Dragon Would You Be?
I think I’d have to be a Chinese dragon. They’re symbols of strength and good luck, two things I’ve often needed throughout my life and my writing.