What’s your Call story?

Trouble Comes Knocking, my book coming out in November, was my first real “Call” story. I submitted my book to Karen Grove at Entangled on December 24th, knowing her read-time was about five weeks. Three weeks later I got my first e-mail back from her, asking about the series. I giggled and danced around the house. I immediately sent back a response, then panicked for the next week because I was afraid I hadn’t thought my response through or been professional enough in my answer. I’m pretty sure it had a lot of !!! and   . Maybe even a few LOL’s. That being said, my Valentine’s present was an actual call From Karen. My fourth sale and first call. I waited all day and told myself over and over it wasn’t a big deal if she didn’t want the book. She said she loved it and contracted for the first three books in my series. Swoon!

What is your favorite thing about writing?

Oh man, what’s not to love? I think my favorite thing is finding things in my stories I didn’t realize were there. In Trouble Comes Knocking I wrote almost the entire book thinking one person was the “bad guy.” It wasn’t until almost the end of the book that I realized who the real baddie was and had my ending. What a rush! Or finding out a character has more layers than I thought they had. These aren’t things that always occur to writers as we’re first writing. For me, at least, I have to go back and find those hidden gems that make the stories so unique.

Have you ever had any fan-girl moments when you met a favorite author?

Oh yes and how! In 2006 I went back to school as a Biology major intent on going to med school (a lifelong dream of mine). I needed a sophomore English credit so since I’d always enjoyed writing, I looked at the creative writing classes at my local college. That’s when I saw that one of my favorite authors Evelyn Vaughn/Von Jocks was TEACHING at the college. I signed up for her class lickity-split and drooled over my chance to meet her. She truly is as awesome in real life as any author you could ever meet. I sold my very first story and my first book because of things she taught in that class. Again, Swoon!

Tell us about your upcoming release.
 
My book Trouble Comes Knocking is coming out this November through Entangled Publishing. It’s the first book of my Trouble series, with the second book Unspoken Trouble tentatively scheduled for February and Burning Trouble tentatively scheduled for June. My character Lucy Carver is basically a young Sherlock Holmes before Holmes realized he was too cool for school. Lucy works with the local police department helping them solve mysteries, all the while unable to unravel the truth about her own mysterious past. The series is a New Adult mystery series. Think Nancy Drew but able to drive and slightly more kick-ass.

What’s your go to comfort food when writing stresses you out?
 
Ugh. Okay, so if it’s actual writing stress, I want chocolate and Slim Jims. Don’t know why that combo fixes me, but that’s the fix. If it’s editing stress, all I want are tacos or goopy Mexican food. Why is it we never crave celery when we’re stressed? *grin*

Random Fact: Walking Dead, or Dancing with the Stars?

You mean they aren’t the same show? *lol* I kid, I kid. Walking Dead. I liked Dancing with the Stars when it first started, when none of the celebrities knew what the heck they were doing and the dances weren’t as fancy…to me it was more charming then. Walking Dead, on the other hand, doesn’t try to charm. I love that they pick off main characters left and right and I find myself really drawn into the devolution of the title characters as the show progresses. I love flawed characters and that show doesn’t try to make anyone looked overly perfect. Which, for me, is perfection.