I’m so excited to finally share AUTUMN’S HEALING. It’s a bit of a departure for me, dabbling in the paranormal genre. Mikaylah MacDonough is dealing with an empty nest for the first time and when I started writing this story, so was I. It was a difficult topic for me to tackle. Normally writing is therapeutic and often helps me through life’s hurdles. But not this time. This was one of those stories I began, then had to put away for a while, until I was certain I was ready to face my own fears, as I’d found the worst of them wending their way into the plot. Though Mikaylah and I are both moms, I am the proud mama of three and married to my high school sweetheart for… well… what seems like ever — Kaylah is a single-mom of an only child and about to jump back into the dating game, at the urging of her teenage daughter. That’s about where the similarities end. This too is where I get to live vicariously through my characters, as Kaylah opens up to former serviceman, the scrumptious, Jerusalem Aames. A man who is struggling with reacclimating to civilian life with…

  Sharp carried a teapot in one hand and two mugs in the other. “You’ve had a tough night, so I’ll ignore your smart-assery.” Lance eased himself into the straight chair. “You know, most men would offer a friend a glass of whiskey after a traumatic event.” Sharp poured green tea into two mugs and set one in front of Lance. “Alcohol is a depressant. That’s the last thing you need right now.” Sigh. “Now that I can see for myself that you’re not dead, tell me what happened.” Sharp took his place behind the desk. Lance filled him in. “Just a typical Friday night.” Sharp laughed so hard, he wheezed. “It’s not funny,” Lance said. “You’re right. It’s not.” But his boss’s voice shook. “That was the worst job ever. I don’t know what bothered me more, the flying bullets or the melodrama.” Lance took a few deep breaths. “Not sure where we stand on the case.” “ Not much you can do when the client loses her frigging mind.” Sharp’s voice sobered. “Seriously, I’m glad she didn’t shoot you.” “I don’t know about this PI thing. I still miss being a cop,” Lance said. “I know that, and…

Secret passages have always captivated me. Growing up, one of my best friends lived in a 125 year old farm house that had three secret passages. One was in an upstairs bedroom that lead into the below kitchen pantry closet, then there was a fake bookcase that was really a door revealing a cozy little TV room, and one passage I was never able to see because I’m pretty sure it lead outside through a creepy storage shed. Needless to say, playing Clue in her house was always thrilling. As a daughter of an engineer, our house felt like it was decorated in blueprints. It took me until tenth grade to realize that knowing how to draft a room and knowing the signs for a shower, window, door, light fixture, sink, plumbing, and bath were not common knowledge. Apparently those kids did not design fake homes on graph paper during lazy Saturday morning family fun (they missed out). One of the great aspects of being an author is designing the setting for your novel. In previous novels, I’ve had fun imagining a bedroom or classroom, but with my newest novel I fell in love with the process of creating my…

I’m not a writer. Well, that’s not exactly true, clearly, because here I’ve just written a book. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I have trouble self-identifying as a writer after so many years in my current career…Classical Music Radio DJ. Huh? I used to say Classical Music Host, but no one got it. Then I said Classical Music DJ, but then someone asked me “So, what kind of parties do you hire a classical music DJ for?” That’s when I started throwing in the word ‘radio’ to distinguish myself from the guys who throw giant sunglasses and inflatable bananas at the crowd of a wedding reception while playing the Electric Slide. So, what is it, exactly, that I do do? I’m on the radio. I play a piece of classical music, I talk about it, I play another one. Lather, rinse, repeat. Though, to be fair, it’s a lot more interesting than that. I go out of my way to talk about the composers and performers in a way that makes them relevant to people who listen today. And, I suppose, this is where my inclination to write comes from. I like to tell stories. Interesting…