from the studio

I love to talk about writing. In fact, once I get going, it's hard to shut me up. So feel free to get in touch. I'll try and answer as many questions as I can, either here or in my blog.

1. What's your typical work day like?
   I'm a morning person, so I'm at my computer early. I work on new material for four or five hours, usually knocking off when I've got a kind of mental outline leading up to the next day's "gotcha" moment. Helps me get going the following morning. I take an hour or so for lunch and a long walk, then spend the afternoon on marketing or research on another book idea. I might do a few hours of research on the weekends, as well, but rarely do any actual writing. Weekend time is family time.
2. I read somewhere that you live on a boat. Is that true?
   Yes! Well, during the warmer months, anyway. Where we live, that's usually May through October. A boat's a wonderfully peaceful place to do creative work and I get a lot of writing done there; plus it's a great place to wake up in the morning. Think of it as a gently rocking summer cottage. During the cold months, we suck it up and move back to land where we have a couple acres of woods, a barn, a tractor and a garden that I make an enthusiastic and well-intentioned start on each spring—eventually giving up on it cause we're never around.
3. How long does it take you to write a book?
   Each one has been different. The first book I wrote, Margel's Madness, took seven years to finish, mostly because it was such a hard one to write. And though it's my first book to actually be published, Hunter Huntress was the second I wrote and took me four years. A lot of research in that one, plus it was originally drafted in past tense—something I eventually realized put too much emotional distance between the reader and the immediacy I was trying for in the story. So I rewrote the whole thing in present tense. Problem solved. I learned a lot about craft with that one.
   
   Matinicus, my most recently completed novel, took me two years which was a surprise considering it's actually a century-hopping double mystery that required a lot of research. Another surprise was the intense connection I felt with the male protagonist. This was my first time writing from a male point of view and it was a hoot! A challenge, certainly, but hardly as difficult as I thought it would be. I also made the leap to first person, present tense with this one—another real eye-opener for me, craft-wise.
   
   So far I've spent about two years on my current manuscript, a sequel to Matinicus called Reese's Leap (same male protagonist), and figure I've got maybe another year to go. There will be a third and final book in this series, as well, but I've decided to switch gears a bit first. I've an idea for another, very different novel—one I'm already researching, I'm that excited about it.
4. Did it take you a long time to get published?
   Sure felt like it, and there were times I was really frustrated, but I've heard stories of far longer waits than mine. Robert Persig's classic, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, was rejected by 121 houses prior to publication. By comparison, Hunter Huntress was turned down by a paltry 35 before Snowbooks picked it up. I did have an agent for a while, which is how everyone tells you to go, but after five years and no takers I decided to go it alone. Amazingly, that's when I found Snowbooks. So there you go. I recently read about another author, Karl Marlantes, whose debut novel Matterhorn was stuck in literary purgatory for more than thirty years before he found a publisher willing to take it on. This was just recently, and it's now getting rave reviews. He simply refused to give up. And that's the key, really. You need to have the attitude that "every no gets you closer to yes."
   
   This is both a very scary and tremendously exciting time to be publishing. Scary because the industry is in such turmoil right now. Publishers are less likely than ever to take a chance on new, unproven authors—especially authors of fiction. A chance at a debut is hard to come by. At the same time, all the new electronic innovations are working to broaden readership. In the end, that's what it's all about.