Q: Have you always wanted to be a writer?
A: I have. When I was just ten-years-old I spent a rainy day creating a children’s book for pure fun. I included illustrations, an About the Author page, and a dedication. By the time I’d written the last word, I was hooked. Since then, I’ve written news articles, feature stories, business copy…whatever would pay the bills until I could focus on fiction.
Q: Do you remember the first piece of fiction you ever sold?
A: Absolutely. It was my short story, She Looked Up. I was on cloud nine when I got that email. Unfortunately, the magazine folded prior to publication of the story. As depressing as that was, I turned around and sent it off again, this time to Orchard Press Mysteries Online. They, too, loved the story and it finally found a home.
Q: Of all the books you’ve written, do you have a favorite?
A: I love all of them for one reason or the other…
*Jury of One, was my first and it did better than I could have ever imagined—garnering an Agatha nomination for Best First Novel of 2005.
*The setting in Forecast of Evil couldn’t have been more perfect for a closed-room style mystery. It still gives me chills!!
*Marked by Fate was written just after I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. That book will forever remind me of the fact that I may have M.S. but M.S. doesn’t have me.
*The Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series, written under my pen name, Elizabeth Lynn Casey, has been a hoot to write. Because these books focus on women in a hobby circle, I’m able to write characters with a wide age range. I love that!
But if I had to pick a favorite, I’d have to say, Kayla’s Daddy (coming in January 2010 from Harlequin American Romance). Of everything I’ve ever written, this story proved to me that I am a writer. I took a chance on a genre I’d never tackled before and ended up loving every moment. The end result is a touching love story that literally brought tears to my eyes.
Q: Do you have any advice for writers?
A: Read, read, read. And never give up.
Q: What’s your favorite part of the writing process?
A: Watching a world I’ve created come to life on my computer screen.
Q: Do you have any writing quirks?
A: I like to write with my back to a wall. I like to eat candy corn during the final stretch of a book. And I have a very strange love for tough deadlines.
Q: If you could go back and do it all over again, would you want to be anything else?
A: No.
