Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Where is your next booksigning?

Please keep checking the announcements on my home page for updated news of public booksignings.

Do you visit reading groups?

Absolutely! Authors enjoy talking about their work and receiving feedback from readers. If you are local to the Harrisburg, PA area and would like me to visit your reading group or to make a presentation for your organization, please contact me.

Are your novels suitable for young people?

The Perry County mystery books are mainstream mysteries containing language and violence similar to what a young person would be exposed to on network television. In my opinion, the content is appropriate for teen readers.

Where did you learn how to write?

In my various day jobs, I spent many years writing environmental assessments, technical reports, grant applications, user manuals, and technology plans. That experience helped me to learn about the mechanics of writing. Once I decided to become serious about creative writing, I started attending writer's workshops, conferences, and joined a critique group. I continue to participate in these writing activities. The learning process never ends.

Do you write full time?

No. Earning a living by just being a novelist is very difficult.

Where do you get your story ideas?

Creativity is a gift that is difficult to explain. When it comes to writing, impressions from things that I've experienced, seen, heard, or read about, find their way onto the page.

How did you get published?

Entire books have been written on this subject. Aspiring authors soon discover that the rejection rate is very high. My best answer for this question is to continue perfecting your writing by attending writer's conferences, join critique groups, network with other authors, agents, and editors, keep reading, keep writing, and keep up a thick skin.

What books do you like to read?

In non-fiction, I continue to read "how to" books by other successful authors, agents, and editors. For example, Stephen King's On Writing and Ayn Rand's The Art of Fiction are excellent references.

In fiction, I tend to read the same type of books that I like to write - action packed thrillers, mysteries, and speculative fiction. For a change of pace, I sometimes enjoy reading classics or literary works.

Here is my fiction reading list completed during 2009.

The Darkest Evening of the Year - Dean Koontz
Pardners - Roy F. Chandler
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Now & Then - Robert B. Parker
The First Eagle - Tony Hillerman
The Raw Shark Texts - Steven Hall
Thy Kingdom Come - Don Helin
Kevin Doyle and the Mystery of Butu Island - David R. Stewart
Swan Song - Robert McCammon
Storm Glass - Maria V. Snyder
Patient Zero - Jonathan Maberry
Tea Time for the Traditionally Built - Alexander McCall Smith
Contagious - Scott Sigler
Murder on Waverly Place - Victoria Thompson
The Man in the Moon - Tom Tancin
The Neighbor - Lisa Gardner
New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
The Yellow Stone - T.M. Crone
One Second After - William R. Forstchen
Patriots - James Wesley, Rawles
The Doomsday Key - James Rollins
Michael Doyle, the Demon out of Ireland - David R. Stewart
The Law of Nines - Terry Goodkind
Witch Ball - Kathleen Coddington
One Soul For Sale - Cate Masters
Picture This - Cate Masters
Dies The Fire - S.M. Stirling
The Protector's War - S.M. Stirling
A Meeting at Corvalis - S.M. Stirling
The Rift - Walter J. Williams
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
It Came from Beyond the Sun - Mike Silvestri

What will you be writing next?

Dancing Bear due to be released in April 2010 will be my fourth Perry County Mystery. I'm taking a break from that series to work on a post-apocalyptic novel. I'll keep you informed through this website and my Amazon Author Page so stay tuned!