I grew up in middle Georgia (USA) on a small farm along with six siblings, two parents, a grandmother, 200 chickens and an old dog. I started telling "ghost stories" around ten years old that scared my mother worse than my listeners (mostly the old dog) A cousin encouraged me to start writing them down and a half dozen wire bound notebooks later, I had what one might call a book of short stories. Then I came home from school one afternoon and our home place had burned to the ground, notebooks and all. I almost didn't start over again but the itch to write and entertain readers was strong and the loss in the fire put a fear in my heart that I hold to this day. My published books of today are a mix of horror or ESP driven characters and Mystery/Suspense and you can bet your bottom dollar that I have copies in fire proof safes and online in cloud servers. Most important of all, I found out quickly in life that if I wasn't having a good time writing a story, then nobody would have a good time reading it and that is my credo as a writer. Have fun and your readers will follow.

I was thrilled the day a publisher signed me to a contract for the Whispering Pines Mystery series I write (9 books and counting) but a year into that contract, the publisher went belly up but kept selling mine and 200 other books by contracted authors and kept the money. It took me a year of legal brawls and threats before I as released from the contract but it taught me a lesson. With today's technology I realized there was no need for a publisher (in my case at least) and took the plunge into the Indy world. That was two years ago as of this writing and I've never looked back; never wanted to go back. I'm doing well and the future is bright as an Indy author.

Mark Coker suggested to all of the Smashwords authors with more than one book in a series, to highly discount or even give away the first book. I began doing that six months ago and the results are started to show in an uptick in sales of the rest of the series. Mark knows the business better than anyone and Smashwords not only sells on site, but distributes to all the major sellers on earth. Having Smashwords take care of the headaches involved in distribution is a life save and leaves me much more time to write. His success is my success so I'm a hard core fan of what Mark has created and continues to improve.

To me, writing is a curse more than a blessing. If I don't get something down on paper daily I feel like I'm going to explode. So I write because I'm cursed to be an author.. and blessed to feel the thrill and elation of hearing readers tell me they enjoyed my creation. The good reviews I drool over.. the bad ones I learn from.. the rest I ignore. (trolls.. sock puppets etc)

What inspires me to get out of bed each day is this irritable urge to pee. (HA)

When not writing, I'm working with my hands. I love tools both mechanical and wood working but I'm a master of neither.