Doc said “No more 15 hour days sitting at your PC. You’re exacerbating your back injury.” So with my move and downsizing, I purchased a stand up desk. Now I work vertical with a padded mat underfoot. This upright desk, as opposed to my former expansive L-shaped desk, offers little room for clutter and I must utilize a side table for my printer and reference books. I sometimes become animated when writing, working out the gestalt of my characters' dialogues and movements. It’s easier standing up. I feel on the verge of taking off, ready for anything. I even type faster. Most of all, my lumbar has stopped hurting.

I grew up in a rural farm area, cut off from town. Dad worked sun up to sun down; Mom didn’t drive. As a child I had no access to libraries and such so didn’t read much As I grew older, I began to read a lot of the older writers like Hemingway and Steinbeck. They are only two I read among many, but it was Hemingway’s "The Old Man and the Sea" that influenced my first novel, "The Tropics." Yet, this nonconformist does not ascribe to a certain influential writing style. Writing a great story is my ultimate goal.

Once I had two stories ideas that simply wouldn’t jell. When I attended a class reunion in my childhood hometown area of California’s Sacramento River Delta, not only did I find a locale for a story, but the two plots crashed together into one big book that has won two major awards. That book is River Bones, which has a sequel out almost ready to go to paperback, with another sequel on the way. Though the setting changes in each sequel, the River Delta is home base for the characters.

I have had two literary agents represent me. The first one submitted a whole manuscript in first draft form to all the big houses instead of working with me to polish the story like she offered. I received all rejections. The second wanted to get my print-on-demand book, a sea adventure and the only one published at the time, into the hands of the big houses. That book is written in three entwined novellas including some torchy love scenes. The agent promptly broke the book into three stories and sent them out separately to various small publishers, one a children’s Christian publisher.

For a while I continued to publish with a print-on-demand. However, that company priced books too high. Amazon requires that the order to reduce prices must come from the original email that posted the book. The print on demand company had since moved from one state to another and no longer maintains the needed email. Publishing my own books now gives me full control.

I’ve always been a story teller but never had an audience. Being rear-ended in a car accident left me severely limited for a few years in what I could do, but my mind still functioned at warp speed. I began to write. The greatest joy was to feel the creative energy that flowed through me as I lived out a dream. Once a story is finished, I’m left with the feeling of having completed something major. Developing an idea replete with feelings, emotions and purpose provides the understanding of accomplishment that we all need.

The third book in the River Bones – A Sara Mason Mystery series is proving to be the most difficult sequel yet. I’m also writing a nonfiction. Too, I work on short stories when ideas come and have enough material to form another short story collection, albeit some stories lacking polish as yet. Am toying with the idea of putting together a poetry book complete with my own photographic images apropos to each piece. A plethora of other novels in rough note or outline form, and more nonfiction topics, are juggling up in queue.

Often times my dreams inspire me to get out of bed... immediately. The idea for my novel, The Ka, came from a colorful and vivid dream. I immediately jumped out of bed and spent five hours describing in minute detail all I had seen in the dream.

Creativity – that’s my beloved Muse – is what gives me purpose to rise and go about my day. The idea of creating and finishing something new drives me. The idea of creating something from which others might benefit is a motivator. I do not write to please others, but others reading fiction can be a relaxing diversion and producing nonfiction can offer help and inspiration to those who seek it.

Among all this, I desire to leave something of value behind once I’m gone, whether it be from writing, art or photography.

Writing is not my only creative outlet. I’m an oil painter and photographer maintaining two online galleries and am vigilant about time management.

When I found myself with an empty nest, I decided to do something I’d always wished to do. Paint. Too, I have always had a camera. Now I turn my photo images into salable art. Some of my own photographs are the basis for my paintings.

I have a firm belief: If you have a strong desire to do something, try it. Your desire is telling you that you are already capable and simply need to activate that part of you.

I’m active on several writers’ sites. We are always promoting our books. Inevitably a story will catch my attention. Too, I receive a lot of newsletters and other announcements touting books. In rare instances when time allows I will peruse the lists on Smashwords or Amazon. I maintain a list of books to read both in paperback and on my Kindle. Likewise, I maintain a list of others’ manuscripts to edit, though I must limit the latter.

I wake between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. each morning, even weekends. I go straight to my computer. If I’m working on a project, invariably I will have new material to include, or a problem will be solved in the writing. Many times, I wake with a fresh story and must log that before continuing on anything else.

I write for a good 6 hours, maybe more if I’m on a creativity binge. My roommate may bring me coffee, but lately I’ve taken breaks to fortify myself with fresh fruit or vegetable concoctions made in my new juicer. I may write till noon-ish, then go out for my one main meal of the day and a long walk. Once I return, I’ll edit what I’ve written or leave it sit and work on my photo images instead. I might also submit some stories into contests or for publication if I have something ready. Though I might jump in and out of online sites all day, late in the day, I make the rounds of the writers’ sites I frequent, or I read.

Getting housework done? How do you do that?

The book cover must represent the overall theme of what’s between those covers. It requires a certain amount of originality. I do not know how romance writers can keep coming up with those images of a handsome half naked hunk of a guy with a girl in full costume required by each story. So many romance novels. Every cover different, yet all the same. It’s more difficult, for example, to assign an image to a reference book that’s loaded with grammar teachings and writing instruction. Covers for mysteries seem much easier simply because so much more detail is included in these stories.

I was given a Kindle for my birthday a few years ago. I am now on my third upgrade. I know nothing else and am extremely happy with mine. It’s back lit and can be read anywhere in any light without picking up reflections on the screen. It really doesn’t matter the eReader as long as publishers like Smashwords and others make the books available in all formats.