I haven't done a huge amount of promoting, mostly because I don't know what to do. My best sales are hand selling at conferences. If I can talk to a potential buyer, I usually get a sale.

I write at work. I have work papers everywhere, invoices, customer orders that need processing, notes from phone calls. It's organized chaos. I'm always scribbling book bits on those desk papers then tucking them under my keyboard, unusual names, dates or events I'm going to refer back to. Every once in a while a customer will get an invoice with a strange note on it. My daughter, who helps with my business, just says, "Oh, just ignore that. My mom is a weirdo."

I grew up in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and then spent my young adult years in Montana. My family didn't have a lot of money. We didn't have fancy toys and our vacations were camping. I had a lot of opportunity to imagine and because my brothers and sister liked to play pretend, I got to make up adventures for them. Living in so many different states, I went on to live in Maryland and Virginia before settling once again in Colorado, I got to experience different climates, different communities, lots of people with different views. It got my thoughts settled toward wondering how people's beliefs developed, not only religious beliefs, but political, social, and values in general. Also, moving so much, I was 'the new kid' and I'm introverted, so I keep to myself. My teachers were influential. Different teachers have differing values. All of that comes through in their teaching style whether they mean it or not. So I was exposed to a lot of views.

I started when I was in grade school. I loved to make up stories. I also loved to read. Two experiences were pivotal to me wanting to write and then believing that I could write.

The first was in fifth grade, our teacher read The Hobbit out loud to the class. It was clear that this teacher loved this book, but to me, it seemed unreal. All of the adults I knew read books that happened in real places. Middle Earth was fantasy. I hadn't realized at the time that adults read such stories. Since the world I was imagining for my stories wasn't Earth, I thought I would have to write for children. Then I would consider the violent nature of my imaginings and think it wasn't appropriate for a young reader. I felt stuck. But with this Hobbit experience, I realized that adults would read what I wanted to write. I still hadn't made the connection in my mind to SF/F, but I had the veil lifted.

Then in 6th grade, I read Shogun. The mini-series was on TV. I thought it was so amazing. I knew by then that books were better than TV, so I helped my brother with his paper route so I could earn the money to buy the paperback. The culture of 16th century Japan was so different from how I lived and believed. The idea of a person committing suicide for honor was mind boggling. I wondered how such a belief developed. It's one thing to claim a belief and quite another to take your own life in such a gruesome and painful way.

I write in two worlds, the world of the Trimar Republic and then I have a fantasy quest series that I am still developing. My TR books have room for many volumes. I've spent a lot of years developing this culture including the writing of a full evolutionary history. It was fun to get to incorporate my studies in genetics into my species development. I gave my humans PSI abilities and imagined a society that would result if things like telepathic communication, compulsion, and empathy on a level where not just emotions were sensed, but shared. So if I'm angry, anyone who senses me feels angry. And if I get hurt, those sensing me feel the same pain. Think about that the next time someone close to you has a headache, or a hangover, or smashes his finger in a door. It really gets the imagination rolling on what kinds of customs and laws might develop in such a community.

I have always had an I'll do it myself attitude. When I heard a talk on how the industry had changed making it possible to publish and be successful, I was all in. I know business, being a small business owner. Any item for sale, whether it is a book or a candy bar, needs an outlet and it needs to be noticed. There are plenty of outlets. Getting noticed is about marketing. I'm learning that part.

I love it when readers ask me questions about my world, or when they get curious about one of the plot lines. It's like the characters and world have become real to them. I also love it when readers say that my book made them think about their beliefs and values. That's super fun.

Fans are what writing is about. Fans can pull a book out of oblivion. That's powerful!

I'm working on Seer Guide, the third book in the TR series. Seer Guide will complete the first trilogy. I have a second trilogy that is already roughed out. Like I said in an earlier question, there is a lot that can happen in this world.

My favorite author is one that tells a well crafted story, with a believable plot in a thought provoking setting. I'm constantly on the search and am not a reader who buys only a handful of authors. I do enjoy Scott Card's books, not all of them, but most of them.

Honestly, it has nothing to do with writing. I own a small business. If I don't get up and get going, nothing gets done. I have eight employees who depend on me getting it all organized.

I subscribe to Book Bub and get offers from Books Go Social. I attend writer's conferences and also get recommendations from friends.

Yes, it was about a princess who is pledged to an arranged marriage, but her betrothed is awful and she is in love with someone else, someone she can never have. It was basically Romeo and Juliet. It was awful, all telling, head hopping. I still have it, which is scary. I think I need to burn it.

I do a lot of thinking and plotting. I have to have all of the back story straight or the writing goes very badly. If I get stuck on a scene, it is always from a lack of spotty back story development. Very little ends up on the page, but I have to know why a character is making these particular decisions. Back story flavors everything, from decisions to dialogue.

Once I have the plot down and I've decided who has the most to lose in any particular scene, then the writing goes pretty fast. I turn my chapters over to beta readers. After I get those comments back, I decide on changes, make notes, and keep writing. Once the whole book is written, I have 2 editing stages, then my final read through. It's amazing how much I miss. I'm not a good copy editor. So after the book goes live, I still find typo errors. I fix those and reload. I still don't catch them all. I hope people are gracious when they see a missing word or an if that is supposed to be an it.

I could read at 4, so no, not the first story, but i do remember reading The Bremen Town Musicians. The four old animals considered to have worn out their usefulness. I was sad for them. I thought then and still to believe that every life has value and that every person should take charge of his own life and give it meaning. No one can give you meaning, they can give purpose, but you are responsible for assigning meaning.

I tell my designer what I;m looking to convey. Then I look through models that have the look and expression that fits my vision. My artist is very good. She can manipulate a photo and combine to give the look I'm after. We usually go through 20-30 samples before the final is settled.

The Hobbit because it introduced me to adults loving fantasy
Shogun because it opened my imagination to beliefs I had never considered before and started my love of historical fiction
Roots for the same reason as Shogun but also because the descriptions of day to day life in an African village were amazing
The Stand because it wove a complex cast of characters and made me care about each one so convincingly.
The fifth spot is hard to fill. There are so many books I have loved. The ones listed above, I've read multiple times, so much that my copy fell apart and I had to buy new copies. Now I have them all on digital so they never wear out. I would put Card's Ender series in the last space. That is an amazing series, so well imagined. I loved the twist of the alien 'invaders' not being invaders at all.

my phone. It is with me always so my books are with me always. I wish the battery lasted longer!