After your debut novel, was it difficult coming up with inspiration for the second?
My second novel, Bake Until Golden, is the sequel to Half Baked Women. In reality, the writing seemed to flow out easily, once I convinced myself there were more stories to investigate about my four central characters: Carney, Breeze, Nikki and Margaret. I moved their lives along five years later. We find them slugging through that difficult post college transition, as they move from classes and studying to the real life struggle of finding jobs and soul mates, hoping to support themselves financially and emotionally. They meet with mixed success. Each follow different career paths that eventually separate the four friends. It was fascinating going through the decisions made by these four very different ladies. The characters seemed to make their own decisions for me; I was just the conduit bringing their actions and dialog to life. It has been a fascinating process.
What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
About a chapter into my debut novel, Half Baked Women, it hit me how writing fiction frees you of any constraints you may have. You can indulge a fantasy, embellish a minor story into something that goes beyond the norm, you can change the outcome of an event. That is quite an uplifting power. I have to keep pushing myself each day to go a bit beyond the edge and not stick to just what I know, but seek out the unexpected.
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