An effective cover must be simple and eye-catching with a short title that exemplifies the story line. Font, size and placement should correlate with the genre and be readable as a thumbnail photo.

My first recollection of a story was lying on the floor with my sister and father in the darkness of a blanket over our heads as he told a story of the swamp man. It was very frightening as he described the man rising from a swampy shoreline walked to shore not far from our home. My father told us many stories about the mysterious man who frightened children but was kind and always helped them.

My favorites across genres include:
If You Want to Write - A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit (1938) Brenda Ueland
A philosophy on writing and life from a journalist, writer and teacher with twelve points to keep in mind when writing. A small book with a big message that made me want to write..

The Alienist (1994) Caleb Carr
Tracking a serial child-killer in 1896 in NYC during the politics and crises in a day of foot traffic and carriages, when psychologists were known as alienists. A compelling read that begins with: Theodore is in the ground.

Crazy for the Storm (2010) Norman Ollestad
A compelling well-written memoir of survival that opens with a mountain plane crash and carries the reader on the waves of an uninhibited surfing life with his garrulous father.

Beach Music (1994) Pat Conroy
A tome of flowery writing with a compelling story of recovery, discovery and acceptance after a wife’s suicide.

The Bridges of Madison County (1992) Robert James Waller
A remarkable story of love.

Peyton Place (1956) Grace Metalious
It opens with: Indian summer is like a woman. Ripe, hotly passionate, but fickle, she comes and goes as she pleases so that one is never sure whether she will come at all, nor for how long she will stay. In the small conservative post WWII New England town the lives of three women unwind in tales of hypocrisy, incest, abortion, lust and murder. A study of humanity and survival.

The Gift of Fear – Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence (1997) Gavin De Becker Written by an expert in predicting violent behavior. He instructs the importance of following intuition, danger signals, avoidance of becoming a victim of stalking and domestic abuse. The information will make you safer. I have given this book to many girls and women, but it would be valuable for all genders.

The Stand (1978) Stephen King
All one thousand pages and I didn’t want it to end. It was difficult to get into, but living in King’s post-apocalyptic world destroyed by a plague reminds me our coronavirus pandemic and mass deaths.

At bedtime I read science news and medical updates, otherwise, thrillers and current political nonfiction.

My Kindle Fire

My best seller is a true crime, Eyes of a Pedophile. I think most those sales are topic driven. Marketing is my least favorite part of writing.

I'm an early morning writer and love my cluttered desk that faces east where I am energized as I watch sunrise over the Rocky Mountains. With two monitors toward the right side, one for composition, the second for editing, researching or read the latest news, Around the desk area I have photos of my favorite people and places. Instructional and inspirational vignettes are tacked on a surrounding narrow cork board: An excerpt from The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman; Scene and Structure reminders from Jack M. Bickham; The Constitution: "No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. And a reminder from writing guru Dennis Foley - Scenes must: move the plot forward, reveal character, increase conflict and not bore the reader. I am surrounded by a backyard where neighborhood deer and wild turkeys visit. They bring fawns and fledglings by for photos. My black lab, and a German shepherd mix rescue dog are wonderful company at all hours of the day and night..

Memories of growing up on the lakes in northern Minnesota resort country with the eerie call of the loons is with me today. It was an idyllic area to live as a child with loving parents, siblings, grandparents, extended family and numerous friends in a small town on the shores of Cass Lake. The formative low stress setting with time to enjoy the water and a woodsy lifestyle impacted my writing and life choices, including the desire to live in rural settings From Nevada and Washington to Alaska and Montana, my fiction contain glimpses of childhood experiences and a later rural lifestyle of hiking, skiing, dog sled racing and flying.

I've had many memorable events, too many to pick just one. Including the following: Climbing Mount Rainer and staying overnight on the summit, flying a sailplane to 20,000 feet over the Sierra Nevada mountains on oxygen, taking aerobatic flight lessons, doing loops, rolls and hammerheads, racing sled dogs in Alaska, graduating from medical school with honors at age 42, having a great husband who encouraged me to do what I wanted to do, having a great son & daughter-in-law and living long enough to see my perfect granddaughter reach age 16. Oh, and I survived breast cancer and a plane crash in snowy mountains with multiple fractures, requiring helicopter rescue. I've driven formula Fords and driven faster than many people in a Porsche 928 on Seattle International Raceways. I'm a marksman, knitter, painter and writer with too many projects to count, but on August 2nd I did something I never imagined would be possible. I climbed the winding staircase to the Land of Octogenarians. I can't believe I'm 80!

I wrote a few short stories in high school and recorded interesting incidents during my decade as a registered nurse working in a large trauma hospital in WA and later in the Alaska bush country. Most of my life has been writing objective findings, patient histories and letters. After completing many years of medical training and settling in Montana I wrote a rambling medical thriller that sat in a file for a decade. I published my first book after joining a writers' organization and critique group. I was compelled to write Eyes of a Pedophile, the true crime life story of a notorious pedophile I met through my ER work. After caring for so many abused children in my ER work, I had hope the information could save children from harm.

Incest. This is a pervasive problem. The harm is so grave even the topic of discussion is verboten in most settings, as in my family. The story of my great grandfather who impregnated his daughter was a terrible disgrace and hidden. His daughter never received the support or help she needed, and her daughter was raised as an adopted cousin named Sophia. The family secret was revealed only when my mother told my oldest sister not long before my mother died. When I later attempted to research the issue, the only surviving relative with the story, my mother's sister, refused to speak on the topic even though she knew Sophia.

At age 95, Aunt Lucille took the story to her grave. This family history, plus the fact so many friends, male and female, came to me with stories of their own incestuous abuse after I wrote and spoke about pedophilia compelled me to write about incest.

Out of necessity to maintain anonymity, the story line and characters in Papa Dearest are fictitious but based on interviews and extensive research..

A combination of factors. I had friends who were successful indie authors who encouraged me to publish this way. After indie-publishing my first book, I found the control and freedom a good fit. I am happy in this setting.