I just finished a thriller about a grad student trying to write a thriller novel whose life takes on a frightening resemblance to the book she's writing. It's called "The Planck Factor" and you can pre-order it now.

My next novel is about a female ex-Marine with PTSD who works as an unlicensed private eye. Her client hires her to find his missing daughter and missing business partner who appears to have stolen from the business. The search leads her into a murder investigation that embroils her in dealings with the Russian mob.

Among my favorite authors are classic hardboiled mystery writers like Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ross Macdonald, and Gloria Fickling (who wrote the "Honey West" novels with her husband, Forest). I'm also a big fan of Robert Crais, Walter Mosley, Mark Twain, Terry Pratchett, Margaret Millar, Mercedes Lambert, and the list just goes on from there.

It's hard for me to get out of bed some days, because I have dystonia due to a stroke I suffered in 2004. But what gets me up and going is the knowledge that we have a short time to live. I believe in living each day as if it were my last. Life is too precious to waste by lying around feeling sorry for yourself.

This is why I eventually quit practicing law and started writing. It's not so much that I disliked legal practice. It's just that I kept thinking about all the time I put into that instead of writing, which was my greatest passion.

So, I try to start each day with a specific goal in mind. If I can do anything to get closer to reaching that goal, then I feel like I've spent my time well.

I think the first story I tried to write was a knock-off of a Nancy Drew mystery. All I remember was writing the first chapter. Then, I couldn't figure out what to do next. That's when I realized that storytelling was hard!

I like having a cover with eye-catching images and good color contrast that expresses the theme and feel of the story well. I prefer to have a professional designer create my covers, because even though you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, people do! :)