I wrote the Day It Rained Candy in 1985. I was in elementary school and won a ribbon.

An idea pops in my head. I work out the outline and all the scenes in my head and then sit down and type it all out.

The Three Investigators mystery series was the first set of books that got me hooked on reading outside of school. I was reading seventy books or more per year after that.

I have an idea of what I want my cover to look like and I search for an artist that has what I'm looking for.

The Stand by Stephen King. It is the perfect good vs evil novel.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare. I consider this his greatest story.
Black Death by R. Karl Largent. Not only was Karl one of my first mentors, this book had me on the edge of my seat.
Strangers by Dean Koontz. This was the first novel of his that I read. I love alien encounters.
Bunga by Mark Cusco Ailes. Yes, this was written by my brother. This was the first novel I was working as an editor on. I was there from the start back in 1996 when it was originally titled: The Tree of No Boundaries. It was hand written and I typed the first complete draft onto my word processor. I had fun working on that project. I'm glad my brother owns the rights to it now and reissued it as the first novel in the Ray Cycle Adventure Series

Horror Anthologies. The creepier the story, the better.

I have a kindle app on my laptop.

Public appearances has been my most effective tool. I set up at book fairs, conventions and any craft show, etc, my brother and I can find.

Valparaiso, Indiana. Valparaiso is the setting in a lot of my horror short stories.

1985 is when I discovered my passion for writing. You can blame Return of The Jedi for that. I wrote a scifi series, Power Force, from 1985-1996. 2015 will be the possible release for the series reboot.

In October Mark Cusco Ailes & I will release: Second Journey Into the Unknown. This is our second horror anthology together. I attended the Walker Stalker Con this year in Chicago. The thought popped into my head: what happens if a real zombie outbreak happened at Walker Stalker Con? Furnado is based on a fake movie poster "CatFurnado" that was posted on April 1st this year that went viral. Claws was inspired by the t-shirt I bought that was a parody of the movie poster to Jaws with a cat instead of a shark. Lake Shore Dive is my disaster story. With all the sinkholes happening around the world, I thought it was time for a Mega Sink Hole to occur. Class of 1994 is about an alien invasion that takes place during a high school reunion. I was inspired to this because my 20th was this year. Day of the Redhead is a retelling by Mark and I (we collaborated on this one) of my first short story: The Night of the Living Reds. I wrote this one in high school. It's about a man that sells his soul to the devil to have the woman of his dreams fall in love with him, a redhead. What happens is that every redhead in the world falls in love with him.

My brother's success with self publishing.

Having people read my work plain and simple.

Karena: Anthology of a Teenage Witch

Going to horror conventions meeting all the celebrities. I also go to the movies constantly.