I got started late in the writing game. About four years ago, after retiring, I wrote a historical fantasy called HIDDEN BY THE ROSE ... a young hellion in 5th-century Britannia whose parents have died finds herself whisked to a strange place called "Faerie." There she makes friends who last throughout at least eight books. This first novel was pubbed by MuseItUp, along with three others which make up "The Twilight of Magic" sagas.

The first one was in the collection of Grimm Brothers fairy tales, a pretty macabre assortment of "let's scare the kid" stories. It was probably "The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf," a cautionary tale about minding one's mother and the ghastly results of selfishness. Well, both the story and the illustration are imbedded in my brain. I didn't always mind my mother, but by God I always stay away from mud puddles when I'm wearing new shoes.

A good cover is as important as a good story. I don't always have control ... as when my MS is in the hands of a publisher ... but when I do, here are the elements it must have: (1) strong, compelling design and color; (2) uncluttered and easy to read font; (3) design elements which reflect the mood and/or plot of the contents.

I have a Kindle Fire for reading in bed. Otherwise, I use the large screen of my iMac.

Most effective for me are the various Facebook groups targeted at my own genre/subgenre.. M/M romance and M/M mystery-adventure. The scattergun approach of other social media has not given me any tangible results. I must also say that, in spite of my having five of my own blogsites and appearing on dozens of others, I rarely sell many books via blog.

My desk is a cheerful clutter consisting of my fave coffee cup (holds a bunch) ... scraps of paper and a few pens ... an Epson printer covered with a comfy throw for my supervisor cat ... a stuffed Peter Rabbit given to me by my husband last Easter which the cat likes to watch crash and burn.

I grew up virtually on the highest mountain in Eastern Nevada. And yes, that has profoundly affected my writing. Many of my books are either based right there in the Wheeler or Snake Range, or the settings in my books reflect my love of the land and people I grew up with. I have a series called "Noble Dimensions"—contemporary westerns which are set in a fictional Eastern Nevada. My current series, including the first book NEVADA HIGHLANDER, takes place right there on Mt. Moriah. Even a romance set in 5th-century Ireland is set in the mountains of Northern Ireland and reflects the values and the surroundings of my youth.

As of the end of June, 2018, I am well into the fourth NEVADA HIGHLANDER novel. An early blurb might be:

Getting married is not the problem for Rory and Alex. The main obstacle to a happy union is finding a place to call home, as far away from convention as Hunter’s Point is distinct from Castle Drummond.

When they do find their ideal…a lovely hideaway in the Highlands…the bigger-than-life Scot and his unpaid cop of a future husband also find that a few devils have poked leathery wings into their heaven in the form of ignorance, prejudice—and murder most foul.

My latest book, THE KILT COMPLEX, is the story of two men, lovers, who must confront real life after the romance wears off. It's set on the rough eastern seacoast of Scotland. When Alex chafes at being Rory's boy toy, he moves out of his lover's castle and sets up a small place close by. That act sets everything else in motion. They find a dog and, tracing its owner, get tangled in a blackmail scheme and a murder. By the end of the book, they've drawn even closer than before.

I am not a patient person. I've found myself gnashing my teeth over the looooong process of editing, getting my stuff onto better-known sites than my pub's website, and hoping and praying the cover won't be too gawdawful. Being an indie, I can indulge my "tedious perfectionist" tendencies and, while I'm at it, make more money too.

As of this writing (July 1, 2018), I am about 10K words into the fourth NEVADA HIGHLANDER, one of my most popular series: a Scot with more swag than an 18-wheeler and a Colombian ex-Nevada State Trooper meet and mate. The series ranges from Nevada to Scotland, from the Nevada mountains to Scotland's North Sea, and again to the mountains...the real Highlands. A blurb for this book might read lke this:

Getting married is not the problem for Rory and Alex. The main obstacle to a happy union is finding a place to call home, as far away from convention as Hunter’s Point is distinct from Castle Drummond. When they do find their ideal…a lovely hideaway in the Highlands…the bigger-than-life Scot and his unpaid cop of a future husband also find that a few devils have poked leathery wings into their heaven in the form of ignorance, prejudice—and murder most foul.

[This answer post-dates the one you see in the interview.]

The novel STAG HEART came out April 13, 2018. A historical fantasy, it recounts the story of three men: the counselor to Ireland's high king, his close relative from ancient Scotland, and the king's rogue son. What happens when a wilding—an innocent young man—is thrown together with a highly attractive but morally corrupt house mate? Mischef and mayhem ensue.