Podunk Iowa....actually Duncombe. The town is a blink of an eye off the highway...literally a blink. Small town life isn't always for everyone. People know your business before you do and mistakes are carried with you for years, but you learn about community, respect, and how it feels to be safe. I never feared playing outside or walking to the gas station alone. Living in a small town gave me a sense of wanting more out of life because, frankly, you don't see much in rural Iowa. It gave me a chance to be myself without fear. That's a great gift for a writer. When I grew up, I left it knowing no matter where I go, it'll still be home.

There's a process??? To be quite honest, I have no process....unless you call a menagerie of sticky notes and random half paragraphs scattered across my floor and table a process. I have millions of ideas floating around my head all the time. Once in a great while I snag one and build from it. The character tells me where to go, eh, sometimes I don't like to follow, but when that door opens and the story is revealed, and I finally "get it"....those are the moments that calm my demons. One thing is for sure, if it doesn't feel true to character or true to the story, I'll scrap and it...even thousands of words deep....if it doesn't feel right I don't move forward.