Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up in a town very much like Millersburg, the town I created for the Millersburg Quartet. (And soon, for The Last Resort.) In fact, a woman I went to school with contacted me to tell me she recognized Millersburg - although I had changed some details to protect the innocent...or the guilty. *grins*
Like many small towns the real Millersburg has its own reality, and is a character itself, struggling to survive as a resort/college town without a lot of industry. The weekend farmers market mentioned in Dirty Politics, Director's Cut and Two Up was real when I lived there, and I went there often.
When did you first start writing?
*laughing* I think in the cradle. As a kid I was always making up stories from the TV shows I watched (my first fan fiction!) or making up my own. I had a VERY vivid fantasy life! My first published work was when I was eight - I wrote a book about dinosaurs and got an A. That was the start. I made forays into publishing over the years, and wrote a couple erotic novels for a small publishing house, but it was discovering Smashwords that convinced me to try self-publishing. I never looked back.
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