Thank you! I am tickled to be interviewed by Fallen Angels!

Erotic Dreams and Satin Sheets was my first published work of fiction. It's a collection of dark fiction short stories for adults.

Ravished Wings is my first published novel. It's an erotic fantasy set in the time of Charles Martel's campaign to force Christianity upon the pagan tribes of Germany. Ravished Wing is a romance as well as a tale of good versus evil. The swanmaiden's daughter, Odette, was orphaned before discovering her mother's divine heritage. Now banished by her vengeful sister, Lady Vanda, Odette is escorted by her sympathetic brother-in-law into the safe haven of Athla. In this fabled realm the law decrees that Odette must learn the rites of the Great Balance, or the sensual equilibrium between men and women. While Odette is initiated into the disciplines of passion and surrender under the strict hand of Mistress Helrose, powerful forces are at work beyond Athla's boundaries. The vampire priests of the god Loki, by aid of Vanda, seek to possess Odette in order to honor their dark deity. But Loki's motives include more than a mere rite.. for he seeks release from his ancient prison for a single purpose -to destroy sensuality and love forever from the world of mankind.

Usually a story evolves from a single idea; but characters develop their own personalities during the course of the writing, and plot situations that at first seemed consistent often prove to need reconsideration. So, even when I can write a basic story from start to finish, I will always go back and check for inaccuracies. And if I think something needs rework or more detail, or even dismissed altogether, I'll work to fix these things before the story feels complete.

My preference is to be involved. I think an author knows more about what they want conveyed visually to the potential reader than anyone else. And it helps to have an artist who actually takes the time to know the story and the author's thoughts regarding the story. With Ravished Wings, the artist who did the cover was very interested in my thoughts while she developed the cover art. Unfortunately, not all publishers care what an author wants.

When I was a kid. I liked to write little stories, for which I'd add "art work" to go along with the narrative. My mother would then bind the stories together, for keepsakes I suppose. As a teen I liked to write poetry, and ventured into fantasy and romantic stories. I even wrote a couple of novels back then, very amateurish manuscripts, of course. But they helped solidify the desire to write professionally.

Right now my interests have changed a little. As I also write under a pseudonym, I've had to give up a lot of my other interests to keep focused. I was modeling for a time, but in my area of the south, the pickings are very slim in this line of work unless you want to be out of town for extended periods of time. But I do love to spend fun time as much as possible with my children. I also still enjoy planting herbs and flowers, though now I don't have the time to make perfumes and oils with them as I once did. And spending time with my husband has always been, and always will be, extremely important to me.

Yes, usually the books do come one at a time, though there are a couple of storylines started but waiting in the wings, so to speak. As for the characters, once in a while one will impress me as anxious to have their story involvement wrote down. It was that way with the character of Arduin in Ravished Wings. Arduin is a mythos-come-to-life character; representative of the Christ-like aspect found in the male Godhead of every religion. He is a secondary character in the novel, but his experiences important to the plot. One chapter had to wait to be finished so I could go ahead and write his contributions. In the end, I was very happy for Arduin's interruption.

If I had to pick one, it would probably be Odette. Her character is most reflective of my own mindset, and the things she learns through training in the Great Balance representative of many truths I hold to.

Knowing that there are some people who have bought my books and really enjoyed them. This sounds simplistic, yes, but I sought publishing in the first place to share my work with others. It's a great satisfaction to know you've entertained someone whom you have never met.

Real people have conflicting ethics and emotions, and this I try to imbue in my characters. There are issues from our pasts and selves, issues with cultural expectations, and so forth, which make us unique individuals. All these things I try to take into account when developing a character. Characters should be realistic, never cardboard. Cardboard is boring and a discredit to any writer's work, and insulting to the reader.

It should have been classified as Dark Fiction. The original contract I signed with that particular publisher defined the stories in an ambiguous way, describing the collection as stories with erotic content. And while a few of them do have erotic content, not all of them do. I thought the inclusion of this term a legal Disclaimer at best, as I didn't want it sold to minors. I was very ignorant at that time to the possible repercussions of letting them have the collection this way. And so it was sold as erotica -under a title NOT of my creation or preference- and unfortunately still is. To get out of having to let the publisher have first rights to refusal for my subsequent works, I had to sign a secondary contract. Within it I am under a gag clause not to mention the particulars, and due to this clause, I can't go into further details regarding my experiences with that publisher.

I suppose with as much trial and error as any woman who has a career outside family life. My husband and kids, though, are the most supportive, loving bunch you could ever find. I am very, very lucky to have them!

Most of my writing combines life experiences, imagination and investigation.

Knowing when I have to do the "getting away from it all" thing.. you know, telling the kids, "Mommy has to work now", and knowing its time to stop promoting and just get to work. It is hardest with the little ones. They come first.

I like fantasy, especially fantasy with sensual relationships between characters. I think they call this more accurately Paranormal Romance these days. Favorite author? I have several, but some of my favorites these days are Marianne LaCroix, Sheila N. Eskew, and Aurora Rose Lynn.

I want to finish the sequel to Ravished Wings, of course. And I have dreams of seeing some of my stories turned into films. That would be great!

Hopefully in the future they'll get to read another dark fiction story I wrote, something from many years ago. But right now I'm so involved in the work of my other persona, and with the books already scheduled for publication, it might be awhile.

I'm hoping to complete Breathtaker this year, and see it published. It is a horror novel, and will be written with the help of my pseudonym. And I think we can see the sequel to Odette's story in 2005.

I have a new book scheduled for self-publication this year, called Nine For The Nightlight. It's a collection of short, spooky stories, my first children's book. I'm kind of eager to see it come out, as the stories evolved from tales I've told my kids, ones they've particularly enjoyed over time.

I would also like to invite your readers to visit my website. Here they can read excerpts from Ravished Wings, and reviews, too. (Of course there's links there to Amazon and the online e-book retailers where it can be purchased.) They can also find out a little more about Nine For The Nightlight! And if they'd like to contact me, there is also an email link. I love to hear feedback from my readers, and I'll answer anything that's not spam.