Years ago, when my sons were small, I was a person in search of a creative outlet. At that time, I focused on crafts. I did everything from ceramics to embroidery. I baked my own bread and canned my own jelly. In short, I was insane.
Then the Blizzard of '79 struck and everything changed. I live in Western Maryland at the end of a long lane that winds up a hill for nearly a quarter of a mile. During that blizzard I had no four-wheel drive transportation and two kids with pent-up energy. The chocolate and Oreo supplies were running low. When school was canceled every morning that week, I'm not ashamed to admit I wept.
On an impulse, I decided to take one of the stories inside my head and write it down. This wasn't the start of a career, it was my alternative to murder-suicide. It was simple survival. I started page 1 and I was hooked. It was the creative outlet I needed.
After that, it was simple. I wrote whenever I could around my sons' schedule. I scrabbled for writing time between naps and during school hours and transcribed my scribbles on a little portable typewriter in the kitchen. For quite a while I wrote in a notebook with a Number Two pencil. It was important to be portable in those early writing years so I could be in the same room with my boys and prevent my oldest son from sacrificing his younger brother to whatever demons were possessing him at the time.
Now, even though the boys are grown men and living on their own, it's basically the same: I write. It's my job and it's one that I really love. I just keep writing and those stories just keep coming. I happen to have a fast pace. That, I think, is just the luck of the draw. I'm disciplined. That's my make up.
Every book starts for me at page one, chapter one and I write straight through, getting a fairly quick and loose first draft. Then I go back to the beginning and flesh out the characters, see if the story holds. It'll take at least one more draft for polishing, maybe two, until it's done.
It's the characters that draw me in first. If they don't compel me to tell their story, I can't believe the reader would be interested. My characters always surprise me. Once they've taken on a life in a book, it's wise to let them go their own ways. I can't remember ever having a character turn out precisely as I'd imagined them before I started the book.
Readers love to ask where I get my ideas. There's no real answer to that, the ideas are just there. I focus on them one at a time, giving each one the attention it deserves when the time is right.
People seem to be convinced that having written so many books, at least one would be my favorite. Honestly, my favorite book is the one that just came out. My least favorite? Without a doubt, whatever I'm currently working on.
Writing has taken me many places since that first snowbound day. I'm thankful for everything writing has brought—travel, friendship and opportunity. I know I have the best job in the world—sitting here, being paid to tell stories!