I am a retired military
wife and homeschool mom. My husband
retired recently after serving twenty-one years in the military, and is now
home full time. I graduated our daughter
from high school last May.
It was about three years
ago that my daughter started urging me to write. “You have a great imagination for
storytelling!” She insisted. I didn’t think so, but decided to give it a
try. We spent many hours sitting at our
local Wendy’s brainstorming the storyline for my books. And while she insists I have such a great
imagination, she is the one that has given me so many fantastic ideas to
incorporate in my books.
My books have become a
family affair. My husband runs my
website; I would have never been able to set it up and have it running
smoothly. My daughter helps me keep up
with emails, and keeps track of facebook and the website while I am writing. The fact that the family is involved in this
endeavor makes it just that much more fun for me to write. We can be found sitting around the table
tossing around ideas for stories, or how a story can be improved often.
When not writing, I love
to read, and play games with the family.
Friday night is family game night.
I make homemade pizza and we play cards, board games, or WII tennis and
bowling. I have broken at least ten WII
tennis rackets from hitting the ceiling fan or furniture. I’ve even come close to hitting my own
daughter! She doesn’t think it is very
amusing, but still loves to sit on the couch and watch mom and dad at war.
VAMPIRES AMONG US
What does a young woman
do when she finds herself trapped in an abusive relationship with a vampire?
She runs straight into the arms of another vampire family!
Erica knows she needs to leave her abusive, alcoholic, vampire husband. But
just how does one go about doing that? It’s not like she can go to the police
and state; “I need a restraining order for my vampire husband!”
She has befriended a guy at college, and not seeing any other choice, asks him
for help. Little does she know she is running away from one vampire, and
straight into the arms of another!
Kevin O’Rourke is the leader of the VCTF (Vampire Crime Task Force). The only
reason he sits in college classes half the day is because his team has been
called in to make a major drug bust. When he sees the bruises on Erica, he
knows she is in trouble. A little investigation reveals Erica is married to one
of his own that has gone rogue. When she finally agrees to leave him, Kevin is
quick to offer her shelter at his family’s home. The only problem is Erica
doesn’t know what he and his family are. And she doesn’t know she is his mate.
Hmmmm……
EXCERPT
I.
They were sitting on the
couch in his living room. The television
was on, and they were watching a movie.
A bottle of wine sat on the coffee table in front of them. “Would you like some wine?” He asked
solicitously, as he reached over and poured a bit of the dark red liquid into
two glasses. Out of habit, he sniffed
the contents, just to be assured it was pure wine they were drinking, and not a
blood mixture.
“Are you trying to get
me drunk?” She asked softly, as she glanced up at him through her lashes.
Not necessarily drunk,
but loosened up couldn’t hurt. “Would it
help?” He whispered seductively in her ear.
He watched as she closed
her eyes and a light shiver went up her spine.
He leaned towards her, placing a gentle kiss on the side of her
neck. A slight “mmmm” vibrated up from
deep within her throat.
He let his tongue swirl
around the spot he had just kissed, as he listened to her heart beat pick up in
intensity. She turned her head in his
direction, as he lightly nibbled his way to her lips. When he reached his destination, he started
their kiss tenderly, seducing her with his lips as he went. He waited until she was comfortable enough to
wrap her arms around his neck and pull him tighter against her, and then he
picked up the intensity.
“Oh God Kevin, I want you, but I….” She
started, as she grabbed both sides of his head, forcing it upwards.
“Shhh, baby, I am not going to hurt you. I won’t do anything you don’t want to
do. You are in control tonight. Just tell me to stop, and I won’t go any
further.” His words came out as a
seductive whisper as he trailed kisses down her cheek. Yes, he was well aware of her cautiousness,
but he was also a man on a mission.
He waited, allowing her
to relax in his arms again. He didn’t
need to wait long. As he continued
running his fingers lightly through her hair and across her forehead, she
seemed to melt into him. “That’s it,
sweetheart, just relax and enjoy. I’ll
always take care of you.”
II.
As Jennifer reached over
and pushed a button on the dashboard, she was regretting having to make this
call. She knew her brother would be livid the second he found out they were in
trouble. There were only two options though, call Kevin, or take care of the
problem herself. She felt fairly
confident she could wipe Shawn’s face across the pavement. After all, he didn’t have a clue she was a
vampire. The problem was, neither did Erica. Better to let Sir Romeo take care
of this situation. Kevin’s voice was immediately on the speaker.
“Jennifer, what is it?” His
voice came across low and stressed. He knew instantly something was wrong.
“I’ve got company
following us home. Shawn picked us up as soon as we left the mall,” Jennifer
stated. She purposely kept calmness in her voice, and tried keeping a calming
atmosphere going
. “How far away are you?”
Kevin inquired.
“About seven minutes
out. I can make it safely, just be ready for when I pull in.”
Kevin was relieved to
hear Jennifer keeping a calm head while she was driving, and she seemed
confident that she could get the two of them back home safely. It was Erica who
wasn’t so calm. He could hear her mumbling about not making it through the
speaker in the car, and he knew his sister would have already tried throwing a
calming atmosphere around her. Erica was fighting the imposed atmosphere. She
was scared, and rightfully so.
As Jennifer continued
talking with Kevin on the phone, Shawn came around to Erica’s side of the car,
trying to force their car off the road once again. Erica could see the road
narrowed up ahead, and terror caused her to freeze up. She shut her eyes tight
and sent a quick urgent prayer above that they would live through this
nightmare. Erica forced one eye open and looked Shawn directly in the eye. There
was only one word to describe the look on his face, murderous hatred. As the
next minute ticked by, it was blatantly obvious that Shawn was not going to
stop until he had succeeded in killing both girls. He was irate over Jennifer
outmaneuvering him, which was causing him to act irrationally. He continuously
veered sharply over, trying to ram his car into Jennifer’s, only to become even
more enraged that Jennifer was able to avoid him every time. Even Erica was
amazed as she realized that he hadn’t been able to hit them once.
As Shawn became more
aggressive, his actions became more violent. Finally, feeling she couldn’t take
another second of torture, Erica screamed at Jennifer. “Slow down so I can jump
out, and then you can make a run for it. It’s me he wants. Let me out and he’ll
let you live!”
The next sound that was
heard was Kevin roaring over the speaker, “Hell
no, don’t stop!”
Kevin’s roar was
deafening as he lost all self-control when he overheard Erica tell Jennifer to
stop the car so Shawn could have her, and then drive away. As if his sister
would actually ever do such a thing! He knew as soon as he roared that it was a
mistake, and quickly concentrated on controlling his temper and calming himself
down. It was imperative that he communicate to Erica that they had the
situation under control.
Kevin could be heard
taking a deep breath over the speaker, and then with deliberate calmness,
pitched his voice to softness before speaking again. “Erica, Jennifer is
bringing you back to the house. When the two of you arrive, she is going to
pull up to the back door. I want you to jump out and run into the house as fast
as you can. Charles and I are ready and waiting for Shawn. I need to know you
are safe and sound in this house before anything happens. Trust me sweetie, we
have been waiting on him to show his face. I have this situation under control.”
“Kevin, no, you don’t
understand.” Erica wailed at the speaker. Oh God, how was she supposed to tell
Kevin that he was getting ready to die, right along with his father, and
probably Jennifer also, for just trying to help her? How was she supposed to
tell him that he was getting ready to face the devil himself, literally?
BEHIND THE SCENES
Q. Is
there a word or phrase you catch yourself overusing?
A. Yes! The word is “growl” as in he growled…. I used this multiple times in the Vampires
Among Us and the editor kept writing little notes on the side stating that it
was physically impossible growl more than 2-3 words. My daughter’s response, “I need to talk to
your editor mom, because she has obviously not met my father who can growl an
entire paragraph when he gets mad!”
Needless to say I forbid my daughter from contacting my editor and
changed the growling to make them happy.
Q. How do you know you’ve written a good book?
A. I start out “Yeah,
this book is fantastic!” and then by the time I’ve gone through edits and it
releases, I am starting to think, “Well, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea
after all.”
My spirits jump
immediately the moment I get a good review, and then I level out to “Yeah, it’s
pretty darn good!”
Q. How do
you keep your characters and stories organized?
A. This is probably not
a good question to ask me because I am still trying to keep organized. Currently, I have a folder for each book I
am working on which contains notes, names, etc. and then I also have a copy of
those notes on One Note on my computer.
Thinking back on your
first book, is there anything you would have done differently?
Well, since I re-wrote
the first book so many times, and it has gone through so many revisions and
changes I don’t even remember what the beginning book looked like; I might have
done things differently. I am my own
worst enemy on my books. I finish them, leave them sit for a few months, then
pick them up and reread them, making changes all along the way! I need to learn to do more books like I did
The Music Box which will be coming out Nov. 7th. I wrote that book in a little over a week,
went through and edited it once and sent it off!
Q. Has
your perspective on the writing process changed since you became published?
A. Yes, it has
changed. I have a whole new respect for
indie authors and what they have to go through to get their book out and
noticed. I had no idea of the time that
is needed to set up good advertising, keep up with your readers and followers,
keep up with a website, etc. I am just
now feeling like I am starting to catch up, which all takes time away from
writing. I try at least once a week to
put my foot down and say no to everything so I can get the writing done.
Q. What is
the one thing you must have to be able to write?
A. Peace and quiet. No radios, phones, people talking,
TV’s…nothing!
Q. What
are you currently working on? How is it different from other books you’ve
written?
A. I have started a new
shifter series (this will be a first for me).
It is going to be shifter Doberman Pinschers. I figure if we can have shifter wolves,
bears, lions, tigers, etc. why not dogs also?
I am also working on a bit of a secret project with my daughter but it
won’t be ready until next year. I will
give you a bit of a hint, just don’t tell her I told you, “Shifter
dragons”! So, I anticipate 2014 to be a
very busy year!
