Why Write 

The reason I write goes way back to my childhood. My earliest memories are of my mother reading to me. When I could read on my own, I devoured the Hardy Boys series. When I was about ten, when my reading material was getting low, I’d take the bus from our house to Kensington used bookstore. I graduated from the Hardy Boys to Ellery Queen, Earl Stanley Gardner, and Agatha Christie. In high school, I loved writing reports in social studies class and in English class I wrote satire. Saturday Night Live stuff, except this was before SNL! 

Then career got in the way, but I co-authored four paramedic textbooks. In 2010, I was going through a major life change. One morning in October, I was showering and had an epiphany. I needed to write fiction. I Googled writing classes and one started the next week. The first piece I wrote and submitted to the instructor and classmates, everyone liked. For the next four years, I took writing classes pretty much non-stop. 

There was one point where I received feedback that devastated me. After giving a great pitch, I was asked to submit the CRISIS POINT manuscript. I excitedly opened the email with the review. The primary comment was, “It’s like a police show is on the TV in the other room, and I don’t care.” I set the manuscript aside for about three months. Thankfully, I signed up for another writing class and set to improving the novel. 

In 2015, I submitted CRISIS POINT to the Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis awards for the best-unpublished novel. Then my name was called as a finalist. There is no other word. I was Gobsmacked! Instead of wine, I celebrated with Whisky! I attended the Crime Writers of Canada Awards in Toronto at the end of May. It was like the Academy Awards of Writing. I didn’t win the award, and I was disappointed. But heck, making the finals was great. As she was leaving, the agent gave me her card and asked for my manuscript. 

I received thirty-seven responses—rejections. That was a gut punch. 

By now I had spent almost seven years on Crisis Point. I also admit that my biological writing clock was ticking. 

In April 2018, CRISIS POINT was launched and was a best seller in Calgary. There is immense satisfaction in holding your novel in print for the first time.  

OUTLAWMC launched in March 2019. Wolfman is Back launched in November 2019. SPEARGRASS—OPIOID launched in September 2020. Novels five and six are written. 

13 DAYS OF TERROR will launch in November 2020 and Goddess of Justice in March 2021. 

Today, October 13, 2020, I am halfway through writing my seventh novel and 10,000 words into my eighth. 

I admit to being obsessed. I write every day. When I started writing in 2010, it was a struggle to write 500 words in a day. Now, 2500-3000 in a day is not unusual, and I have had days of over 6,000 words. I have a schedule with my editor until the end of 2023. The deadlines are important to keep me on track.   

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