The Fiver:

1. What is your writing process?

I need my laptop, WIP-specific playlist and Pinterest board, and no interruptions to write. I’m usually a planner, so I’ll have at least a general outline, but I’ve been known to “pants” scenes or twists along the way.

2. What inspires you to write?

Anything and everything. A song, a picture, an overhead conversation. It’s quite maddening because my plot bunnies are really fertile!

3. Writing is considered a dream job by many, but what if you were granted the opportunity for a true, magical ‘dream job’. What would it be and why?

I’d love to be a curator in an art museum or an appraiser for an auction house. I have a master’s degree in visual culture and I wrote my thesis on 19th century, Venetian enamel mosaics so it wouldn’t be such a wild concept, but in the end, I wound up on the administrative side of academia, instead.

4. You are standing on a stage, addressing a high school auditorium of teenage creative writers. What advice would you impart to them about the craft and the career path of being a writer?

I’d tell them to write A LOT, research the publishing industry, and not be bound by any writing “rules.” They should also experience as much of life as they can and look for inspiration in everything to become better storytellers.

5. You’re stranded in a snowed in cabin, well stocked up on food, but no internet. What is on your emergency book shelf?

I grew up on Agatha Christie and Harlequin paperbacks, so the shelf would definitely have some mysteries and steamy romances.

Where to find her:

Snippets/ Teaser:

After pirates kidnap seventeen-year-old Ana in a case of mistaken identity, the orphaned housemaid prepares for the worst. Instead, playing the wholesome daughter of a Spanish admiral among rag-tag buccaneers becomes the least of her concerns. Battles, a shipwreck, mutiny, and most unexpectedly, love are what really turn her world upside down. When the truth threatens to end Ana’s adventures, it’s the secrets of the dashing Alestair Kincade, Pirate King of the Caribbean, that prove to be the most dangerous. Ana will need to use her wits and charm to not only stay off the gallows, but also to avoid a fate she now considers to be worse than death: being sent home to Panama to a hopeless future.

Any other news or updates you would like to share?

The Last Resort is officially a year old this month!