Weekly Ask Me Anything Series: Building Strong Author Friendships

Posted: October 5, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: AMA | Leave a comment

As part of my ongoing Ask Me Anything, I’m working my way through a short list of questions found on a website. Have a question? Ask. I’ll answer. Want to know something in general or about me specifically, I’m an open book.

What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer?

I have several. Kari Trumbo was a close personal friend before either of us started writing. While we both write romance, we’re on opposite ends of the smut spectrum, and we don’t care. We are sounding boards for each other, in story, marketing, business and life in general.

I have a bunch of friends from when I was in a local writing group. Christine Howard, and Allan Grimes to name a couple. It fell apart during covid when our local library deemed writer support no longer a priority, but we’re still around.

I also have friends from my semi-local RWA chapter, including Delores Nash, Cathy McDavid and Tina Wheeler. We chat, share news, and support each other in so many ways it’s hard to break them all down.

Do you have writing friends? How do you help each other?

Weekly Ask Me Anything Series: First Book to Make You Cry?

Posted: September 14, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: AMA | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

I’ve decided to start a new post series. It’s going to be a weekly post with a single Ask Me Anything question. I’ll start in the beginning with questions found on a website to ask authors, but leave comments with your own questions and I’ll get to them.

What is the first book that made you cry?

I’m going to answer this. But there’s something you need to understand first.

In the last few years I’ve come to realize I’m neurodivergent. I have no diagnosis, and I don’t plan to get one, but knowing makes a difference. It helped me to understand that I’m not some broken horse, I’m a zebra. That said, because of said neurospicy brain, I don’t emote the same as ‘normal’ people. It’s far easier to make me mad-cry than sad-cry.

That said, the first book I remember sad-crying about was The Enchanted Land by Jude Deveraux. I was 12 or 13. I’ve read that book since and yeah, it’s got parts that are very sad, but it has never evoked the same response. Very few do. Still, that it did sticks in my mind.

What was yours?