Do you read reviews on your books and if so, do you respond to them?

 No and no. You know, you ask a very good question here.  But no, I don’t look at the reviews.  Who was it that said you can please some of the people all the time and all the people some of the time but you can’t please all the people all the time?  I recognize that not everyone is going to like my books, and that’s ok.  I’m not going to worry about it.  I write because I enjoy it, and I like what I’ve written.  I’m not going to change my style because some people don’t like it or because some people think it should be different to come down to their level.  My books aren’t necessarily easy to read, and I’m not going to make them easy to read.  You either like my writing and my style or you don’t.  If you’ve got good things to say, I appreciate it.  Keep spreading the word to friends and family and the public.  That’s a great way for people to find out about my work.  If you don’t like it, say what you want to say too.

This Lady Writes

What are you working on now?  

Gems & Jewels Book II: The Restoration is in the works right now.  I’ve gotten a bit behind with it but I’m still moving it along even though not as quickly as I’d like.  It’s a book based on a family involved in the diamond and precious stones and jewelry industries.  It’s a modern day story like the old TV prime time soaps, Dynasty, Dallas or Falcon Crest.  It’s money, power, greed, sex, backstabbing, wheeling and dealing.  You’ve got an iconic central character, Jarrod, who you don’t really know whether to love him or hate him.  There are the good guys, you know, the good family, and the bad guy, the family that’s out to get the other one.  There’s a lot going on in it, and I’d probably call it a drama but there is a touch of mystery and intrigue, of course.  There are a couple of murders to keep readers guessing.  I plan on making this a series, so I hope readers enjoy this installment.  It’s going to be a bit different from my other works.

This Lady Writes

What is your least favorite part of the writing and publishing process? 

Probably the editing and formatting process.  It’s a pretty integral part of the process in producing a quality product, but it’s time consuming for me.  I’ve got a couple of good editors that review each manuscript then send it to me with their edits, comments, suggestions, and so on.  Then, I have to read through all that they have to say and look at all their changes.  It’s just a time consuming process then you get into the interior formatting and writing a synopsis and reviewing the marketing plan.  I try to delegate as much of this as I can, but it’s hard to be completely removed from the process.  I’ve got to sign off on everything, so I end up being engaged throughout, and I guess that comes from being in business as well.  When you’re the head of an organization, you’ve got to keep your finger on the pulse of the organization and know what’s going on.  I’m involved in the strategic planning then delegate the execution of that plan to others.  It’s sort of the same with the publishing process.  I’m part of the marketing team’s strategic planning then I let them run with it.  I love the creating and writing process.  All the rest is a bit tedious.

This Lady Writes

If you were not writing books, what would you be doing for a living? 

 I actually don’t write for a living.  I have my businesses that are my full time job, and they keep me pretty busy.  I write for the love of writing.  I enjoy it.  It’s therapeutic for me in some ways.  I don’t know that I’ll ever write for a living.  I’ve never really considered that.  I’m focused on a lot things that I have going on.  But let’s just speculate and say that I wasn’t in business.  If I were just writing full time, I’d probably spend more time golfing.  And if I were looking for something to make a living, I probably couldn’t do it golfing.  I’m good but not that good! I’d probably be in corporate finance or consulting of some sort. I don’t know.

How long did it take for you to write the book?  

Actually writing the book was the easy part.  Getting to the point where I could start writing was a bit of a challenge.  I had to rely on conversations with Mr. Clinger and others to get an understanding of Sebastian.  That’s how I got to know him.  It took several years to get enough information from people to be comfortable with writing the book.  Look, each lesson in the book was one that Sebastian had recounted in some way to Robbie, so I had to get the story behind each one.  Between my schedule and other people’s schedules it wasn’t always easy to connect for a long phone call.  It would have been much easier to just get the information from Sebastian, but that wasn’t possible.  Once I had all the information, actually writing the book took about six or seven months.  Then, of course, we had the editing process and publishing.  And really, this is about average for me—six or seven months to write a manuscript.  I don’t sit down and write full time everyday.  I’ve got a business to run, and time is at a premium, so I try to work writing into my schedule as time permits.

This Lady Writes