Share a little about your writing journey. 

 I’ve been writing a long time.  I’ve told this story many times before, but I don’t ever get tired of it.  I started out by writing an alternate ending to a book I was reading.  I don’t recall which one.  This was an exercise I did many times early on.  For whatever reason, I didn’t like the ending and figured I could have done it better. So I did.  From there I wrote a few short stories and a teleplay, and then I decided to take the plunge and write a novel.  I started by writing the outline and making a list of characters and the sequence of events.  Then I jumped right into it.  That turned out to be Murder at the Ocean Forest.  I wanted to go the traditional route of getting an agent and publishing through a publishing house.  That didn’t go the way I was wanting or that I liked, so I decided to be an indie author.  But this process took me a couple of years to come to this decision, and in the meantime I had started The Versailles Conspiracy then stopped then started again.  Once I got focused again and finished that one, I went on to The House of Dark Shadows and The Maynwarings.  But while I was working on these last two, I also was working on Conversations on the Bench in that I was doing interviews with Mr. Clinger from time to time.  So there were a few things going on simultaneously over the years.

This Lady Writes

What was the inspiration behind the book?

This was a project that I was initially a little reluctant to take. My writing this book was first suggested to me during a round of golf, much as I recount in the book itself, by Mr. Clinger. But the project really intrigued me as much as the two men behind the story initially intrigued me. Sebastian was really the inspiration behind the book. He was a larger than life figure who inspired many people in life, so it seemed a fitting tribute to share some of his wisdom with the masses by writing Conversations on the Bench. I certainly didn’t know him in the way so many people did. I didn’t have the luxury of knowing him and interacting with him for years. I really only got to know him in person during one trip I made to Myrtle Beach for a symposium that he and Mr. Clinger were hosting. But even so, I could tell he was an inspirational person just with the limited interaction I had with him.

This Lady Writes