1. Who do you want to meet and why?
Gee, I haven’t really thought about it. But when it comes right down to it, my pen pal out in Long Island whom I’ve been penning back and forth with for eight years!

2. What’s your favorite comfort food?
Chocolate of course!

I knew it! LOL- acceptable but obvious, so what’s your second favorite?
Next would have to be Chinese food.

3. Why did you start writing and when?
The first book I ever wrote was in the fifth grade, entitled Pedro’s Zoo. We were to write a story with a beginning, middle and end. Most of the kids had up to five pages! I had fifteen. Ahem … Even back then I was long winded! Thus it was dubbed a ‘book’ by my teacher and not a ‘story’. I wrote another book for fun my freshman year in high school. I just loved to write. If I wasn’t writing stories, I was journaling. Once you start, you can’t NOT write. You just do it. It’s such a natural part of you. Nothing really inspired me to get started. I just discovered how much fun it was and went with it. …

4. Is there anyone who has influenced / encouraged you to write other than God who ultimately gives us any talents including creativity? Who and how / why?
I’ve been blessed to have met, become friends with and sit under some incredible authors. At this point there are almost too many to list. But when I wrote Time Masters, it was before I got to know these people. What I learned from them helped me to tweak TM1 and make it better. Other than that I would have to say my sister Carol who also loves to write and was always taking writing courses, working on pieces, and learning from some of the best out there in the genre she’s interested in.

5. How do you choose names and get to know your characters?
I like having names be incredibly closely related to what and who the character is. Take the name Shona Elsey Whittard. I wanted her to have something Scottish about her, mainly for Dallan. Shona is the Scottish female form of John. Elsey means something along the lines of pretty elf. And Whittard means victorious elf.

6. Can you give a brief synopsis of your journey to publication with Time Masters?
Well, truth be told, I hadn’t really planned on publishing Time Masters. I wrote it for fun, to see if I could write something that big and finish it, and to keep me sane during a very difficult time in my life. Up until November of 2006, it had been sitting in a trunk in my bedroom since 1998 which was when I did the last edit on it. Before that, it had sat in the same trunk, only in California when I lived there for a while and where I actually wrote it. TM sat in the ol trunk at that time from 1995-98. Last November I got a little nudging from the Lord. OK, a BIG nudging, and so took it out and began to add in all the edit notes I had written onto the manuscript. Found the publisher I felt fit the bill for what I was looking for, (I was after creative control more than anything else) and voila! Book!

7. What first gave you the idea for Time Masters?
I had started a book back in 1985 entitled The Door to Muirara. It is from that bit of story that TM1 began to form. But I would have to say the main catalyst was when I created Dallan MacDonald. He just sort of became larger than life and everything began to form around him and take shape, the old story and new character coming together to form a whole.

8. What’s your favorite character / scene from Time Masters so far?
Golly, good question. Ok, so who wouldn’t want to have a guy like Dallan? But Angus and Lany run a close second. Actually, it’s very hard to choose. As one of my teen readers has stated about the characters, “they are vast and lovable” and so they are. As to favorite scenes, as far as writing them, the lunch scene from chapter six, Dallan and Shona’s first kiss, and of course, the infamous weapons shop. Again, there are so many fun ones!

Don’t forget about John talking to the TV Remote as if it were a phone. LOL! That will always be one of my personal favorites. You’ll have to read the book to see how humorous some of the scenes really are. The book is a kick to read.

9. Share with us one of the craziest things you’ve done or that’s happened to you?
Only one? But there are so many! And there are different definitions of crazy you know!

We’ll save the rest for other times – give the readers a reason to come back looking to see what we’ve kept up our sleeves – LOL
OK, I came back from an out of town trip and was sad to find out my son Troy had been up to Oregon for a surprise visit. And boy was I surprised to come home to my car completely wrapped in cellophane not too mention yellow, “Do not cross” tape! I had to call into work the next day to say I would be late. It took me over an hour to unwrap that car! And yes, Troy carries a roll of industrial sized cellophane with him. Youth Pastors are a dangerous lot! My car was not the only one to be so targeted. It’s a good thing my son’s senior pastor has such a good sense of humor!

10. What would be your dream vacation?
To spend about a month touring Europe

Only a month? No way could you even scratch the surface. I spent a whole semester in Paris and still didn’t see everything there was. OK so I was also “studying” but still…

11. What five books would you take with you to a desert island?
What only five?!

Yes, well I didn’t write the question but I suppose it would be a bit cumbersome to take an entire library to a desert island as much as we’d like to have all those books along – LOL
Well, the biggest Bible I have with the most study notes, (probably my Dakes) my Matthew Henry Commentary, the complete works of Shakespeare, the Complete stories of Sherlock Holmes, and the biggest book of fairy tales I could find. Once rescued from my island plight, I’d have Mother Goose solving a mystery with Little Jack Horner while breaking down tough scripture with their favorite buddies Shakespeare and Matt.

12. What else would you like to share with readers about yourself or the Time Masters series?
Time Masters is really all about relationships. Little did I know when I wrote it that years later I would be irresistibly drawn to relationship coaching! The series will continue to be about relationships and as the series grows, so will the relationships of the characters with each other.

13. What else have you written / are you currently writing (including unpublished works)?
I’ve written a teleplay called “Faith” which was filmed as a tech reel in 1998. It almost filmed in 2003 but the producer lost some of the financial backing (the nature of the beast with film) and after doing numerous other projects over the years he’s now currently seeking backing again. I’m also just finishing up a marketing manual for a company after which, I begin writing TM2.

14. What concept or scripture is God revealing more deeply to you in this season of your life? And how is that revelation influencing your life?
Jeremiah 29: 11-12 In short it’s making me trust Him a lot more and know that yes indeed, He DOES have a plan for our lives. We just aren’t always on the same time table the Lord is!

15. Do you have any teasers you can share for Book Two?
Muiraran women give a whole new meaning to what it’s like to have mood swings!

16. Are there any closing remarks you’d like to share?
Relationships are very precious. Cherish and nurture the ones you have. In life there are three levels of relationships. Aquaintance, friends, and intimates. Many people hardly get past the first level, and surround themselves with tons of other people, yet they have in reality very few they would call a friend. And hardly any they would say is of such a close nature as to be called intimate.