I'm a bit ambivalent about talking about myself, aren't you? I mean, you don't want to come across as either arrogant or insecure. It's a fine balance (A FINE BALANCE by Rohanton Mistry is an excellent book, set in India and has nothing to do with the issues I raise in ANGRY ENOUGH TO KILL. The writing and the story are both beautiful.)

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But novelists take risks all the time, so I'll dive right in.

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I’m a Canadian living in Mexico who finally knows what she wants to be when she grows up…a writer. I’ve been almost everything except butcher, baker, and candlestick maker: bookkeeper, secretary, property manager, drug prosecutor, corporate lawyer, civil servant, and most recently, keyboard player with a Cuban band in Cancun. 

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One truism often repeated to writers is that you must write what you know (not entirely true, in my opinion.) However, my heroine is a stockbroker, skeet shooter, Karate expert, and murderer; I’ve worked in the investment business, have shot skeet, studied Kenpo, and, yes, I’ve thought about murdering on at least a few occasions, haven't you?

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But I've never been abused . . . except by myself.

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Her husband and Nemesis, David, is a securities lawyer; as a corporate lawyer, I’ve represented high tech clients on many private placements, and I worked in the securities business for three years.

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So, in many ways, I'm writing what I know, but in the most important way, i.e., what it's like to be an adult survivor of childhood abuse, I have no personal experience. I'm one of the lucky ones. That's why I sought the advice of Dr. Rivian Weinerman, a Victoria, British Columbia psychiatrist whose practice includes patients who​​​​​​​​​​ are adult survivors, and why I asked several friends to read the manuscript.​

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Hobbies and other interests?  Writing, editing, reading, salsa dancing, baking, and playing with Cassie, and did I mention writing, editing and reading?

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The principles I do my best to live by?

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     1. Every day, I choose to be happy; and

 

     2. I do what I believe is right, whether or not others agree, and    regardless of the consequences because I do not believe that 'what goes around, comes around.'

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I do believe that life is a lottery, and with ANGRY ENOUGH TO KILL, I'll have a ticket in the Publishing Success Lottery. I'm hoping that readers will h​​​​​​​​​​​elp me win that particular lottery, but whether or not you do, I'll keep on writing.​

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​Where Did I Get the Idea?

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I'm not allowed to tell you!

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​Well, that's not exactly true because, while I can't identify the person who gave me the idea, I can tell you a bit about the circumstances.

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​Imagine that you and several friends run away from home one weekend every year. (Once you've read ANGRY ENOUGH TO KILL, this will sound familiar.) Imagine that you're staying in a charming cottage on the waterfront on a sunny afternoon, sharing your news of the past year, telling jokes, bitching about the world - and rejoicing, too.

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Imagine that one of your best-friends-forever (BFFs, for those of you who don't chat) says, "Hey, guys. I've got an idea for a novel, but I know I'll never get around to writing it, so maybe one of you wants to write it."

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"Tell us," you say, because anything this BFF says is invariably worthwhile, and you know, you all know, that she's super creative.​

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"Okay, here goes," she says. "The novel is about a conspiracy of women who kill pedophiles, and . . ." (Can't tell you her exact idea for the novel because it might be the basis for the last novel in this series.)

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Everyone leans forward, the way people do when they're intrigued or excited, and we were both. Someone said (I can't remember who), "Why don't we write it together? Wasn't NAKED COMES A STRANGER written by a group of authors?" (This is not one of my recommended books.)​

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During the next year, each of us would develop one character for the novel, and each would research a topic that might be relevant in the novel, e.g., setting (the original setting planned was Vancouver, BC; in my novel, the main setting is San Francisco), car accidents, home accidents, poisons, guns, etc. )

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Great plan!

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But the next year, I was the only one who had done her homework.

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And that's how I got the idea, and how I started writing ANGRY ENOUGH TO KILL - fifteen years ago!

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​Why Did I Write this Novel?​

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It’s quite possible I’m not quite grown up yet because when I learned that people close to me were sexually abused as children, I didn’t want to believe it. When I saw how difficult life was for them, I wanted to do something about it. But what?

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I could have written an academic treatise or a non-fiction book, but few people might read them. But when my BFF came up with the idea for a novel - a thriller - about a conspiracy of women who kill pedophiles, I couldn't get the idea out of my head. I couldn't sleep; I'd lie in bed at night with a million story lines climbing into my mind setting up shop; ANGRY ENOUGH TO KILL is the first. Aha! Write a thriller about pedophilia with an outrageous premise, and maybe, just maybe, it will make a difference.

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Since then, I've experienced the magic when characters come to life. I hear voices. I should be committed. And I am - committed to writing thrillers for the thinking man and woman.

 

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What Am I Working on Now?

​The second novel in the series, of course, even though some writer friends have said I should change topics. But I think there's still a lot to say about the issues raised by pedophilia and vigilantism - you can't possibly, nor should you, throw everything into one novel, not if you want it to be a page turner rather than an essay.

 

 

What Books Do I Read?

​When I'm writing, I don't read much, but when I'm revising, I like to read and study literary fiction, because I want examples of fine writing to be floating around in my head, as if I can 'catch' whatever it is that makes a writer's voice sing with perfect pitch.

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On holidays, I add thrillers to my reading mix because I need to, if I want to write good thrillers.

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Before the days of digital books, when I visited friends, if I ran out of reading material, I'd read whatever they had on their bookshelves - romance, mysteries, science fiction, and you name it.

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What Authors Are My Personal Favorites?

​It's difficult to love everything your favorite author writes, but I loved Toni Morrison's BELOVED, E. Annie Proulx's THE SHIPPING NEWS, Barbara Kingsolver's THE POISONWOOD BIBLE, John Grisham's THE CLIENT, Rohanton Mistry's A FINE BALANCE, Margaret Atwood's THE HANDMAID'S TALE, Gail Anderson-Dargatz's THE CURE FOR DEATH BY LIGHTNING, Kerry Dunn's JOE PEACE, Saul Bellow's MR. SAMMLER'S PLANET, William Faulkner's AS I LAY DYING, Tom Clancy's THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, Khaled Hosseini's THE KITE RUNNER, Keri Hulme's THE BONE PEOPLE, lots of p.d. james's and Elizabeth Xx's mysteries, Stephen King's DIFFERENT SEASONS, almost anything by John LeCarre, George S. Whiteman's THE PERENNIAL FRESHMAN, Frank McCourt's ANGELA'S ASHES...

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If I keep this up, I'll use up all the space on my site.

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How Can You Contact Me?

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Use the contact form on the CONTACT page on this site.

 

 

​How Can You Help Me?

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If you like ANGRY ENOUGH TO KILL, you can help to spread the word: tweet, Facebook, at parties, at work, Goodreads, post a review to Amazon - tell everyone you know about it. Word of mouth is still the best way for a new author to become known.

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And thank you.