Hello

Q: What is a childhood memory that makes you smile?

 

A: Well, I grew up in a family where we didn't have much money. But, as children, my mother never let that be known to us. Basically, we had no idea we were poor. This is a testament to all my mother's hard work, we didn't have much, but we had what we needed.

 

One of my fondest memories that makes me smile is when I was around five. We lived in a neighborhood where people didn't put up Christmas lights for the season. So my mother would put all three of her little children into the car, and we drove to the "rich" neighborhoods and saw amazing Christmas lights each year. As children, we really loved doing that. In addition, my mother would buy treats for us to eat in the car while we drove around and looked at the light shows. Thinking of this now as an adult still makes me smile.

 

Q: What is your earliest experience with books/writing that you remember?

 

A: I remember being a small child and being obsessed with Curious George. My mom would take me to the library, and I would grab as many Curious George books as possible to bring home to read. I couldn't read at four, but I would give it my best shot. I'd look at all the fantastic pictures in the book and imagine what I would do in those situations where Curious George found himself. Also, since I could not read then, I would make up scenes and scenarios I interpreted from the images. I've always been very imaginative, and now that I write novels, it's really come back to help me out dramatically when thinking of new story ideas.

​

Q: What are some of the most memorable books you read as a child?

 

A: Curious George and many of Dr. Seuss's books. I also loved National Geographic's magazines when I was a child. I was about eight years old and heavy into big cats. My favorite is the Tiger. At that age, everyone thought since Lions were so famous for their beauty and fearlessness, that they were actually the giant cats in the big cat world. But I wasn't sure about that, so I learned how to do research. Sure enough, I discovered that the largest big cat species was in the Tiger family, not the Lion family. And that made me happy and gave me bragging rights with all my hard-core Lion friends.

 

Q: Were you an avid reader as a child? Do you still read books?

 

A: After the age of 10, I'd say I wasn't really an avid reader at all anymore. I was very hyperactive as a child and needed to take medication to slow me down a bit. So, needless to say, I liked things coming at me very quickly to stimulate my mind. I want information and pictures coming at me very fast. Books didn't do that for me, well, at least not fast enough. But watching TV did. Many years went by before I was interested in picking up a book to read it. But, as I got older, I found the suspense and thriller genre books and realized that the pace I was looking for could be found in a book. Not as fast as a 30-minute TV show, but nevertheless, quicker than I initially thought. So today, all the books I have in my online library are suspense or thrillers.

 

Q: Who was the first person you shared your first-ever story with?

 

A: The first person I shared my first completed writing with was a guy named Tony. I met him on a young scriptwriter's website called Stage 32 back in 2016. Not sure if it still exists anymore, but it might. But Tony and I would swap 10 to 25 pages of our screenplays and give each other feedback on them. I used to write scripts before I found manuscript writing. In fact, Tony was the first person to tell me that my screenplays were so narrative they probably would make better books. This was in 2016, and I didn't find manuscript writing until about 2021. But when 2021 came, I remembered what Tony had told me and decided to give publishing a try. I'm thankful I did, as I love it, and I feel blessed to have found something I want to do for the next 50 years.

​

Q: How did you develop the plot of your book, Honor Thy Mother?

 

A: I was watching the news one day and learned that a woman had been sexually assaulted, and as a result, she got pregnant from the attack. At that time, I had never heard of anything like that before. After further research into this case, the woman actually terminated the pregnancy. So with my crazy imagination, I thought of a scenario where this attack still took place, but the woman kept the pregnancy. The child grows up and never knows who her father is, but ironically, he takes up the same career path he did. But once she found out who he was, this child, now an adult, would honor her mother by bringing the attacker to justice, once and for all.

 

Q: What are some things to remember when writing a crime fiction novel?

 

A: Well, the first thing you need to do is think of the character. You have to make the central protagonists someone readers learn to care for and love. Once they care for your nature, when bad things happen to them, the readers will feel it hard, and you will be able to invoke any emotion from the reader. Once the reader cares about your character, they will follow that character on their journey to the end.

 

Q: How did your friends and family react to your first book?

 

A: They weren't surprised because my bachelor's degree is in professional writing. They were happier for me and proud of what I had achieved. I've always been a writer, but not a creative writer. I've been in the corporate writing world since 2006. Creative writing is new, and I'm still learning a ton daily. I still have a lot to learn. However, I have a great attitude about it because I love this process. You will also need to love the process, as writing novels is demanding and challenging. Some days you will feel super bright, and others will feel like a dummy. To try and balance this out, create a writing process, learn to trust it, and you should be okay.

 

Q: In what ways do you try to understand the craft of writing better?

 

A: Since I have a ton of experience in business/corporate writing and not a lot in creative writing. I have taken online courses and have watched hundreds of videos to help me learn how to become a better creative writer. I've even watched some great tv shows and movies, which also help. And I have been buying books by authors I admire and seeing how they craft words, paragraphs, dialogue, etc., together. I have been looking at manuscripts of John Grisham, James Patterson, Dan Brown, David Baldacci, Stephen King, LT Ryan, Willow Rose, LT Vargas, Freida McFadden, and Colleen Hoover.

 

Q: Who designed the cover of your first book?

 

A: A company called AnninWonderland from a site called DesignCrowd. She created my first two covers for the Honor Series.

 

Q: What is one thing you will never write about in your books?

 

A: I'm pretty bashful about intimate scenes. I don't think I'll ever write a detailed, private setting, as I'd just be too embarrassed to write it. Even though I'm almost 43, I feel like a 12-year-old boy and just giggle when I try to write those scenes. If I ever do an intimate setting, everything will take place off-page, so I do not laugh at myself. So I just stopped writing them.

 

Q:  What is the best advice you have ever received about writing?

 

A: No.1 - You don't have to be an avid reader to be a great writer. It helps for sure, but not the end all, be all. You can still be a great writer and not a great reader. You at least have to watch great movies and tv shows. However, you cannot protect them like a fan. You need to watch those great movies like a writing student, taking mental notes and noticing how the writers and director put a scene together. Whenever the next time you watch a tv show or a movie, and the writer makes you feel a specific way, take a step back, and think about what s/he did to make you have that emotion. And then, try to copy it into your writing to get the same feeling. I learned this from one of Walter Mosley's master classes. He is the writer of Devil in A Blue Dress.

 

No.2 -  Write what you want to write. Don't write in a genre that a publisher may like you to unless you love the topic. The reason is, at the end of the day, you're the one who will have to make all those edits, re-edits, and so on. Editing takes hours, days, and even months to do. So if you have to do such an undertaking with the revisions after the first draft, things will go much smoother if you love the topic you're writing on. I learned this from one of David Baldacci's master classes. He is the author of Absolute Power.

 

 

Q: What is the best age to write your first book?

 

A: Well, this is the question that I have fought with. But Walter Mosley put it into perspective in one of his master classes. I'm 42 years old and love creative writing, but I started in it about a year ago. I've been doing business and corporate reports for 16 years. Sometimes, I wish I had found creative writing back in 2006. Maybe I'd be further along in my novel writing development and career. But in 2006, I was a 25-year-old senior in college. Walter Mosley said that when you're that young, you haven't lived long enough to be able to write a great novel from a deep perspective. And what I think he meant by that was the younger you are, you haven't seen, heard, experienced, or been a part of many things in life for that long. Longer life experiences better suit you to come up with fantastic book ideas. And I get that.

For example, I am at 25 versus me 42. Today, I have much better ideas for books than I did at 25. So, a good age to become a novelist is over 30 years old. Walter even said that 40, 50, and even 60 could be suitable ages for writing a novel. The older, the better it seems. Not the other way around. Of course, there are always exceptions to rules.

 

Q: Which is the next book you are working on? Give us an insight into it.

 

A: I'm working on book 2 from my debut Honor novel series. The first book is called Honor Thy Mother. The second book is called Honor Thy Self. I already have the cover created and available on Amazon for pre-order. It should be out later this Spring. In this follow-up story to book 1, my main protagonist Rue Patton has gone through a lot over the past year. As a result, in book 2, she still has some mental health issues, confidence issues, and underlying daddy issues. These issues are causing her not to see whom she was meant to be and why she is here on this earth. There will be cases for which she's the best person, but with all her new baggage going on, she will decline to take the points. That was until a mysterious case comes along that she does accept. As the latest victim is found alive, she explains to Rue that if no one helps her, more young girls could die. Rue must figure out her bandage fast before more young girls get hurt. Here is the description of the book:

"The Greater The Doubt, The Greater The Awakening… (Albert Einstein)

Stillwater, Minnesota, 1993. Nineteen-year-old Lauren Patrick (a Black woman) leaves home for a party. Little does she know she will never arrive. Twenty-five years later, Rue Patton, a rookie cop and Lauren's daughter, finds her mother's attacker. But in locating him, she makes an earth-shattering discovery about her mom that will change her life forever for fans of female protagonists, mystery and crime, and procedural thrillers.

 

Q: How long, on average, does it take you to promote a book?

​

A: I'm still learning the promoting game, but it seems to be an ongoing and never-ending process you will always have to do. When I first thought about becoming a novelist and writing stories, I never thought about the promotional part. Also, now that I'm writing and having to promote simultaneously, I don't like the promoting part as much. It takes away time from my writing schedule and throws me off most days. Some days I promote much longer than I write. However, thankfully, I have found book promo companies such as AllAuthors who work hard to help lighten promotional loads off of authors. But the book promotion game is like a hungry beast with a bottomless stomach. It needs to eat every day. Book promotion companies help authors promote their books and help take some marketing stress away. My advice to authors is to don't try to do it alone. Work with a book promotion, marketing, or publicity company to help take some pressure off you, so you can stay on schedule to finish your novel. Whether you are a traditional, hybrid, or self-published author, book promotion will always be something you must do. There is no world where the author can just write 100 percent of the time and never have to do a promotion for the book.