Across Time will be my eighth published novel, and the first time I have been published by Spinsters/Bella Books. My first six were published by small presses that folded when the independent bookstores started going under. The six novels were about Delta Stevens, a cop in Los Angeles. The titles of those are:Taken By Storm, Storm Shelter, Weathering the Storm, Storm Front, Tropical Storm, and Storm Rising.

And then I published the one closest to my heart, Tory’s Tuesday, about a love between two women that kept them alive when they were in Auschwitz. I think I am most proud of that one because it is in the Holocaust Museum in DC and the Wiesenthal Center in LA. When I was a kid, my mother read anything with a swastika on it. For the longest time, I wondered if she was a Nazi (because, quite frankly, she has those tendencies and I always felt like I ought to salute her when she walked by), but then I realized she just loved WWII history. When I became a history teacher, I lived in the Bay Area, where there were a lot of survivors, so over the years, I’ve had dozens come speak to my classes. Those were the best days of my teaching career…living history. I never knew how much their stories affected me until one day, I was on a ferry in Greece and I heard in my head, “I’d rather die with her than live without her.” One line. One character. When I got to Santorini, the book wrote itself in two weeks.

What was the name of your very first book regardless of whether it was published or not and, if not published, why?

My first novel was Taken By Storm. I had written a piece I don’t recall the title of, and someone asked me why I didn’t write police stories (since I had been a cop for a brief moment). I didn’t want to write a cop story, but Delta would NOT get out of my head after that, so I wrote my first novel about her…never intending it to be a series, but she refused to leave me alone. I learned so much from that series that I have been able to apply to this new one. Since I hadn’t actually planned to write a series, I hadn’t been able to plant any seeds for future cultivation. Believe me, there are so many seeds in Across Time, this series could go on for a very long time.

For your first published book, how many rejections did you go through before you either found a mainstream publisher, self-published it, or paid a vanity press to publish it?

I got very lucky. I was rejected probably twenty-five times before Paradigm Press picked me up. They were looking for a series and I was already working on the second of the series. I will never forget that moment when I answered the phone. I was living in a converted dairy farm and my bedroom was in what had been the walk-in freezer. It was the only flat floor in the house because all the others had drains. I remember hearing her introduce herself and saying she wanted to publish Taken By Storm. I didn’t hear much after that except for my heart pounding in my ears.

How did the rejections make you feel and what did you do to overcome the blows?

Rejections meant (and still means) that I’m OUT THERE. Someone is opening my work and reading it. You can’t get published if you don’t play the game. As an athlete, I know that the more you shoot, the better your chances are for sinking a shot. I was a basketball player in high school and I took a lot of shots. I knew one thing early on in life: it’s not the shots you miss that win ballgames. It’s the ones you hit. I took that attitude to submitting as well. I loved getting envelopes. My manuscript has been places I never had. It got to sit on desks, under someone’s coffee mug. It got to curl up at night next to an editor or publisher. It was IN THE GAME! That’s how I handle it. Submitting is no different to me than a ballgame. We will always lose more than we win. Look at every champion. But you can’t win if you don’t play. That’s why I have no patience for those people (and there are many )who talk about writing or what they want to write, but then don’t have the guts to get in the game. Get in the game or get on the sidelines. Those are your only two choices.

When your first book was published, who published it and why did you choose them?

Paradigm Publishing chose me. I went with them because we had the same vision and I had dreams of being one of the authors who helped get them off the small press list. I still have that dream. I am going to work really hard to help make Spinsters/Bella money. Now that my writer’s ego has been assuaged, (and I am older and wiser), I know that the bottom line is about money. To write is NOT enough. You must get in there and do all you can, especially if you’re not one of the big guys. You have to self-promote like mad. I want to be the big money winner at Spinsters for a lot of reasons, but mostly to thank them for believing in me and picking up Across Time. When people have the same vision as you, working together for the better good becomes a fun challenge.

How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate?

  I felt like a crazy person. I couldn’t stop smiling. I was ecstatic. My goal was to be published before I turned 30 and that happened when I was 30, so it was an incredible feeling to reach that goal (do I hear a three pointer swishing at the buzzer?) Unfortunately for me, I shared the news with my fundamentalist Christian mother first and her exact words were, “When are you going to write children’s books?” You see, she could hardly share my lesbian police novels with the women at church. I suppose it just didn’t do that her daughter wrote about something that was going to make her burn in hell. I learned another valuable lesson after that: I never shared anything with her first. She’s the reason I go by my full name. When she realized I was going to be published, she said, “Why don’t you get a pen name?” So, true to the rebel in me, I went the opposite direction J I know…how mature, right? She’s also never read any of my books (that I know of), and we’ve never talked about it since.  

What was the first thing you did as for as promotion when you were published for the first time?

Hmm… I went to the ABA with my publishers and signed. That was the MOST exciting thing I have ever done (and I’ve done a lot). First of all, I got to sign in between two of my favorite authors, Jonathon Kellerman and Clive Cussler. Then I got to sit in the green room with Amy Tan and Dean Koontz and help James Earl Jones sign in. I have to say, his voice in person makes your knees weaken. Wow. One of the best moments was when I was signing and Shirley Jones (mom of the Partridge Family) came up for me to sign a book (her then-husband was there to promote a coffee table book). When I looked up and saw it was her, I froze. “Mrs. Partridge? You read my books?” To which she laughed and said, “I’ve read them all.” Heart be still. What a thrill. The ABA is a must for everyone, if for anything, all the free books you walk away with!

If you had to do it over again, would you have chosen another route to be published?

Nope. Everything has lead to everything else and I wouldn’t be who I am today, and I like who I am and where I am in this life. Of course I’d like to support myself with my writing, but what most people don’t know is only 5% make that kind of money. That 5% supports the rest of the writers trying to make it. I’d love that to happen, but when I look at my life, I know that I have created the life I want. As I write this, I am sitting on a veranda in Mexico, watching the waves crash against the rocks and spew mist into the air. I am one of the happiest, most content people I know, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

Have you been published since then and how have you grown as an author?

I have, seven more times, and I have grown so much, I am almost embarrassed by the first few books. The writing back then suffers from a lack of good editing and melodrama. You can see the comic book lover in me at times, and it’s not great. The characters are wonderful, but I am so much better now. My writing is richer, more textured, but still has so much room to grow. There’s so much I don’t know, so many ways that I can polish my characters. I am constantly learning, constantly reading in an effort to absorb, through osmosis, some of the best writers in the world. I may have published, but I have a really long way to go yet.

Looking back since the early days when you were trying to get published, what do you think you could have done differently to speed things up?  What kind of mistakes could you have avoided?

I would have learned how to write better query letters sooner. I would have studied the market better. I would have been more selective about where I sent my work. I would learn more about the BUSINESS of writing and what is happening behind the scenes. I would have read less How-To books and more about the ins and outs of the business and what to expect. Studying the Writers Market is a must. Looking at bookshelves in bookstores, reading publishing news, acting like a professional all works in our advantage. If you treat it like a hobby, that’s all it will ever be.

What has been the biggest accomplishment you have achieved since becoming published?

Tory’s got a small blurb in Ms. Magazine, and I nearly crapped my pants. I was a young feminist in the 70’s, so Ms. was like my Bible. The second was when I took my fifth grade class to the Holocaust Museum in DC and they saw my book there. It wasn’t until that moment that they realized I had done something really cool.

If you could have chosen another profession, what would that profession be?

A comic book writer/colorist. I colored up until I was about 35 (and still do when no one is looking). I can’t draw for beans, but I love to color. It’s one of the most relaxing things I do. My mind, for some reason, checks out when I’m coloring, and that is a rare thing for me. Like most writers, my mind is in fifth gear even when I sleep. I still love comic books. I grew up on X-Men, Hulk, Spiderman, etc. It’s funny when the twenty-year old boys in my classes start talking about Spiderman or Silver Surfer and I know more about it than they do. They don’t know whether to run, poo, or go blind. I love it.

Would you give up being an author for that profession or have you combined the best of both worlds?

I would, yes. I LOVE super heroes, and I would love to be able to write stories for them. When the series Heroes came on, I was thrilled. Finally! And look how popular it has become. We love stories about people who have to cope with being different!  My main character, Delta, is nicknamed Storm after Ororo Munroe of the X-Men. I’m a big kid at heart and really fought growing up. Don’t ask me about my GI Joes. You don’t want to know.

How do you see yourself in ten years?

Old. Lol. Growing as a writer. Writing more than teaching. Travelling all over the world and doing unexpected things people my age aren’t supposed to be doing. Making a difference, somehow, some way.

Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day?

Yes. Go back to question #1. If you want to write, stop talking about it (no one REALLY wants to hear about it any way). Stop thinking about it. Stop daydreaming. Write. Create the time (Notice I didn’t say find. Finding something is a fluke. Creation takes an act of intent). And then rewrite. And then rewrite some more. And then read. Read good books. Emulate authors you love. Carry a notebook with you and jot down great lines. Then read about queries. Make your query better than every page you ever wrote, and when someone asks to see the rest, make sure you’ve polished it to near perfection before sending it. Act like a professional, not a desperate newbie. Learn the craft, then learn the business. I was in the airport the other day and read a great daily inspiration: One good wish changes nothing. One good decision changes everything.

Decide to become a published author.

Then pick up you pen and get going!