Q&A with the author – Part 2 0f 10

Q. Tell me about your writing process?

A. It really differs from book to book. In Time Capsule, once I had created Rob and Jennie Covington, I began to visualize them doing and saying things that news reporters would do and say, and then I wrote it all down. To be honest, when I wrote the beginning, I had no idea how it would end or how I would get there, but as I continued to visualize scenes and as I wrote more and more of the story, the ending came to me in time.

You can write whatever comes to mind, just to get it memorialized "on paper," because you'll go back later to edit what you wrote--probably more than once. The first draft can be far from perfect as long as it gets you off and running and begins to tell your story.  

The best part for me was writing all of the dialogue, which I admit sounds a lot like things I might say myself. I think the first words I actually wrote in Time Capsule were, “No stupid, your other left,” a good-natured barb that Jennie threw at Rob when he was planting the tree. 

In effect, it was those five words that defined the relationship between these characters for all of Time Capsule and the Covington books that followed. In one of the books, I described their compatibility as "a healthy relationship based on trust, mutual admiration for each other’s talents, common interests, sexual attraction and the ability to take a joke.”

Next: So you made up the story as you went along?