I live in what was once a sleepy little city in the middle of the Canadian prairies. Things have changed though and the city has woken up. It’s growing in size and industry. It seems the rest of the world may have discovered our secret and the urban hum has begun. I still love the peace of the prairies, only a short drive away with fields of wheat and miles of endless horizon. Maybe it’s this horizon that inspires me. I also love to travel and that’s the inspiration of many of my stories. Fortunately, my husband also loves to travel and our Irish Terrier thinks the best thing in life is a car ride, no matter the destination.

I lost my hamster when I was eleven and after madly searching the house and calming my distraught mother – she has a life long distaste for rodents of any kind – I had the urge to write the story of the lost hamster.  Seriously, the first recollection I have is keeping a very detailed diary at the age of nine.  Writing was just something I always did and when it first began, I’m not sure, there really isn’t a clear memory.

Can you tell us what your typical "writing" day is like?

It’s the weekend when I rise early and after breakfast, take my coffee and go downstairs to my office. I usually write for about three hours before checking with the rest of the household to see what the plan is for the day. In the early evening I’ll do some promo related things, catch up on my blog and check e-mails. On a weekday, with my full-time job, I have much less time so writing is crammed into noon hours and a few hours after supper.

No, that’s still a dream. But one day I will.

Each is unique. Like children, they have their own personalities. I like the concept of women overcoming the odds, taking charge of their life, forging ahead in unusual situations. Eva Edwards does just that in "From the Dust" when she takes charge of a depression era farm and faces off against the man who threatens her livelihood. In another story, Claire Linton ends up flying half way across the world to face her demons and meet the man of her dreams. And in yet another, Garrett Cole fights convention to lead an expedition into the Borneo rain forest where things go horribly wrong and the man of her dreams is nothing like she ever imagined.

"From the Dust" was inspired by a person and a location, the Qu’Appelle Valley in Saskatchewan, Canada and by Georgina Binnie-Clark, a pioneer woman who emigrated from England. With no previous experience Georgina took over her brother’s land and farmed it, turning it from failure to success.

My other stories are inspired by locations, brief meetings with people, or something said, even dreams. Little things add details to stories. The San Diego football jersey on the corpse in "Last Man Standing", my story where our heroine finds herself in the Borneo rain forest, inspired by my husband’s love of American football and because he is a fan of the San Diego team.

I have a website and a blog which I post to regularly. More importantly, I comment on other blogs. Locally one of the most successful methods has been newspaper advertisement for book signings. Creating and maintaining contact lists are invaluable. They allow you to stay in touch with a core group of readers who in turn spread the word to people around them. An important thing to remember is to watch what you say, especially online. I’ve cringed at comments and posts on blogs. The internet is unforgiving and once it’s out there – well it’s out there. A great tool when used with care but don’t trash another author or even get too political. That’s not what your readers are looking for – unless, of course, you’re not writing romance!

Stephen King is my favourite living author. I became hooked on him as a teenager. His incredible ability to create worlds so real they suck you into the pages and make you forget that there is a reality. If I thought his ability to create fictional horror that literally walks off the page was amazing, his book "On Writing" is even more amazing. A generous gift to every aspiring writer.

Agatha Christie inspired me from the moment I picked up one of her books at the age of twelve. A woman ahead of her time. I can’t imagine seeing Egypt and Turkey in the early days of the twentieth century. She forged her own path despite mundane career choices, a bad marriage and the societal expectations of women at the time. She was amazing and I heard her first book might have been begun on a dare – truth or fiction?

Lavyrle Spencer inspired me because her stories were consistently able to take the mundane lives of people and turn them into a riveting read.

No, but if someone were willing to volunteer…?

I’ve always got a story or two churning away and I write down bits and pieces, give the story a name and wait for that moment when time and destiny say it needs to be written. Right now, I’m finishing up a story set in Borneo where a group of scientists, lead by a daring heroine, find themselves in Borneo hell. But our local hero is on the scene and reluctantly offers to help. Between a team of all male scientists with no real affinity for rain forest living and a reluctant rescuer, Garrett has her hands full.

One day I’ll write a story set in Australia. Cosmopolitan and exotic all wrapped up in one. Oops, I shouldn’t have written that, I sense a character emerging.

The Internet has made publishers more accessible and the computer makes drafting a professional-looking manuscript relatively easy. The upside: there are more good manuscripts seeing the light than in days of pen/ink and typewriter ribbon. The downside: a deluge of mediocre manuscripts makes it difficult for a good story to rise above the towering slush pile and probably the reason that many of the big houses have gone to agent submissions only. So the Internet has become somewhat of a double-edged sword.

If you are destined to write, that passion will gnaw at you until you do. Listen to the little voices inside your head - no they’re not coming to take you away. Write and write and write some more. Take advantage of all the free information and advice online, as well as all the generous authors who offer scads of information on websites too numerous to mention. Join a good writers group but never let any of that take you away from the writing. And one day – presto – it will happen!

"From the Dust" is available online at all Amazon locations, in the USA: Barnes & Noble, Target, and various online bookstores.