My new novel Where Angels Sing, sequel to Spoilers comes out next week, October 3rd. Where Angels Sing will be my fourth novel. I started writing when I was a little kid  but it wasn’t until after I finished my Master’s Degree in Forensic Science at the University of Florida that I was able to put all the pieces together and finish my first book.

Prior to finishing my first book, Shattered Circle I had been able to sketch out a frame work for a few different ideas but I was never able to get down to the actual writing. What I think happened at the conclusion of grad school that got me really writing was a very simple thing I had ignored in the years prior. I just sat down and started typing.

During my course work for the UF degree I had a schedule. the degree was largely independent work, mostly research and papers that had to be completed by a given deadline. No one was watching over my shoulder to make sure I got my work done. No one was going to call me and ask where my work was if I didn’t submit a paper on time. It was all on me to complete the task so I set up a work schedule.

At the time I was a Special Agent of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service assigned to our Contingency Response Field Office. My work day generally started at 7:30 am. I started showing up at 6:30 so I could do my research or write my papers before the workday started. I did this consistently throughout my course work. During my tenure at CRFO I traveled a lot. Wherever I was in the world (I worked on my UF program in seven different countries over the two years of study) I kept to my own self imposed schedule. When I graduated from the program I suddenly had an hour or more in my day that was empty space. I decided to fill it with writing.

I had a couple of ideas floating around my head and settled on an urban fantasy pitting a homicide detective against a blood magic cult. I will go into what went into Shattered Circle in a later post. With that hour I set aside for myself I decided to attack a 100,000 word novel by chipping away at it by 500 words a day. The first draft took a few months but one day I just looked up from my screen and realized I did it…I had written my first draft.

Not that I should be considered by anyone to be an expert but I am asked often at book signings and by everyone once they find out I’m a writer, ‘how do you do it?’

My humble advice is very simple: sit down and write. I have found that word vomit is a very effective means of becoming a writer. You can always fix it in the rewrite.

Don’t forget to check out my books here.