1. What inspired you to write the Not a Drop to Drink series?
I watched a documentary called Blue Gold, which is about a projected shortage of potable water on our planet due to overpopulation. It was a horrible thought --- we all need water to survive, and it's something we can't make. I went to bed very grateful for the small pond in my backyard, and that night I dreamt I was teaching a young girl how to operate a rifle so that she could help me protect the pond. I woke up and thought, "Hey... I wrote a book in my head just now." DUST is the organic growth past that, the question of what is going on in the world outside of Ohio and an attempt to tell the story from a survivor who isn’t a badass.
2. Did you have to do any research for the series?
Yes, a ton. For DUST it was polio, desalinization, architecture, mountain lions, elevations in the US… I could go on and on.
3. Do you ever base characters on yourself or people you know?
Never. That way lies madness.
4. What made you want to become an author?
I’ve always wanted to be an author. Like most writers I started as a reader. Often if I didn’t like the ending of a book I’d just make up my own. I grew past that into writing my own stories.
5. Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
Do your research. It’s not just writing. You have to know how the industry works, what the market is like, how to correctly use social media. We’re not just writers anymore –we’re marketers and public figures. At times it’s frustrating, but that’s the case.
6. What's up next for you?
I have a Gothic historical thriller coming from Katherine Tegen 9/22/15, set in an insane asylum around 1890, titled A MADNESS SO DISCREET.