Monday Mailbox ~

Today is Monday, and I'm shuffling through all my emails and letters trying to pick which to answer here for a topic for this week. So many good ones to choose from. Decisions, decisions...Ah, here's a good one...

 I've often heard that writers write what they know and what they love or have an interest in, but you write everything from espionage to zombies to nonfiction about being a survivalist. Nobody can have that much that much knowledge. An Avid Fan

My response...
Dear Avid Fan,

Actually I do. I was born with an inquisitive mind and have degrees in a wide variety of subject matters. I love researching, finding out new things, and doing new stuff. That's just the way my mind clicks.

I pull from my own personal, real life experiences to write my novels. It gives my characters a depth that comes from fully understanding the character having walked in their shoes in real life. When I first started writing, I wrote strictly nonfiction because of this knowledge base. But actually when reading for pleasure, it was fiction I chose.

About ten years into my writing career, I thought I'd try my hand at writing fiction...a space opera. It sucked like terribly sour lemons. May that book, all 500 pages, stay hidden in a box under my bed forever. But that didn't deter me. I kept writing fiction as well as nonfiction. Writing fiction was a whole different animal than technical manuals, how tos, and nonfiction. I had to learn a whole 'nother craft. It took me another five years before I attempted another novel. That's an equivalent to a Bachelors degree and then some time wise.

I often say that death is the absence of learning. For me, it's true. I will always consider myself a student but never a master at anything. As far as a variety of topics for my novels go, I could pull from real life material to write a hundred novels or more. I write what I know. If I don't know it, I'll research it. One thing for sure, I will always write suspense to make you keep turning the page to see what happens next.

Keep those cards, letters, and emails coming. Who knows...maybe I'll pick yours to be spotlighted on this blog one day.

I love 'em and always will answer you back.

Keep writing and loving the Lord.