So nice to be back home after two weeks on the road. I enjoyed staying at The Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, where the air-conditioning was as perfect as the hair on a werewolf drinkin’ a pina colada at Trader Vic’s.The Public Safety Writers Association conference was terrific. So many experts in the room! I got to hang out with FBI Agents, Homicide Detectives, and other first responders. Lots of brains to pick for future books in the Eddie Shoes Mystery Series.
First order of business was to clean my desk.
Yes… it really does get this bad….
But now it looks like this!
Next order of business was to get the next set of interview questions with author Nancy Herriman up on my blog! Take it away Nancy…. (Scroll down for part I)
What is your research process?
I start with upfront research as pertains to the fundamentals of the story—setting descriptions, background information on characters’ occupations, relevant historical events, things like that. A lot of my research occurs while I’m writing, though, when I have to look up specifics or want to add details. I can waste hours searching the internet for the brand name of an item one of my characters might use!
Your first career was as an Engineer, how did that training impact your writer’s life?
When I first started, I imagined that I could attack writing in the same manner I’d solved problems at work—with a checklist and a set of formulas. It took me a while to learn that writing a novel is not quite so straightforward, and that there is no single magic recipe or set of rules. Although I do still like to use spreadsheets to help plot out my books. Once an engineer, always an engineer.
Excerpt from No Comfort for the Lost… Click on this link or the book cover to read further…
San Francisco, March 1867
The Chinese believed that some days were inauspicious, the ill tidings written in the passage of the heavenly bodies. Celia Davies gazed down at her patient, a delicate Chinese girl whose skin sported more bruises than unblemished flesh, and wondered if today would prove to be one of those days.
Check back soon for the end of the interview!
Nancy Herriman abandoned a career in Engineering to chase around two small children and take up the pen. She hasn’t looked back. A multi-published author, she is also a former winner of the Romance Writers of America’s Daphne du Maurier award for Best Unpublished Mystery/ Romantic Suspense.
When not writing, she enjoys singing with various choral groups, gabbing about writing with friends, and eating dark chocolate. After two decades in Arizona, she now lives in her home state of Ohio with her family.
When not writing, she enjoys singing with various choral groups, gabbing about writing with friends, and eating dark chocolate. After two decades in Arizona, she now lives in her home state of Ohio with her family.
