Check me out on Smashwords!

I've just posted Instinct on Smashwords, and although I want to apologize for any formatting issues (I'm currently working on that, but having a little difficulty with the transition), I want to thank everyone who has downloaded it so far and has given me such great feedback! 

A little bit about it...

I was driving home from work one day and glanced up at a billboard with a giant picture of very earnest looking people in suits standing in front of a bookcase and I could have sworn it read: “Worst lawyers in the state!”

I blinked and looked again and then read what was really there: the name of the firm and some throwaway phrase about “working for you!” It struck me as funny and got me thinking about mistaken impressions and Freudian slips, those moments when you’re sure someone said something really naughty even though they’re looking at you like you’re crazy. From there I started imagining what it would be like if that happened all the time, if a first impression could always be right, could give a person a glimpse of truth rather than a carefully crafted façade.

And Derry came to life.

My heroine came first, her strange abilities and her personality, long before I ever came up with a story. I was actually working on something else at the time, but Derry and her honest impressions just kept popping up in my head, stealing away my attention, and finally I sat down and let her tell her story. I was living near Harpers Ferry, WV at the time, had always thought it would make a perfect setting for a murder mystery, and so Derry had a home.

The rest of the story came to me pretty organically; I just started writing scenes from Derry’s point of view and all these other characters turned up and their stories began emerging until I had a pretty solid plot.  I’m a teacher, and too many times I see students who are caught up in destructive relationships that would be categorized as domestic abuse if they were adults, and I wanted to bring a bit of that to light; Derry gave me a clear outlet since she wouldn’t be fooled by a smooth-talker or manipulation. The rest of the book flowed from there.

I wish I could say I had some great plan in mind when I sat down to write, but really the whole thing just came from me misreading a billboard. There’s a bit of honesty for you.