You use initials instead of your first name. Are you hiding your gender? Nope, I do tend to write more male characters and male-oriented situations but its just a matter of what interests me. As for the name itself, my goal is to prevent confusion with others who share the same name.

Where do you get your ideas and inspiration from? Life, both past and present.

What made you want to become a writer? Again, life, both past and present.

Who are your favorite writers? Absolute favorites are Ken Folliet, Stephen King, Margaret George, Chuck Palahniuk and Anne Proulx. Local writers include Jay Lake, Ken Scholes, David Levine, and Cat Rambo.

What’s the secret to writing a book? Persistence, plain and simple. Just don't give up.

When and where do you write? I prefer to write during the afternoon hours. For me, there’s too much to catch up on earlier in the day and too many distractions in the evening. I’m most productive at home in a small room with a single window my husband and I have dubbed ‘ColeHaus Library.’

How long does a novel take to write? Anywhere from a few weeks to a few years, I'd imagine. I participate every year in the National Novel Writing Month program which is held in November. The basis for each novel is written during the course of that single month. Regrettably, rewrites take much longer.

How much research do you do for each story/book? If the subject matter is technical in nature, I’ll spend a month or more gathering resources to pour over and spend a significant amount of time internalizing the information. If the matter is less than technical; developing a character with a quirky personality trait for example, I reflect back on people I’ve spent time with and can usually write an accurate and true account with minor technical research thrown in for good measure.

Do you have anything published? A couple of poems were published in the early 90’s. It should be noted that I paid to have those published. Currently, I’ve got several short fiction pieces out vying for editor attention but nothing else has been published to date.

Who’s your own favorite written character to date? Like real people, characters have good traits and some not so good traits. I loved certain aspects of Ella and Martin, characters I created for ‘Cabin 4', and Floyd from ‘Enthusiast’.

Is there a real Cabin 4? If there is a place that has cabins and those cabins are numbered one through five, you can probably assume there is a cabin four in there somewhere.

Are you afraid of things that go bump in the night? Of course, but usually it’s a cat.