A: I tend to write the kinds of stories and books I like to read, which are filled with struggle and unique characters looking for solutions to those challenges. Scars and darkness make for interesting conflict, which I think drives the best stories. Which isn’t to say that I don’t look for hope in my writing; in fact, I often find the most hopeful tales are the ones that are hardest-fought, where the light isn’t always obvious.

Q: What authors do you particular admire, and has that shifted over the course of your career?
A: I’m terrible at answering these kinds of questions, because I’m terrible with names and titles, but also because, yes, my interests are constantly shifting, depending on what kind of writing I’m doing at the moment. I’m reading a lot of quality thrillers right now, and have just cracked open We Sold Our Souls: the rhythm and beauty of the language Hendrix uses to describe the protagonist’s relationship with heavy metal music is in the process of disassembling and reassembling how I think about my own craft.
If I re-read a book, I’m drawn back to writers who tell stories in gorgeous but plain language, where things clearly happen and the characters are believable and relatable. Some of the literary writers I’ve gone back to are Richard Wagamese, Miriam Toews, Tim O’Brien and Robert Olmstead. On the popular side, I can easily and quickly settle back in to the work of Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Lee Child or Ian Rankin

Q: You’ve lived abroad a lot – Kuwait, Korea, New Zealand and Australia. How has that fed into your writing, career and life perspective?
A: There is no one version of a story, or a single truth in storytelling: All our narratives are woven together with the uncountable myths and legends and human creations that existed before we did. It’s a privilege to contribute to this infinite tapestry one spindly, delicate thread at a time.

Q: As a long-time short-story writer and educator, you presumably have tools in your toolbox other novelists do not. Please talk about some of the advantages those backgrounds give you.
A: Being an educator and writer has really driven home that there is no faking it, not really: Teachers who don’t care or work hard don’t make much of a difference in the world, and writers who don’t regularly put their bums in their chairs to arrange words in meaningful ways can’t really call themselves writers.

Q: Tell us about your writer tutoring service, how that passion grew and what rewards it gives you.
A: To be honest, this service is mostly on hold right now due to the ever-changing home dynamic throughout the pandemic as well as the crazy demands of putting two new books into the world. I reach out to clients when I have a little time to see if they have anything that needs some TLC, but right now it’s piecemeal. I enjoy helping writers make the best show of their work, and I’d love to have the time and headspace to get more fully back into it. Please go away, COVID-19: We have dreams that require more than a constant and stressful survival existence!

Q: Any hints as to what comes next for you, either in terms of books you’re working on or career changes or new interests that may affect your writing?
A: Cut Road, my collection of short stories, comes out next spring. I’ve got a couple of completed books that are looking for a home (one YA, the other adult literary thriller), and I’m working on another thriller that examines a #metoo reckoning and human trafficking in the Middle East. In a month or so, depending on lockdowns and permits and whatnot, the plan is to build a garage for our house: I haven’t decided yet whether this — I love working on home projects — will or won’t be a break from my writing.