A native of San Diego, I graduated from the University of California at San Diego with a major in Business Accounting, minoring in Creative Writing. While working for several years as an accountant at a large firm, I wrote short stories for friends and family on the side as a hobby. In 2018, I became the victim of an assault. Over time, the lingering effects rendered it difficult for me to deal with public situations - something I still struggle with today. Eventually, things worsened until they impacted my employment.
Someone helping me suggested journaling to cope with my challenges. I would, on occasion, include in my writing creative stories about what I would like to happen to my assailant. A close friend coaxed me into sharing some of those, and I discovered that my limited audience enjoyed them. I expanded my stories to include people I didn't know - bullies in general, the criminal element, and, eventually, good people doing bad things.
As time passed, Debra Ann Wynn, SDPD Sergeant Marci Robbins, private detective Harry Sanderson, Paul Castro, and other characters based on family and friends sprang to life. I began writing my first book, "The Mourning Mail," in 2022, finishing a year later. I didn't know anything about publishing, so I put the work on Booksie.com, a website I discovered that supports new authors. There, readers can see my writing and offer comments and suggestions. Even better, they have a professional review service that uses artificial intelligence to evaluate submissions. The readers and the reviews were helpful, and the book attracted much interest. Encouraged, I wrote two more books, "The Hodin Cabal: Choices" and "Aunt Tik's: The Killer App."
You can only learn some things by doing – the new books forced an unexpected rewrite of the first to clean up inconsistencies in Debra Ann's history. I changed the title to "Six Degrees from Killing Brian." I should finish the edits shortly. In the meantime, I've been busy – I've researched "Nero's Fiddle," and I'm well into the first draft. "Tellers of Terrible Tales: Writer's Block" and "Hack No Mercy: Disassembled" will follow.
I've recently finished a new website to help me find my audience. My writing is all about the readers; I need them to see my work and help me improve it. The Internet presence will also support my efforts to sell my work. I investigated traditional publishing and didn't like what I found there, so I'm teaching myself Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Seeing my work published will fulfill my dream since the eighth grade. In the meantime, readers can download eManuscripts and eAudioBooks from my website.
Expressing gratitude and respect for my readers means putting everything I have into a story before they ever see it on a shelf. Those feelings come back to me a hundred times over when they enjoy my work.
I wanted to write the Debra Ann Wynn mysteries series as intelligent stories for readers with a clue. With their help and support, I'd like to push myself to become the best writer possible.
When I checked out traditional publishers, I discovered they're more about greed than writing. Those businesses (or indeed, the literary agents you must get past first) want a writer to have copied the latest uber-popular offering from a competitor. That's not even close to what I'm hoping to do – I want to put my ideas and little stories out there in my voice... Maybe I'm missing something. Since a book takes a year or more to write well, I don't understand how a writer could predict what fad will be in vogue when their work's finished.
While I understand they make a lot of money (and I could use the income!), the formulaic pulp-fiction factories of James Patterson and his imitators aren't my thing. Nor does the lowest-common-denominator crass commercialism of the "Reacher" series and its clones (such as "Tracker") excite me. I struggle to see the art in reducing the superheroes and villains of a comic book to text. There's certainly a place for work like that, and I admit I've enjoyed reading more than one. Still, they're not what I want to write.
I don't believe readers mind thinking for themselves occasionally as the story unfolds. I don't want to disrespect the intelligence of my audience.
So, I'll follow Sinatra's example and do it my way. My choice not to join the other salmon leaves me nervously chewing my nails by my lonesome. All I can do is put my best writing out there, and I hope readers will find it and like it. I can't know whether it'll work out how I'd like it to, but that's the dream!