A little Q&A

What do you do besides write?
I’m a high school reading intervention teacher full-time.
I cram in writing when I have new ideas, want to relax, and have fun with a story.

Why does Meg in the Double Threat books go crazy about Pitbull?
That’s really my obsession. Well, he’s not the obsession. It’s his music. I love to dance and listen to the beats as I write. It gets me all pumped to write some party scenes. To be honest, until a few months ago, I didn’t know what Pitbull looked like. He could’ve been standing right next to me and I wouldn’t have even recognized him. I just love his music.

You also write about Ryan Seacrest, JoJo Wright, and NKOTB. What’s that about?
That’s the beauty of writing fiction. I can write about anything I want. A character’s mom can express an endless love for listening to On-Air with Ryan Seacrest every morning, so much so that everything else around her is just white noise. A group of girls can sit around a radio, giving each other mani-pedis while listening to JoJo on the Radio. Or they might follow JoJo on Twitter, reading his hilarious updates (he’s famous-you know!). A group of Blockheads might drive a thousand miles to see NKOTB on their reunion tour, the whole way discussing their “freebie list”. So following the daily grind of Seacrest, JoJo, and New Kids on the Block just happens to be a few of my guilty pleasures. Nah…not guilty. I wouldn’t mind shouting it from a rooftop. Hey, it could be worse. I could be watching Jersey Shore. Booo!

What’s your favorite thing about writing?
When a teenager comes up to me and says, “I loved your book. It was the first one I have ever read cover to cover. When is the next one going to be done?”…or something like that.
I’m a teacher first, and I always want my students to become readers.
I love that my books could be the ones to create life-long readers.

Are your books true stories?
No, my books aren’t real. They’re not my autobiographies. At first, they may have started out with a few real events, but then the characters changed and so did their paths. There isn’t any one character that’s me or anyone I knew. And there isn’t any one story line that I lived either. Wouldn’t it be great if there was really an Alex or Ben out there? Or even a Josh or Jon?
Sorry ladies…those characters are way too good to be true.

Is it true that most of your characters bear the names of your friends and family?
Absolutely. That makes it so much fun!