How did I get started? Like most things, first I thought about it... a couple of decades. A Creative Writing workshop enabled me to listen to the mistakes of others and receive critiques for own my mistakes. Then I read "On Writing" by Stephen King. He sits down and he does it. Until I do it, it can't get done.
Then I read a book by Elmore Leonard, "Tishomingo Blues". I love his dialog and I think dialog is my strength, too. I like to read fast moving dialog without self conscious big words.
November 2004 I sat down in front of my computer keyboard and began. I didn't want to write "horror" or a "murder mystery" or a "romance", even though those elements are included in my story. Ok, so genre might be a problem, but I'm writing a character driven story about a guy whose worst enemy is himself. As a small time criminal in prison for half his adult life, all he wants is off the merry-go-round. "Three strikes and you are out," the warden warned him. All he wants is a nice quiet little life, but Life has other ideas.
Why is a white haired woman writing about this subject? Over the past five years, I've corresponded with three men in prison, trying to understand how they got there and why they keep going back. Hundreds of letters prove they have many tragic threads in common. Dominic is a morph of three real inmates, plus a dose of imagination. I didn't write using a plot template, just a strong character. I let him drive his action, from skipping bail to kicking drug addiction to moving from New York City into a Southern culture he doesn't fully understand.
The guessing is over, I'm done. Did I show you how much all humans have in common? I hope so. I enjoyed writing it, and I've started a second novel set in the Voodoo Quarter of New Orleans. As Mr. King says, "It's a rush."
Next: Sell it. Publish it. Then, I can move to Mexico.
What is the title? How about...