kc:  Is this your first book publication? 
I was first published when I wrote a column for The Gravenhurst News, one of the two newspapers in our town, at the age of 13.  I think it was the Beechgrove Informer or something like that, but for one whole year I wrote a regular column about what was going on at my school, Muskoka Beechgrove Public School. Then I went to college and studied journalism and lost count of the articles out there.  I’ve had some short stories published in an anthology, some reviews and interviews published online in Spinetingler Magazine, and I’ve got three pieces coming up in CrimeSpree.  Their May/June Issue will have my interview with author John Rickards and my short story The Butcher will be in their July/August Issue.  I’ve got interviews with Cornelia Read, Simon Kernick and Mark Billingham scheduled for Spinetingler this year.
So, Suspicious Circumstances is my debut novel, but not the first thing I’ve had published.

kc:  What are your writing habits?
I typically lock myself in my office from 4:30 am until late at night and work seven days a week on the first draft, putting it together in anywhere from five to seven weeks.  I edit as I go, and I plot as I write, so it’s a bit unpredictable.  It also depends on how much research I have to do.  Once I’ve got the first draft done I usually try to take some time off and write something else, like a short story or article, to clear my head before I go back to the manuscript and edit it again.  I’m really good with self-imposed deadlines that leave a wide buffer of time for the unexpected.

kc:  What’s your biggest distraction, what can lure you away from the desk?
My biggest distraction is at my desk.  I’m a web junkie.  I’ve got a blog and I’m obsessive about responding to emails and comments on my blog, which drives some people crazy, but I feel rude if I don’t write back to people.

kc:  What inspired this book? 
I just had the idea that it would be interesting to see a cop and a reporter forced to work together, since they’re usually at odds with each other and that’s how you see it played out on TV all the time.  “Protect the source” and the public’s right to know, freedom of the press and all that.  I was wondering what would happen if you had a reporter smart enough to know not to pigeonhole herself.  I mean, when I studied journalism we were always told to try to get everything on the record, to be really reluctant to deal in confidences.  And that’s a good practice, because confidences can come back to bite you in the ass later.  If only a few people know about something, and you’re one of them, when there’s a leak you’re a suspect.  Lara Kelly’s smart enough to know that.  I gave her that trait.  She’s also more interested in truth than just getting a good headline.  All the reporters reading this will now know why I couldn’t last in journalism.  I just didn’t have the stomach for the politics that sometimes comes with the job.  In that respect, Lara’s a lot like me.  I was taking a creative writing diploma program, and my instructor – herself a published author – was encouraging me to write for children.  I did some picture book manuscripts, but I knew that wasn’t where I wanted to be, 100%.  I looked at what I was reading, which was dominated by work in the crime genre, and decided to try writing what I loved reading.  I also wasn’t sure I could pull off a true police procedural at that point.  I felt like I needed a way to work around how cops really investigate crimes and give myself some flexibility.  By taking a cop and a reporter and forcing them together through circumstances, it gave me more room to play with how the story progressed and that’s really important because of one of the themes in the book, to do with local police corruption.  The investigation had to happen outside the police department. 

kc: In your opinion, what things best prepared you to become a writer?
I’m incredibly stubborn which helps when you’re looking for a publisher.  I hate to admit it, but my grade 11 English teacher, Mr. Denomy has probably done more to prepare me than anything else.  I’d always done well in English but the first time I had a class with him, I was struggling to maintain grades much lower than usual.  He didn’t hand me anything and pushed me to work harder.  He also told me based on my writing style and themes; I should read Bronte’s Jane Eyre, which remains one of my favorite books to this day.  When I found out Mr. Denomy was going to be my grade 13 English teacher I was worried but my marks were my best ever, and I knew I was earning that from a teacher that didn’t give good grades to sloppy students.  That was when I really understood how much he made me improve as a writer.

kc:  What you do when you aren’t writing?
Well, when I’m not writing I’m blogging about writing, talking about writing on writer’s forums, interviewing authors and harassing Mark Billingham with email.  Those are my regular hobbies. Seriously, I live near Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  My husband and I like to hike and travel and we’re trying to get away to the mountains a bit more.  I used to be a photographer, and I still like going out and shooting film, taking scenic shots or pictures of our dogs. I like cross-stitching and oddly enough, bowling.  I never liked it as a kid and I stink at it, but taking my niece and nephew bowling is always a lot of fun.