About

Inane Fact

I can't visit the supermarket without going down the "smelly" aisles. Washing detergent, fabric conditioner, bubble bath, perfumes, I love them all. I can't go down the bodycare aisle without buying something, even if it's just handwash. If I disappear in the supermarket, Hubby knows exactly where to find me. I'm the woman you see with the fabric conditioner lid off and the bottle shoved up to her nose. Yeah, that's me. The loony who smells them before buying.

When I was a kid, I was in Heaven when they brought out scented erasers. I used to regularly bury my nose in my pencil case and take a hefty sniff. And Avon brochures. Who doesn't like smelling the pages? I almost hyperventilated when they invented Scratch and Sniff.

Here's the boring info...

I'm a bit of a whack job. I've been called eccentric, odd, weird, among many other things. I'm a mother of five children and a grandmother to one. I'm a wife. I was an editor in a former life and now I'm Head of Art at Total-E-Bound. I've been writing for a long time, honing my craft along the way, learning new things each time I put pen to paper and go through the editing process. My writing and artwork is forever evolving, each genre presenting different aspects, styles, and rules. I'm here to follow my dream and have reached many goals I set myself when I first started, some by chance, which surprised the hell out of me. Some people will like my work, others won't. That's a fact of life I accepted long ago, but I'll always pootle along doing what's in my heart, doing the best I can. I'm an avid helper of other authors, and so my fulltime day job is perfect for me. Life is pretty damn good!

What Music Do You Listen To?

To be honest, I don't listen to music like I used to. God, I remember blasting it out like no one's business, probably pissing my neighbours off. If I'm having a cleaning day, I'll put it on, though. But now? I'm boring, into peace and quiet for the most part, but when I do listen, it's usually the piece of music from the show Lost--Moving On. It's calming, very beautiful, and I put it on repeat until I'm sick of it. If I'm feeling in the mood for more insane music, I also absolutely love The Prodigy's Invaders Must Die. There's something about it that makes me want to headbang, become a concert-goer, and shake my fist in the air like some loon. Their Firestarter sends me crazy too. Love it.

One of my all-time faves is Changes by Tupac--my oldest daughter "borrowed" my album with it on there, so thank God for iTunes--and I love The World's Greatest by R. Kelly. I enjoy Coldplay, James Blunt (please don't shoot me!), David Gray, Rod Stewart (I can't help it if I'm weird, okay?), and my word, Jump Around by The House of Pain is just one of the most wicked songs out there for me.

Now I'm writing this, I realise I like music more than I thought, and this section could go on forever, so I'll shut up now.

Who Are Your Fave Authors?

Lily Harlem, Grant McKenzie, Stephen King, Thomas Harris, Simon Kernick, Tess Gerritsen, Tess MacKall, M. King, Jaime Samms, Cindy Jacks, Adrianne Brennan, Daniel I. Russell, James Cheetham, R.E. Wood, Rachel Randall, Lynne Connolly, Anny Cook. Too many to mention them all!

I've discovered some fantastic authors since running my review site, Miz Love Loves Books--authors I possibly wouldn't have read otherwise. I've been amazed by the wealth of talent out there. Keep writing, people! I've also discovered I really love vampire tales.

Do You Think You Will Always Write?

Now, yes. I wrote years ago then gave it up, but now I have places to send my work to and have built up my names, I will always write--even if the books don't get accepted. It's a habit, one I've realised helps me with stresses in life. If I don't write, I'm a grumpy cow. When I do, it's like a release. Like coming home and seeing familiar sights and inhaling familiar smells. I belong in my writing cave when the world gets too much to handle. No one can judge me there--not until the book goes up for sale anyway--and it's my little haven away from the madness and ugliness 'out there'.

So, Just How Many People Are You, Em?

LOL. I'm Emmy Ellis, Sarah Masters, Natalie Dae, Geraldine O'Hara, Charley Oweson, PoshGosh, one half of Harlem Dae, and when writing, I'm all my characters. When I hadn't "come out" as all my names, there were days when I had no clue which person I was supposed to be at any given time. I sat here and thought: Sod it. Be open about everyone you are and then there's no worries on saying the wrong thing. It worked for me. Now I'm happier knowing I can just be myself whoever I am. Less stress and more fun!

Em Quote

"Going out into the garden wearing open-toed sandals just after the grass has been cut isn't my idea of a good move. I mean, who wants green toes?"

What Are Your Favourite Books?

If you came into my house and looked at my bookshelves, you'd see that 99% of my books are dark. Serial killers, kidnaps, true-life crime, detectives seeking the bad guy. I love those types of books. I also enjoy paranormal or anything off or weird. Due to reading so many books like this, it's rare that I get freaked by the contents. However, there is one part in Nothing Like the Night by David Lawrence that really got to me, and every time I hear or read a certain phrase now I'll get chills, and one scene in Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen gave me nightmares. The book I can honestly say had me gripped from start to finish, the pace relentless, the plot brilliant, is Switch by Grant McKenzie. My other all-time fave is Duma Key by Stephen King. I either love his books or dislike them, but when I find one I love, I love it to death!

What Do You Do In Your Spare Time?

Spare time? What's that? LOL. I'd like to say I give myself time to chill out often but I don't. I have a terrible habit of not being able to leave anything unfinished, so I sit at the computer until my eyes have trouble staying open and my shoulders ache from sitting at the desk for too long. I push myself too hard, I know that, and only have myself to blame. But when I do chill, I tend to watch a movie with Hubby and without a doubt I read. A lot.

Do You Have Any Phobias?

Oh, yes. Too many that are stupid and pointless, ones I can't totally get rid of no matter how hard I try. I'm getting better with them, though. I've forced myself to write about them, which has helped me. Writing them into my books makes me have to either research and look at pictures (shudder) or delve into the sometimes silly things that bother me until they don't bother me or become less bothersome. A lot of bothers there...

With Predilection, my phobia in there is of child abusers. I needed to explore that avenue because it was making me frighten my children. I'd worry myself stupid every time they went outside that someone would snatch them away, that their lives were in peril every second I wasn't with them.

In The Master series I penned an ocean storm scene, where a boat almost sinks. At one time I couldn't bear to even look at the ocean on the TV or see it for real without sweating, my stomach rolling over, or me wanting to cry. Even though writing it was difficult, and I shuddered quite a bit during that scene, it has made me able to look at the sea for a longer period of time--okay, maybe only 15 seconds--without shivering or feeling frightened. It's the vastness of it, the depth of it, the sheer knowledge that if you're dropped in the sea, with no land for miles around, you're buggered if you get tired from trying to swim to safety.

In Samuhell, I visited tarantulas, snakes, and scorpions. Snakes haven't really bothered me to the degree where I'd freak, they're just damn odd to look at and a tad creepy, but the ugliness of scorpions and tarantulas--or, indeed, any arachnid--was something I couldn't seem to get over. After writing those scenes, we visited a zoo, and I was able to go right up to the tarantula case and touch the glass with one of those hairy beasts right on the other side. Yep, I crapped myself, but I did it. I will never, ever be at the stage where I could touch one, though. Good Lord, I shivered just then at the thought.

In Wasted, I explored insanity, death, and the afterlife. In Beautiful Sunset I integrated my feelings about the simple things in life being beautiful, and that feeling we get when we see a beautiful sunset should be how life always feels. Sadly, it doesn't, but it would be damned nice if it did.

There are so many books and stories of mine that have small or big phobias in them. I have yet to write about wasps (argh! Detest them!), ocean liners (we're talking Titanic here, and the hulls just freak me stupid), and myriad other things that set me off. But rest assured, they'll be there in future tales, and I'll slowly be reducing my fears with every one. Um, hopefully...

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