Why I Write About Death

Because it’s not fair.

I get asked a lot why all my books (so far) involve death. It started when my friend and the “other grandma” to my grandkids died of COVID.

We had a snowstorm in Austin TX that was unlike anything I had experienced in my 20 years of living there. We call it “snowpocolypse”. We were blanketed with 6 inches of snow and my daughter, her husband, and our three grandkids were stranded at our house.

What do you do when the power is out and there is 6 inches of virgin snow on the ground? you take the grandkids out to make a snowman.

When the carrot nose was set and the twigs were placed as arms, I asked my grandson, “what should we name the snowman?”

his four-year old response was, “Nan Nan, Nan Nan the Snowman” after his other grandma who had passed away just days earlier.

We went inside and got a scarf and hat, she had made for me and we put it on. Everything the kids are near snow, they bring Nan Nan back for a visit. I thought this was a excellent way for a child to cope with the loss that death brings, plus, Nan Nan the Snowman would make a great book title.

And so, the first book was born. That same summer, my husband’s niece died. Eighteen, she had a whole life ahead of her. **Profanity alert**

Fuck that.

I am the kind of person who asks to see the manager and pounds my fist on the desk if something is not right… and DEMAND that it be corrected.

Whose desk could I pound on for this atrocity ?

Who could I go to, and DEMAND this be undone?

No one. that’s who.

Fuck that, I said again. I will give her a life. I will write her a novel. She will be the hero. She will save the world. From that, Escape from St. David’s was born.

The cemetery is filled with people I know, who left this world way too soon. My grand parents are there, my great grandma too. My step-brother who committed suicide, and my friend who died at 50 of diabetes. My realtor who died of cancer in his 40s, and my co-worker who died in a motorcycle accident. They are all there, to have an adventure with Wylder (aka, Falynne).

I am now writing the second book, The Devil’s Playground. In this book Wylder realizes that if there is a heaven, there must also be hell. Stay tuned for more on that.

I am also writing a story of a girl who inherits her grandfather’s journal. Why? I’ll give you one guess.

So, for now, I write about death because it’s not fair. I want to give people an adventure. The nice thing about writing is that I make the rules.

When I make the rules, the hero’s win, the guy gets the girl, and the ending is happy… Even when it’s inspired by death.