Tell us about your latest book
I’ve written over twenty novels, a few series and a few. Most of my writing features my warped sense of humor. Reading should be fun! My latest release is Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, A Hope and Pip Cozy Cyber Mystery. It’s a 21st century cozy mystery featuring a robotic dog, and a mysterious AI.
What is your preferred writing routine?
Routine? Authors have routines? LOL Who knew? My preference would be to write at a lovely log cabin nestled in the mountains. A wall of windows overlooking a pristine mountain lake.
Honestly, I work, and I write for blogs and magazines. I’ve written in the bleachers at kids band practice, in the doctor office waiting for my appointment, on my lunch hour, wherever I could get in a few minutes of writing time.
Today, I tend to write at my desk a few hours a day. I live on Dust Bunny Farm - no, not a big farm, but enough acreage to keep us busy. My goal is 2K words a day….alas, I don’t always make it. But when I do, words flow late into the night.
What advice do you have for new writers?
Write. No professional gets better at their profession without doing it, repeatedly and a lot. Also, continue to read. Make sure you read books that are out of your usual preference. Every author will teach you something about writing. But mostly, just write—even if it sucks. I believe it was Nora Roberts who said: “You can’t edit a blank page.”
What have you found to be the best way to raise awareness of your books?
Social media like Facebook, Instagram, etc. I work with Creative Edge Publicity which helps me get farther reach than I ever could on my own, and my newsletter is one of my best outlets for reaching readers.
Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research.
My Hope and Pip mystery features a robotic dog and an AI. I love tech, but I’m constantly having to research to keep up! Honestly, whatever you see in the media about AI or robotics is roughly years behind the reality of where tech actually is. Pip my robotic dog in the series, was created as a service dog prototype.
Real service dogs have a ‘shelf life’. They generally are retired between 7-10 years as being a service dog to a human is an extremely stressful job. So Pip was created to be a replacement. He can be programmed to assist for multiple needs, never has to be fed, watered, walked, is allergy free, and just a hour of electricity can make him good as new. As needs change, he can simply be reprogrammed.
What I discovered in researching this, there isn’t a service dog—-yet, but what robotic dogs we do, is far more advanced than I ever anticipated.
What was the hardest scene you remember writing?
I would say it wasn’t a scene but a character…..the AI. It is a human consciousness within a network. Transferring her consciousness wasn’t supposed to work, but it did. I had to make her ‘real’, so she talks through a chapter or two and I’m hopeful that helps the reader relate more to her.
What are you planning to write next?
I’m working on the second book in the Hope and Pip series. The series takes place in Cincinnati, Ohio. While most cozies are set in small towns, there are many ‘neighborhoods’ in Cincinnati and it will is a place where new characters are introduced, along with the mystery.
Thank you for hosting me today.
Jocie McKade
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About the Author
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