Can you, for those who don't know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
I became an author to avoid crashing into corn fields. Some fifteen years ago, I was living in my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio and had a project in Northern Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati. The drive between the two was five hours with little to keep an active mind entertained. I began developing plots, some just little vignettes, to keep me sharp. Sleeping doesn’t work so well for me in hotels, so I began writing these plots. Over the course of the project, they became a book. Then I found myself writing when I wasn’t traveling and, voila, I was an author.
About 7 years ago, I became a published author on a dare. A dear friend of mine, Kyra Jacobs, was submitting to a twitter pitching event and dared me to submit on one of my manuscripts. I had been writing for my own entertainment, creating about ten, fully drafted, unedited stories. I submitted and while I didn’t win, the editor reviewing my work thought enough of it to refer me to her publisher, Entangled. About a year later, Lost in Tennessee was published by Entangled under the pen name Anita DeVito.
Mysteries are my first passion. I love the “figuring it out” aspect. Whodunits are my favorite with romantic and paranormal suspense in line after. My mysteries are published under my name, TG Wolff. At their core, they are whodunits with a healthy dose of humor. My romantic and paranormal mysteries are published under Anita DeVito. Readers will find that regardless of the name, my style comes through. I want to entertain you as much as these stories entertained me over the miles of highway and country roads.
What are some of your pet peeves?
One of my biggest writing pet peeves comes from sessions / seminars / classes on writing. When you are at the point where you have an incredible idea but don’t know how to write it, it is natural to want to look to the examples others have set. Understanding their “process” can help figure out your own. My pet peeve is anyone giving the advice who uses the words “you should.”
You should outline
You should create a detailed outline
You should detail the lives of your characters
You should write every day
You should write 1,000 words a day
You should write in the morning
You should use critique partners
You should read every book ever written on process
No. Nope. Non. Nyet. Nein.
Writing is like sex, there isn’t one right way to do it. Stop thinking about what “you should” do. As long as you are enjoying it, you’re doing just fine.
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