An Author is Asked: Another Book?

I told someone I had a new book coming out this June and she remarked, "Do you put out a book every year?"

Actually, it's been four years since my last book was published. And, though I have another coming out next year, I don't think people realize how much time and energy it can take to publish a book. It starts with an idea. For me inspiration comes from current and past events. I build my stories and characters around something that sparks my imagination. And The Painting was inspired by a kerfuffle that happened more than a decade ago. 

I was intrigued when the board of the Seward House Museum in Auburn, NY was embattled in a lawsuit brought by one of Seward's descendants because of the removal of a Thomas Cole painting that had hung in the house for over 150 years and was given to William Seward as a gift. At the time (2013) they estimated the painting to be worth around $20 million, and the managers of the estate, the Emerson Foundation, wanted to auction it off. They won the lawsuit and the Portage Falls on The Genesee ended up in California. I thought to myself, did a community just lose a valuable piece of their cultural history?

Read More