Interview Judith Miller

by

Celia Cooper

1. Can you give a short biography of yourself for those who are not familiar with you?

I am a loopy blonde writer who tries to tell stories of the unusual. I am smart, funny, well read, both shy and outspoken at the same time. M. S. has put me in a wheelchair, but my mind is free to wander. I write about those wanderings.

2. Do you remember the incident or situation that triggered your path to writing?

There was no particular incident that made me become a writer. It was more a process. As a child I made up poems, wrote essays in school, read constantly. About 25 years ago a secretarial friend was writing for magazines, and I thought 'I can do that', but I had no desire to write nonfiction. It was about the time Harlequin began mass-producing its romances. I thought that should be something I could easily do. Easily? Wrong! But it got me writing, and I haven't stopped yet.

3. Your January 2003 Wings release “Return to Port Darkling” is a paranormal romance. What about paranormal romance captured your interest to write in the genre?

I write about the paranormal, because the paranormal has been a fascination since childhood. My grandmother would dream about lost items, and find them the next day. My mother had a vision about our missing German shepherd, went to the middle of the remote field where he had been shot, brought him home and healed him. My father taught me to douse for water. At 10 years old I was studying the Rhine experiments with ESP. And I was about 10 when I decided reincarnation was the only thing that made sense about being born here in the first place--no matter what the Church said. That we had only one chance to do things right in our life had to be wrong. Didn't Stephen King say, when asked why he wrote horror, "What makes you think I have a choice?"

4. “Return to Port Darkling” speaks of a previous lifetime together for the lead characters Luke and Miri. Have you or will you create a “prequel”?

No, that would mean writing an historical, and I don't think I'm capable.

5. Is “Return to Port Darkling” the beginning of a series? Are you contemplating a series using Port Darkling as a backdrop?

I've thought of doing a book about Miri's sister, Aurora, but haven't worked out any ideas. It couldn't be reincarnation as a theme, it would need to be her reading of runes, etc. that draws her into trouble/love, but nothing has jumped out at me yet. Maybe I should read the runes myself.

6. When writing a new story, do you limit the research you do or do you find yourself becoming lost in the research?

I traveled to Port Townsend in Washington and bought history books there as research for the fictional Port Darkling. I traveled to Mount Adams Washington to research Searching, my next book from Wings coming out in August. Usually I try to visit where my books take place several times, but the idea that has been bugging me lately, takes place in a parallel universe, and I'm not sure how to get there.

I don't think I get lost in research because to me life is research. I'm an old broad maybe but I'm not ready to stop yet.

7. Are most of your stories centered in the area you live or do you explore “foreign” locations when creating the setting for a story?

I live in what used to be called the 'great central desert' of Washington State, and so far my books take place in Washington, so I guess I don't stray far.

8. Wings ePress, Inc. has celebrated its first birthday this year. What made you decide to try the e-publishing world and why Wings in particular?

My good friend Teresa Morgan had just had her romantic suspense, “Satin and Steel” accepted by Wings and she mentioned me to Lorraine (Stephens) who said, “Have her query.” I did and here I am--amazed and happy.

9. Do you have plans to write in other genres besides Paranormal? If so, which ones are you contemplating?

Everything I try to write ends up with some sort of off beat twist. Searching is a short contemporary but has the mysterious, mythical Sasquatch in it. I can’t feature writing anything ‘normal’.

10.Since most writers are avid readers, who is the author you read when you want entertainment from a book?

For pure entertainment, I have to say Nora Roberts. There is no one quite like her.

11. Do you find yourself reading with a more critical eye?

LOL. I do indeed and sometimes that’s unfair to the author, but I think--I can’t help it. I don’t throw wallbangers across the room anymore; now I try to see WHY it’s so bad and I try to learn what works from the experts as well.

12. What would you like the reader to take away from your book?

That we keep living, life after life, until we get the message--life is all about love.