Susan Muller started her first novel at age eleven.  But it wasn’t until she had married, had a career and raised a family that she had the time to devote to writing.  And now that she has that time, she’s won a number of awards.  Let’s welcome Susan Muller.

Susan:  Hi, Jim. It’s so nice to be here. Thank you for inviting me to be on your blog.

Jim: I understand you started your first novel at age eleven. What happened to it?

Susan:  Who knows? Hopefully my parents burned it. My mother’s family originally came to Texas in a covered wagon and settled in Groesbeck, a small town in East Texas.  I wanted to write about that journey, but I didn’t really know anything about traveling by covered wagon and I didn’t understand about research. This was years before Google. It might have made an interesting story. My great-grandfather was the sheriff, and they lived in a small apartment above the jail. That’s where my grandfather was born. I’m told, whenever he got into trouble as a kid, my great-great-grandmother would say, “What can you expect from someone who was born in jail?”

Jim: Okay. Tell us how you got back into writing after such a long sabbatical.

Susan:  My husband retired. LOL. Anyone with a retired husband will understand.

Jim: You’ve travelled around the world a good bit. Have you been able to use that in your book? Or do you see that as a part of future books ?

Susan:  I haven’t been able to use it so far, but I’m considering writing a book set in Australia and then writing off a trip there as research. With my luck, I’d end up having to write it from federal tax prison.

 Jim: The Secrets on Forest Bend is your first novel. Can you tell us how that came about?

Susan:  It’s not my first novel. Discounting the one about wagon trains, there’s another sitting under my bed that will never see the light of day. Someone mentioned to me that paranormal romance was the ‘in thing’ and I thought,  I can do that. Followed quickly by, No, I can’t. Vampires are supposed to be cold to the touch, and I couldn’t picture my heroine saying, “Oh baby, you turn my blood to ice.” Zombies are just gross, and with werewolves, there’s that constant need for electrolysis.

That left ghosts, and I decided I could manage one little ghost, although Heather turned out to be harder to handle than I imagined. I paired that with the idea of following the life of a gun. How much damage had it caused over the years, and what effect did it have on people’s lives?

Jim:  How about a brief blurb on the book, if you don’t mind.

Susan: The Secrets on Forest Bend is a paranormal romantic suspense. It has a hunky hero, a crooked cop, an intriguing woman, and a vengeful ghost. What more could you want in one book?

Another day . . . another dead body.

When Detective Adam Campbell learns that a WWII gun is connected to several murders he’s investigating, he hopes that tracking down the killer will be as easy as tracing the gun’s history. When he meets Jillian Whitmeyer, the last known owner of the weapon, the case becomes anything but simple.

Adam soon learns that people who get close to Jillian have a bad habit of turning up dead. Jillian claims that the spirit of her sister, accidently killed with that same gun, is responsible for the deaths. She warns Adam that he is likely to become the next victim. Adam’s been a lousy judge of women in the past and this one’s obviously a nut case. Or is she? How does a just-the-facts detective deal with a ghostly serial killer and the sexy-as-hell sister she won’t set free?

Jim:  You’ve got my interest. I understand you are a member of several writers’ groups. How have they helped you in your writing?

Susan:  My first novel (the one hiding under my bed) could be a textbook example of every mistake new writers make. I joined RWA (Romance Writers of America,) took classes, went to workshops, read craft books, and found a critique group.

A good critique group is essential. They don’t just check your spelling and grammar. Spell check can do that, although auto-correct can get you into big trouble.  They help you brainstorm when you write yourself into a corner, they point out plot holes, they call you on it when your heroine is TSTL, (too stupid to live,) and they encourage you when the demon self-doubt attacks.

Jim: I couldn’t agree with you more. So, what are you working on now, and do you have a target date to finish it?

Susan:  I’ve already finished the next book in the series. The Witch on Twisted Oak is the story of Adam’s partner, Ruben. It is due out from Soul Mate Publishing the first of September. I’m working on the third book in the series, Voodoo on Bayou Lafonte, and hope to have it out by early 2014. For those who have read The Secrets on Forest Bend, if Witch is Ruben’s story, who do you think is the protagonist in Voodoo? The fact that it has’ bayou’ in the title should give you a hint.

Jim: What is the best piece of advice you’ve received that helped you complete or improve The Secrets on Forest Bend?

Susan:  I needed to set up a meth lab – I’m not telling why, read the book- so I Googled it. Yes, you can learn anything on Google. I got a list of all the ingredients, but I didn’t have a feel for the lab part. So I called my son-in-law, a scientist.

He spent a long time describing labs and how they worked. Later my daughter asked him what I wanted. “To know how to set up a meth lab,” he said.

“Why?” she asked.

“I have no idea.”

Now, that’s trust.

Jim: And where is the best place for us to find and buy your book?

Susan:   The Secrets on Forest Bend is available through my publisher, Soul Mate Publishing, or from B & N and Amazon.  Here’s the link to Amazon, just in case you’re interested. You can read the first chapter. http://tinyurl.com/b3g2fpj

My web site:  www.SusanCMuller.com

My author page on Facebook: Susan C Muller, Author

Follow me on Twitter @SusanCMuller

Jim:  Thanks for sharing with us, Susan.  I hope a number of people will leave you a comment.  Good interview.