2090: A New Earth is your first published book. Do you plan for any follow ups or additional books?
Actually, 2090 is not my first book, however it is my first serial. The second book is ready for cover art and the third is almost ready for beta reading. Book four is already in the outline stage.
What do you think makes a great story?
An interesting plot, lots of dialogue and characters that are as real as possible. How the story is told is as important as what it’s about.
What inspired you when writing 2090: A New Earth?
What might I (or people I know) do if we were this or that character. How would we react to finding ourselves with just a few people awake in a world that has gone back to nature. What they find, what would they need. It’s an interesting puzzle.
What are your ambitions for your writing career? Full time? Part time?
Full time and to continue doing both fiction and nonfiction. Some of my other books are about herbs, and as master herbalist I’d like to see them become popular as much because I think people need guidance in that area. In fact, one of my characters is an ND, the herbal equivalent to an MD.
When did you decide to become a writer?
My senior year in high school. Until then my parents and I thought I would go more into the sciences, but my grades were a lot better when I went for those classes that would help me write better.
When writing 2090: A New Earth did anything stand out as particularly challenging?
The bad guys, definitely, and those that didn’t at first fit into the society that was being developed. It’s hard to have characters that are unlikely to ever change or that do so too late.
How did you come up with the story of 2090: A New Earth?
Talking back and forth with my husband. The property that the main characters wake up on is based on some property we own. He is more of the sci fi fan and he helped come up with the idea. It didn’t exactly go in the direction we’d first talked about, but then some stories don’t. I think the best are those where the characters tend to invent themselves.
What do you like to do when not writing?
I like to read, cook and make jewelry for the most part. I also enjoy playing with our five year old granddaughter. She has quite an imagination of her own.
I have an Amazon Kindle page with several of my books up. I also have an herb page up with one of my herb books available for sale. I invite folks to e-mail if they have questions or suggestions. The best e-mail for that is mary@alternative-herbal-remedies.com.