Growing up the fifth child of
eight, I was the quiet one in the family. Most of the
time, I could be found curled up in a chair reading a book. I was never the
most popular person in my classes, but I’ve always had one best friend and a
couple of very good friends. It’s still that way today. In fact, I met my best
friend during my freshman year of high school. Thirty-four years later, we are
still best friends. That may not seem significant, but I think not focusing on
popularity allows some freedom because I didn’t waste time worrying about what
others thought of me.
I became a respiratory
therapist by pure chance because I had no clue that the ad in the paper for one
meant the person had to be qualified. That one little phone call changed my
life because I found a job I enjoyed doing.
I stumbled into writing in a
similar way. I started writing fanfiction in the mid-90s and eventually turned
to writing original fiction in 2009.
The idea for No Good Deed
initially came to me after reading in the newspapers about the American enemy
combatant, Jose Padilla, a.k.a. the Dirty Bomber. I found more information
about American enemy combatants and wondered what would happen if someone
completely innocent was caught up in a modern day witch hunt—substituting
terrorist for witch. However, I didn’t write the story until someone posted a
writing challenge as an informal-yet-intriguing contest on a website calling
for writers to have our characters wake up in a padded room and wonder how they
got there. I wrote the scene that ended up being the scene where Mark is in the
cell in shackles when Jessie comes to see him shortly after his arrest.
Sadly, the scene did not win
the contest; although people liked it, it was too bleak as it ended with Mark
just left there in the cell. (The scene that won the contest was my second
entry, so it was all good! It was a fun, sexy scene about a couple waking up in
a padded room. I’d love to expand that into a book someday too.)
So, that is how No Good Deed
was born. I turned the scene into a short story, and I kept getting requests
from readers, asking for more. So I started the story over from scratch to make
it flow better. I only kept the one scene with Jessie, and one other scene
later when Mark is in prison. I didn’t expect the idea to become a whole
series, but readers kept asking for more, so I continued telling Mark
Taylor's story. I’m currently writing the fifth book in the series.
The Mark Taylor 4-Book Omnibus is currently on sale for just $5.99 (£4.10). It is available:
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