I sold my 3rd novel Small Crimes to
Serpent’s Tail in 2006. Back then we had a different publishing and book world.
Hell, ebooks didn’t exist, self-publishing was a dirty word, and it was chain
stores putting pressure on independent bookstores, not Amazon. When I was first
starting out, I was writing crime noir, then later horror and books that were a
mix of horror and crime. All standalones. During this strange journey, I’ve been
reviewed in major newspapers, both in the US and abroad. I’ve seen my books
translated into six languages, and one of them made into a movie. 
Now in 2017, I’ve just seen my second Morris Brick thriller
and 13th traditionally-published novel, CRAZED, be released. There’s
not much chance I would’ve been able to write this series when I was first
starting out. As long as you’re trying, you can’t help but grow as a writer,
and that’s a big part of the reason. My publisher requires these Morris Brick
thrillers to be at least 90k words long, which means I need to be able to
outline plots where I know how long the book will be while not adding any fat
or filler. The books need to be fast, and the complex puzzles I’m constructing
need to tightly fit together regardless of the word length. That’s a skill that
takes time to learn. Also, I understand the business side much better than when
I started. If you’re writing a series, you need to play by a certain set of
rules. It doesn’t mean you can’t have fun, or you’re not proud of the books—because
I’m damn proud of these Morris Brick thrillers—it just means you’re more aware
of writing within the genre’s boundaries.
