Southern Writers Magazine Southern Writers May 2018 | Page 9

I’m often astounded how I’ll include a detail in a story
that just came to me in the moment, with no further plan
for it, and then later voila, it ties together so amazingly
you’d never believe I didn’t plan it all along. I’ve won
quite a few awards, which I’m grateful for, since they
can help assure undecided readers that books are worth
their time and money. With so many novels on the
market, I feel truly honored by every reader who chooses
to invest in mine.”
Do you have writing problems? “If I have writing problems,
I go for a walk. If I’m desperate, I’ll clean my hundred-year-old
basement. Trust me; it’ll scare up ideas in anybody. When I
break through the block, I mind-map––connecting alternative
ideas on the page with circles and lines.”
Next for Sandra? “Over Maya Dead Body is the third and
final book in my Serena Jones Mysteries series about an
FBI agent specializing in art crime. A visit with a friend on
Martha’s Vineyard a few months before I began wr