Vladina (a.k.a. Augusta Lee Legare Middleton) is my favorite character. I feel for her the most. I fully intended to end her existence before writing V3: The Vampire Vignettes ReVamped , but she had other ideas.

I admire her strength as a vampyre, though her confusion makes her vulnerable in a sense and therefore more likeable to me. Even though she's a vampyre, she's not indestructible, and she's overcome great wrongs inflicted on her by her elitist vampyre family. She's a survivor with a big black heart buried somewhere within, and I intend to dig it out (in one of my vamp novels) before it's all said and done.

I identify the most with Susanna, Leah and Vladina. Susanna, because I've worked in a job where my religious beliefs weren't tolerated. Leah, because I love my husband in much the same kind of protective way she loves hers. And Vladina, because I can understand her rage and disappointment with a world that seems very unfair at times, yet her devotion to/protection of animals (bats) nonetheless (even in the midst of her own despair) is honorable.

Also, the love Vladina still has for the human who raised her, even though humans are generally just her food and the human has long been dead, is touching to me in a transcendent kind of way. I can identify with a deep kind of love for someone like that, even when they've been gone for a long time.

I think I've been very fortunate to have been an "Indie Author" during the last five years. Fortunate for me, and other motivated Independent Authors, because during this time the D.I.Y. (Do-It-Yourself) and Web 2.0 Revolutions have really blossomed. I've been able to set up over 10 web pages myself on various networking sites and advertise totally free of any charges.

If I'd been a self or subsidy-published author before, then, for the most part, I wouldn't have had all the wonderful networking sites to advertise on. All I basically had to learn was how to copy and paste HTML code and tile. Being nontraditionally published and really taking every opportunity I could for media exposure really got my name out there, and now I'm happy to announce that I'm being traditionally published, for the first time, this year by Alexandrian Archives. You can check out their site at www.alexandrianhouse.com and my page on their site. I'm elated to be a part of the Alexandrian Archives family, but I certainly value all the marketing lessons I learned as an Indie as well.

It's wonderful not having to come up with publication costs anymore being traditionally published; that definitely helps making a living by writing easier. I consider myself quite fortunate. One of the tips I'd give to other writers who go the "Indie" route first is: make sure that your publisher uses a major distributor like Ingram and/or Baker & Taylor.

I wouldn't have been able to sign at many of the major bookstores I've signed at unless my former print-on-demand publisher, Xlibris, had those major distributors. I would like to see there not be the stigma, that makes it harder to get into many bookstores to sign, still somewhat associated with self-publishing for the sakes of other "Indie Authors" who go the route I did.

Although in college I studied the works of many Romantic/Gothic novelists, poets, etc. (particularly 19^th century American and British writers), I have thus far tended to write about mostly modern vampyres/vampires. I tend to favor non-gothic and more realistic vamps (unless they're my sanguine and psychic human-vamps, who are quite realistically frequently modern Goths as well), perhaps to create characters that my human readers can more easily identify with. It aids in a more willing suspension of disbelief/belief oftentimes I think.

Yet, I do feel immense appreciation of the wonderful writers of vamp lit that have come before. I feel that if it weren't for those previous works, then my Vampy(i)re Species and Subspecies wouldn't have been able to emerge.

The characters definitely have their say ultimately in my writing. As mentioned before, I was going to end the existence of Vladina in V3, but she had other ideas; instead, she's emerged/been emerging as a great anti-heroine and protagonist in both what I've written and am currently writing.

While I recognize that many are drawn to vampires because of the immortality angle, that really isn't what did it for me. For one thing, immortality isn't necessarily a given for my vampy(i)res: they can be destroyed by a metal (not wooden) stake through the heart, sunlight, etc. And I know some other writers use fire, beheading, etc. to end a vampire's existence.

What got me interested, subconsciously at first, was the fact that I got my first case of skin cancer at just 23 years old, so while my friends were frequently soaking up rays at nearby beaches, I was covered up at home with my "sickness." I felt for many of the mythological vampires that also couldn't go out in the sun.

As a child, I had reoccurring dreams with wolves in them, but I learned to wake myself up when the alpha wolf got too close, so when I realized that I could control my dreams in a sense, there was no more fear. Also, I realized that much of what frightened me in my dark subconscious mind, until I faced it, wasn't as terrifying in actuality as what was happening in the broad daylight of "real" life.

Sometimes it flows naturally, and sometimes I am indeed the angry and frustrated villager with both a torch and rope for lassoing it from the depths of my subconscious mind and bringing it up to the conscious...lol...when I'm super frustrated and realize that the torch isn't working well because I can't even find it in the depths to rope up and then write about it, then I'll let it be and just take a long walk in the woods behind my house. Usually when I'm back home from the journey, after clearing my head and not trying so hard, the answer plot-wise or whatever-wise will be apparent and I can resume writing.

I used to like listening to the same CD for each book, to put me in the same frame of mind I was in before I'd taken a break. I listened to The White Stripes' "Elephant" CD a lot while writing V3: The Vampire Vignettes ReVamped . I write in what I call the "Computer Room" on the second story of my house. I have a window I can look out of with the woods in plain sight as well as a pond. I think I'd go insane writing without a window to look out of at this point. I have a large desk with two monitors on it.

As far as writing rituals go, I like to treat myself to lots of Starbucks coffee and a Payday candy bar before I start.

I'd say all of the above and I recently had a dream/nightmare that inspired my writing as well. I will be writing music reviews soon for AEA ( a publication that my friend Dave Wolff publishes ), so I'd say that music if not always directly, then certainly indirectly, frequently influences my writing

I've never really felt stifled creatively. However, I have been stifled somewhat physically because of writing horror at my book signing events.

I was signing at a Waldenbooks in Savannah, Georgia not too long ago, and a woman made a bit of scene posturing in front of my signing table while telling everyone that all vampire books should be burned. Ah the joys of having signed in the Bible Belt as the author of evil vampire literature.

I have had people try to block my table, and I also had a man, who I later learned was a Baptist preacher, storm up to my table demanding what I wrote. I basically answered with dark fantasy/horror and asked if he liked that kind of thing. He said no. I then said something like my novels probably weren't for him. And then he stormed off much in the same way he approached.

I've learned not to waste my time by giving a spiel about my books, expending needless energy, etc. if someone has a super closed mind to begin with. Rather, I'll nip their negativity in the bud, and spend my time instead talking to those who are interested in learning about and buying my books.

I would love to see my novels adapted for the screen. I would love to be involved in the casting choices! I'd like to see my husband, who is certified in film production and is a cinematographer (besides having a degree in Mass Media Communications and Radio & Television Broadcast Communications), play a large part in the filming, directing and producing.

At this point, I'd say no simply because I have a lot already on my plate. Besides my novels which are being published by Alexandrian Archives, I also regularly contribute to MetaCreative Magazine, Psychic Times International and, as I mentioned before, I'll also be contributing to AEA. But who knows what the future holds? Now you've got me thinking...