Margo Bond Collins lives in Texas with her husband, their daughter, several
spoiled cats, and a ridiculous turtle. She teaches college-level English
courses online, though writing fiction is her first love. She enjoys reading
urban fantasy and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of her free
time daydreaming about vampires, ghosts, zombies, werewolves, and other
monsters. Waking Up Dead is her first
published novel. Her second novel, Legally
Undead, is an urban fantasy, forthcoming in 2014 from World Weaver Press.
Welcome, Margo. Please tell us about
your current release.
When Dallas resident Callie Taylor died young,
she expected to go to Heaven, or maybe Hell. Instead, she met her fate early
thanks to a creep with a knife and a mommy complex. Now she's witnessed another
murder, and she's not about to let this one go. She's determined to help solve
it before an innocent man goes to prison. And to answer the biggest question of
all: why the hell did she wake up in Alabama?
What inspired you to write this book?
I wrote this book when I lived in
Alabama for a few years. I remember driving to work one morning (I teach
college English) and seeing just a wisp of fog move across the statue in the
middle of the town square. The statue was of some Civil War figure, and I
remember thinking that it looked oddly ghostly. In between teaching classes
that day, I started writing Callie’s story.
Excerpt:
“Hey,”
I said, hurrying after the woman. “Wait up.”
“I
know you’re not talking to me,” she said. She stared straight ahead and pushed
her cart down the middle of the aisle toward housewares.
“I
am talking to you. Look. I know this is really weird, but I need your help.”
“Well,
I’m not talking to you. I don’t know what your problem is, but you can take it
somewhere else.”
I
wanted to reach out and grab her cart, to make her stop and talk to me, but of
course I couldn’t. Which gave me an idea.
I
scurried out in front of her, planting myself in her path.
“Move,”
she said.
“Not
until you hear me out. Please?”
She
moved her cart to the left. I stepped out to intercept her. She moved to the
right. So did I.
“You
got some kind of death wish or something?” she asked.
I
laughed and shook my head. “If only you knew.”
“I’ve
got no time for this,” she said. And she slammed into me with her shopping
cart.
At
least, that’s what she planned to do.
The
shopping cart, however, slid right through me. When it stopped, the basket had
sliced cleanly through my midsection. The bottom rack merged
with my ankles. From my perspective, it looked like two perfectly solid
objects--me and the shopping cart--had melted
together. I don’t know what she saw.
Whatever
it was, it wasn’t good.
The
woman’s eyes widened, then rolled up into her head as she slumped to the ground
in a dead faint.
I
bent down to try to wake her up, but no matter how hard I concentrated on
making contact, I couldn’t even touch her.
I
hate being a ghost.
What exciting story are you working on
next?
The next
novel that is coming out is Legally Undead,
the first in the Vampirarchy urban fantasy series. It is forthcoming from World
Weaver Press in 2014. I am currently working on sequels to Waking Up Dead and Legally
Undead. I am also writing my very first full-blown romance. It’s a
paranormal romance involving some unusual shapeshifters—I have some exciting
news about it that I’ll be discussing on my blog in the next few months; be
sure to watch for it!
When did you first consider yourself a
writer?
Always, I think. I’ve written since I
was a child. For as long as I can remember, I have made up stories. When I’m
driving (which I find immensely dull), I amuse myself by making up characters
and figuring out ways to make their lives difficult. I also have a Ph.D. in
English, so I’ve also been an academic writer for most of my adult life. Almost
every job I’ve ever held has had to do with writing.
Do you write full-time? If so, what's
your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find
time to write?
In my day
job, I teach English courses online. Because I teach online, I do have some
flexibility in my schedule, and that means that if I’m suddenly inspired to
write, I can take a little time to do that. I also have to be incredibly
self-disciplined—it’s easy to put off writing if I don’t feel like doing it!
However, I try to fit in at least an hour or two of fiction writing a day.
What would you say is your interesting
writing quirk?
I use the
word “ultimately” far too often—something I find funny because it’s rarely the
right word (if it’s “ultimate,” it can only be once, right? There’s no need for
fifty “ultimately”s in a book!). So the very first thing I do when I finish a
draft is run a word search for “ultimately” and change it out.
As a child, what did you want to be
when you grew up?
Mostly a
writer. But anything other than an English teacher! However, then I decided to
go to graduate school, and I was given a job as a graduate teaching fellow. The
first day I stepped in front of a class, I knew it was a job I would love.
Since then, I’ve done everything I can to be both a working writer and a
writing teacher.
Anything additional you want to share
with the readers?
I love to
hear from readers—I work hard to answer any social media messages I get and I’m
always excited when someone I don’t know personally contacts me about my book.
Thanks so
much for having me here today!
Email: MargoBondCollins@gmail.com
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It’s been my pleasure. Thanks for
sharing!
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