New Author Q&A with Tami!
1. Please tell us a bit about your latest release.
In THE BITTER SEASON, my Minneapolis Homicide detectives, Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska return, but not as partners. Nikki has gone to the cold case squad for more family-friendly hours, and Sam is breaking in a hot young partner, Michael Taylor. Nikki’s case is the 25-year-old unsolved murder of a sex crimes detective. Meanwhile, Kovac and Taylor are called out to the brutal double homicide of a university professor and his wife.
2. What do you do when you get stuck while writing?
If I’m really, truly stuck, and brainstorming ideas on six feet of whiteboard hasn’t kicked anything loose, I need to go do something physical, something that occupies my conscious mind but leaves my subconscious free to sort things out. For me, that means I’m either going to go get on a horse and train (My sport is the Olympic discipline of dressage) or I’m going to go put on the boxing gloves and hit the punching bag, or hit mits with my trainer. I’ll feel better physically afterward, and be more relaxed and ready to get back to the story.
3. What distracts you the most when you're trying to write?
Everything.
4. Do you write by the seat of your pants (pantser!) or do you carefully plot your stories (plotter!)? Has that changed at any point in your career or maybe it changes depending on the book?
I am a total pantser! I refuse to commit to an outline. I want to know the situation (crime) that is central to the story, and I need to know my primary characters. All else will be revealed to me in the due course of time.
5. What's your favorite snack and/or beverage while you're writing?
When I’m in the bitter throes of deepest, darkest deadline, I crave crunchy Cheetos and Mountain Dew.
6. Do you have a pet that hangs out with you while you're working?
I have three English Cocker Spaniels—Chamois, Stella, and Miss Molly. The girls are my constant companions in my office. Even when I’m working crazy hours, the two younger dogs hang with me. Chamois, the grand dame, washes her paws of us around 11 and goes to bed.
In THE BITTER SEASON, my Minneapolis Homicide detectives, Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska return, but not as partners. Nikki has gone to the cold case squad for more family-friendly hours, and Sam is breaking in a hot young partner, Michael Taylor. Nikki’s case is the 25-year-old unsolved murder of a sex crimes detective. Meanwhile, Kovac and Taylor are called out to the brutal double homicide of a university professor and his wife.
2. What do you do when you get stuck while writing?
If I’m really, truly stuck, and brainstorming ideas on six feet of whiteboard hasn’t kicked anything loose, I need to go do something physical, something that occupies my conscious mind but leaves my subconscious free to sort things out. For me, that means I’m either going to go get on a horse and train (My sport is the Olympic discipline of dressage) or I’m going to go put on the boxing gloves and hit the punching bag, or hit mits with my trainer. I’ll feel better physically afterward, and be more relaxed and ready to get back to the story.
3. What distracts you the most when you're trying to write?
Everything.
4. Do you write by the seat of your pants (pantser!) or do you carefully plot your stories (plotter!)? Has that changed at any point in your career or maybe it changes depending on the book?
I am a total pantser! I refuse to commit to an outline. I want to know the situation (crime) that is central to the story, and I need to know my primary characters. All else will be revealed to me in the due course of time.
5. What's your favorite snack and/or beverage while you're writing?
When I’m in the bitter throes of deepest, darkest deadline, I crave crunchy Cheetos and Mountain Dew.
6. Do you have a pet that hangs out with you while you're working?
I have three English Cocker Spaniels—Chamois, Stella, and Miss Molly. The girls are my constant companions in my office. Even when I’m working crazy hours, the two younger dogs hang with me. Chamois, the grand dame, washes her paws of us around 11 and goes to bed.
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