Whenever I'm on a road trip I make a point of stopping at quaint villages along the way. It was while having cappucinos on the verandah of an adorable little coffee shop in such a town, watching the locals go about their business that the idea struck me: What if one if them was the village witch? And, what if I was the only one who knew that? That's how the idea for Lori Whitewood and her family was born - on a stopover in a pretty town. I started outlining the characters that evening, and had the synopsis of the first book - the Mushroom Mystery ready by the time I got home.
People often ask what I base my characters on. Many are based on faces I'd seen in old television series I watched when I was a kid. Fae, for instance, is loosely based on Sophia from the sitcom The Golden Girls. Trixi is based on various cats that have lived with me through the years. Strangely, none of them were black...