Featured Interview With Tina A. O’Haiey
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Being born and raised in Florida with gators, winged things that bite, and no air conditioning—I chose to escape as fast as possible and have lived in California, Montreal, Georgia and Tennessee. I prefer the mountains of Tennessee when I can get there. I have 3 long haired wee Chihuahuas and a black Lab named Jack; that equals 2 dogs in surface area.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I remember writing stories as early as eight years old on a beat up royal typewriter. In study hall of high school I wrote novels in long hand. (For the uninitiated – that’s with a pen on actual paper, in cursive.) I’ve always had a novel in the works. My career has nearly always included travel. I write the most when in airports, planes and hotels. When driving (which I do a LOT) I dictate the outlines for books. I can’t actually dictate the manuscript. I’m not that talented to drive and write in my head at the same time. I have to see the shape of the words on the screen.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I read anything with good characters. I used to listen to books from audible while traveling. It would be hilarious to listen to me comment and critique the dialogue while I drove “What’s the matter with you? A female detective would not say that.” At the point that I started becoming very opinionated about what I read – I knew I was ready to actually write a book. My favorite writers: King, Koontz, Cormac McCarthy, Lisa Gardner, Hugh Howey, Andy Weir to name a few.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
The characters Brandy and Susan in “Absolute Darkness” are actually from a different novel I started in ’05. It was a murder mystery titled “Running in Place”. There was no caving involved. Then in ’06 I found caving and wondered what would happen if I put the characters there. Then they met Alexander —and he fell in love with Brandy. I fought it for months then gave in and wrote this love story.
This book took about four years once I stopped fighting the love story portion. I didn’t know what to do with that. So, a friend recommended that I read the “Outlander” series as reference on writing romance. I realized quickly I didn’t want to write that steamily. I wanted my Mom to be able to read this, heavens.
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