I’ve been writing fiction since I was in high school and have the rejection slips to prove it.
After I graduated with a BA in Psychology and no job, I realized my dreams of working in the attic writing great prose would have to take a back seat to the simple pleasures of eating, drinking, and having a roof over my head.
Fast forward a few decades, and I had a career path that would make all but the kindest say, “What were you thinking?” After working in health care delivery for years, I became a researcher, then an academic. I had it all– a terrific, supportive husband, an amazing son, and a wonderful job. But that itch to write (some call it obsession), kept beckoning me to “come on back” to writing fiction. I spent one whole month away doing nothing but writing fiction, the first of many drafts of my first novel.
My genres include horror, mystery, romance and weird blends of the three. For a sampling of my work (fiction and nonfiction), click on “Stories and Links“.
When not attempting to make students and colleagues laugh, I can be found herding cats and dogs, golfing, deep sea fishing, or writing.
http://sharonbuchbinder.com/
https://www.facebook.com/sharon.buchbinder.romanceauthor
https://twitter.com/sbuchbinder
A year after a barbaric childbirth, complete with a near-death experience and an encounter with her guardian angel, Angie Edmonds is just happy she and her son, Jake, are alive.
She's finally in a good place: clean, sober, and employed as a defense attorney.
But at the end of a long work day, she finds herself in a parent's worst nightmare: Jake has been kidnapped and taken across the Mexican border by a cult leader who believes the child is the "Chosen One."Stymied by the US and Mexican legal systems, Angie is forced to ask the head of a Mexican crime syndicate for help.
Much to her chagrin, she must work with Alejandro Torres, a dangerously attractive criminal and the drug lord's right-hand man.
Little does she know Alejandro is an undercover federal agent, equally terrified of blowing his cover--and falling in love with her.
Book Trailer
Q) What inspired you to write this story?
As a child, I was aware of things that other people did not sense, and was often punished for "telling stories." When I was 15, I was electrocuted by a clothes dryer and had a near death experience (NDE). At the time, I didn't know what that was. All I knew was that in college I was fascinated with paranormal research and NDEs and participated in studies while I was at UCONN. Even as I began to write this book, I wasn't convinced I personally had an NDE. Upon reflection and conversations with Julia Barrett, I realized this story I was writing was founded on my own NDE. Not all NDEs are the same. I don't recall seeing an angel; I do recall a great sense of peace and being very unhappy to be pulled back to this world by my deputy angel, the police officer who gave me CPR.
Q) How long did it take you to write?
Over two years of research, writing, rewriting, and revisions went into Obsession.
Q) What is your favorite thing about writing?
I'm a research junkie. With a PhD in Public Health, it is easy for me to fall down the rabbit hole of research and emerge a day later triumphant with one nugget that is PERFECT for my story. At times, my husband has to remind me to stop researching and "get back to writing." He's right!
Q) What is your least favorite thing about writing?
I hate waiting for feedback. I crave it. Whether it is my husband's (he's my alpha reader and reads each page of each book many times) or my beta readers (Tamara Hoffa and Joya Fields for this book), I am on pins and needles until I get their input. Once the book is published, I pine for reviews. Whether it is good, bad, or indifferent, reviews are feedback. They tell me what worked or didn't work for readers. I take that information and use it in my next book.
Q) If you could be any famous person for one day, who would you be and why?
The Queen of Sheba because I'm writing her story now and I'd love to be in her head for one day to find out what really happened on her famous visit to King Solomon.
Q) What is the oldest thing in your fridge and how old is it?
I have a box of baking soda with no date on it. Guess I'd better get some new ones today! LOL!
Q) What can readers expect from you in the future?
I'm about one-third of the way through a historical fantasy. Structured like Katherine Neville's The Eight, where the reader goes back and forth between historical and contemporary times, my work-in-progress, Kiss of the Virgin Queen, takes place in the spaces between history, religion, and the paranormal. Kiss of the Virgin Queen explores that space and the effects of the epic romance between King Solomon and Queen Makeda that continue to ripple down the centuries to their descendant, Homeland Security Special Agent Eliana Solomon, aka the Jinni (Genie) Hunter.
