After catching the writing bug at the young age of ten, she’s gone on to grow her unique writing style. She’s a regular contributor for the Paranormal Romantic’s blog and blogs bi-monthly with a great group of women at Embrace the Shadows.
When not immersed in creating new worlds and interesting characters, Sandra likes to read, bake and travel. Her favorite place to spend vacation hours is Walt Disney World. It’s where dreams come true and the soul can play. That suits her just fine.
Writing is her ultimate dream job.
[Anne] When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
[Sandra] Since I was 10 and wrote my first “epic fantasy” book featuring the kids in the neighborhood. LOL
[Anne] Tell us about your latest book.
[Sandra] My book DEAD RUBY SLIPPERS is my first attempt at doing a mystery. It’s a sweet romance as well. At the time I wrote it, I was exclusively reading cozy mysteries and thought I’d take a chance. Turns out, it’s way harder than I thought so I’m not sure if I’ll write another one LOL Of course, I wanted to put my own special spin on it, too.
Blurb: Dancing may be hard…but no one expected it to be murder.
When sexy tap dancer Abigail Carlton, a.k.a. Ruby Slippers, is found dead and arranged in an artistic fashion on her coffee table, it’s up to Special Agent Quentin Banks to solve her murder.
But nothing is ever as it seems. Not only is Quentin a FBI career man, he doubles as an officer for the Institute of Magical Instruction…and the dancer’s death has super natural energy written all over it.
Quentin must find who murdered Abigail, and he only has 24 hours to do it before it’s taken over by his superiors.
[Anne] Sounds interesting! What inspired you to write this story?
[Sandra] I just wanted to see if I could try a new genre. Always stretch the wings.
[Anne] Do you have anything new in the works?
[Sandra] LOL I always have something new. Two days before DEAD RUBY SLIPPERS came out, I had a fun, foodie vampire novella release called ROCKET’S RED GLARE. It’s Fourth of July themed and I’m pretty excited about it.
Works in Progress though, I’m writing a full length historical romance novel as well as a full length fantasy romance piece. If I thought writing mysteries was hard, fantasy is probably even more difficult
[Anne] What is your writing process like? Are you a plotter or a pantster?
[Sandra] Definitely a plotter. It cuts down on rewrites during the editing process and I like referring to the outline while the book is in progress. It’s kinda like a road map with a general overview of where I’m going. Surprises always happen in between but the end goals are the same.
[Anne] If you could be anyone of your characters, which one would you chose to be and why?
[Sandra] LOL Well, the contemporary heroines are pretty much modeled after me so I already live their lives in a roundabout way LOL So I guess it would have to be one of the heroines in my historical novels.
[Anne] Say your publisher has offered to fly you anywhere in the world to do research on an upcoming book, where would you most likely want to go? (Okay so maybe this isn’t very likely to happen but since I’m asking the questions…)
[Sandra] Hmm, I’d love to visit any venue in Italy or perhaps London to visit the sites for historical purposes. Barring that, I have no idea LOL
[Anne] What type of books do you like to read when you’re not writing?
[Sandra] My reading tastes run the gauntlet and I love to jump genres, depending on my mood.
[Anne] Name three things you can’t live without (excluding spouses and family because that’s a given).
[Sandra] My e-reader, my laptop and my washing machine LOL
[Anne] What advice would you give to any aspiring writers out there?
[Sandra] Don’t give up, no matter what happens in your career. This industry is hard and mean and disheartening a good portion of the time. Believe in yourself and your ability and you’ll weather the storm just fine.
[Anne] Where can we find you on the web?
[Sandra] I’m on Facebook and Twitter. My website is http://www.sandrasookoo.com The links for the others are on the first page of my site.
Where can we purchase your books?
Buy link for the publisher: http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_25&products_id=154
Buy Link for Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Ruby-Slippers-ebook/dp/B003HF0N2U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1276179637&sr=8-1
[Anne] Is there anything else you’d like to add?
[Sandra] Thanks so much for having me! I will be giving a random commenter a romance-themed pizza cutter and a goodie bag so be sure to leave an email address!
[Anne] That’s awesome! Thank you for joining me today, Sandra. Your new mystery sounds intriguing. I wish you the best of luck with it and all of your writing endeavors.
