hot and haunting?

It scared me more than the ghosts in my new book.


I have to be honest with you. I never dreamed I would be writing an adult paranormal thriller/romance, but found I needed a change from always writing for children. Don't get me wrong, I still love creating fun characters and plots for kids, but I was feeling as if I needed a little more freedom so I decided to create a team of Ectoplasmic Researchers, the Ectos, and write just for the fun of it. The next thing I knew the book was writing itself, and when it was finished, I liked it, but it scared me more than the ghosts in my new book.


My problem: could I, a former teacher, known primarily as a children's writer, although I had won various honors and awards for adult short story contests, publish a book with such adult elements as sex, violence, and of course ghosts? I mean this book is being called a  "sexier, sultrier, scarier Ghostbusters"! Do I or don't I? 


Let's face it folks, I'm not Beatrix Potter and have always been a bit edgy in my short stories, but I still take my responsibilities as a teacher and children's author very seriously, so I debated unleashing this book for quite a while and finally, after several close fellow writers read it and liked it, I decided to take a risk and send it out to publishers to see if they felt it was worth sharing. What happened next surprised the heck out of me.