Discussion Group Questions are available on many books.  Look in the Books section under the specific title.

Newsletters.  Read the latest or subscribe to receive an email copy.

Contest.  Drawings for free copies of Vicki’s books.  Enter

Blogs.  Vicki has three  blogs.  Two for adults, one for young children.

1. My Kitchen Table:  Here she blogs on whatever is on her mind when she sits down to post.  Sometimes that’s about books, sometimes life.  Read My Kitchen Table.
   

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3. Faith Zone:  Here Vicki shares her spiritual journey.  She stumbles and falls and gets up and presses on, and she hopes to share something of value in your journey.  Read Faith Zone.
   

4. Kids’ Faith Zone:  This blog is written for very young children--pre-readers.  Vicki records audio so the kids can listen along as she reads to them.  This has been a hit with moms and dads because it gives them a few minutes respite.
   

Feature Article:  About four times a year, Vicki writes a feature article on something she considers important to us as a people.  This article is currently on the value of Character.  Read Character.

Store.  Signature items.  All proceeds are donated for the benefit of authors.  Visit.

READING RECOMMENDATIONS:

NAMELESS by Debra Webb.  This is a dark and gritty romantic suspense with one of the best villains I’ve seen in a long time.  Well written and a great story.  Ms. Webb has expanded the genre and crossed into mainstream fiction--and done so with authority!  I loved this book--and expect to see it on keeper shelves for years to come.

FLIGHT TO FREEDOM by D.J. Wilson.  This women’s fiction novel is hands down the best book on abuse I’ve read--including those I’ve written.  Ms. Wilson spared no one and wrote with a brutal honesty that I greatly admire--so much so, I endorsed this book.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)

( from Vicki’s Guest Book)

1.     How do you choose where you go to do workshops or lectures?

Like many authors, I receive far more requests than I can accept and still write books and have a life.  I select using a couple of criteria:

Need.  If I can really be of help to a group, then I’ll work around all I can to do so.

Timing.  Requests that fall at opportune times between deadlines make saying yes a lot easier.

Scheduling.  I typically set my travel schedule for the following year in November, so requests received before then are more likely to be worked into the next years’ schedule.  I try to accommodate others, but the earlier, the better.

Purpose.  Workshops or lectures that are associated with events benefiting abused women, children or writers in dire straits are given priority on preferences. (This can be as simple as a signing or raffle that benefits one of those groups or a specific writer in trouble.)

Drafted.  Friends and members of my writers’ groups draft me now and then, and if I can, I let them.  (So when the need arises, I can draft them, of course.)

The bottom line is that I can’t always say yes.  I do what I can in person, then supplement with online chats, podcasts, blog articles and the Aids4Writers group, where I answer questions for other writers almost every day.

2.    I hate having to sign in to use the writers’ library on your web site.  I always forget passwords.  Why did you do that?

Sorry about that.  I was backed into a corner, and when that happens, I act.  As you know, any writer is free to use the library and I don’t charge anyone a cent for the articles.  But I had several occurrences where visitors were copying and then selling my articles to other writers.  Bluntly put, that ticked me off and I needed a way to restrict them from my library.  Signing in is how I did it.  A tip on the password:  When I have names, I use them.  User ID is your first name.  Password is your last name.  That’s as simple as I can make it.  I am sorry for the extra step, but them selling what I do for free was just unacceptable.

3.    Do you ever do critiques for other writers?

I did a lot of them for many years.  But, by agreement with my agent, I now critique only contest entries in established writing competitions or fundraisers  (i.e., writers without insurance or their family members needing medical attention, funeral expenses, American Cancer Society, MADD, domestic violence, child abuse).   I do judge local, national and international writing competitions.

4.    Do you have a critique group or partner?

I had a critique group for over ten years, and still would, but deaths and moves and illnesses brought it to an end.  I do have a small group of trusted writers locally and a single critique partner, though we’re a bit atypical for the classic definition of partners.  We bounce unusual ideas off of each other and if we’re uncertain whether or not something is working, we’ll ask the other to read it.  On occasion, we read for each other before sending books in to our agents and/or editors.  It really depends on the project and our personal comfort level with it.

5.    I’m a fan of your lady books.  Why did you write those Bombshell books instead of the next lady book?

Because I loved them.  I’m not being snarky about this.  I love the lady books and the Bombshell novels and I really wanted to see the Bombshells succeed so I invested in them.

Bombshell novels had heroines who acted.  They didn’t rely on others to rescue them.  They were smart, savvy women who might not have the skills they needed to do what they must do at the beginning of the book, but by gum, they dredge up the guts to get them.  Sometimes they fail their way to success—just like the rest of us real women. 

In Bombshell novels, women went for it.  That’s constructive and empowering to all women.  Encouraging and inspiring them to take care of business and to make the effort, even when they don’t have all the tools, trusting that if they’re doing something for the right reasons, the tools will come through their own efforts.  I’m all about that.  It’s how I’ve lived my life.  So I guess the short answer is that I related.  That said, they failed.  Do I regret having invested in a line that failed?  Not at all.  I still love the books.  So I’m not giving up my Lady books--they’re empowering and have smart, savvy women, too.  I’m just broadening horizons, writing books I feel compelled for one reason or another to write.  I think that’s healthy.

6.     What is your #1 rule on what you write?

I will not write a book I don’t love.  Just won’t do it.  Don’t care about the money, the prestige, or any other benefit that can come from it.  Writing takes time, and my time is my life.  That’s valuable to me, and I’m not wasting a second of it writing something I don’t love. 

7.     Where did you get the name Caron Chalmers in Mind Reader?  It’s my name and I’ve never before seen it in a book.

I made it up.  I loved the name Caron.  When I was a kid, I went to Dallas for the summer and met a neighbor’s daughter.  Her last name was Chalmers.  I hadn’t heard the name before (heavy French influence in New Orleans, where I grew up).  I never forgot the name, and I thought of it when I named Caron.  I loved the sound of the two together, so Caron Chalmers (the fictional one) was born. 

8.     Do you give quotes on other writer’s books?

I usually have a stack of books waiting to be read and considered for quotes.  I do them as time allows and endorse them when I believe the endorsement will benefit the book.  If it’s a good match, I’m happy to endorse.  If not, I don’t.

9.     Seascape, Lady, War Games—why do you write so many books in series?  I like it, I’m just curious if you do it because it’s advantageous or what?

Actually, I do it because it’s how I think.  I rarely get an idea for a single book.  Ideas usually come to me in clusters.  Even books where I have written only a single book, like The Prophet’s Lady, characteristics are built in (The Elders) where I could go back and write more books using the same premise, making it part of a series.

I don’t know why I think this way, but I do, and rather than fight it, I work with it.  I love the stories and the people in them, so it might be that I just hate letting go and, by writing series, I don’t have to do it as quickly.  That could be part of it, but honestly, it’s just the way I think.

10.    From your web site, you are an advocate for authors, so why aren’t you on the Board for any of your writing organizations?

I prefer to work behind the scenes.  I’ve headed many committees for RWA and acted as a consultant to its Board of Directors.  I’ve served as a liaison for the PRO program, newsletter editor for several chapters.  Serve similarly for Emerald Coast Writers as a consultant to the Board and assist with various other programs.  I handle merchandising and work to gain member benefits for ITW—International Thriller Writers--and also serve on its marketing committee.  I answer questions for members of MWA—Mystery Writers of America and Sin-C—Sisters-in-Crime.  Additionally, I started and ran the Bombshell Authors group  (www.bombshellauthors.com) and created and maintained the IT Girls website. 

Those commitments aside, for many years, I’ve helped writers on a daily basis in my Aids4Writers program and through the Edna Sampson Benevolence Fund.

This isn’t a complete listing, but it’s enough that you get the idea.  I do get involved and try to do my part to make the organizations beneficial; I just don’t talk much about what I do on those fronts. 

11.     How do you work?

The short answer:  Hard, and all the time. 

The long answer:  I’m a goal-oriented person and extremely organized for a creative professional.  I want to do a lot of things, and to be able to do that, I have to be disciplined and organized.  Otherwise, I get mired down, and then I’m miserable.  I don’t ever do misery intentionally.

I do work at order, starting with an annual review.  I look at what I’ve done, how I’ve done it, and then choose what to keep and what to cull from the next year.  I focus on mind, body and spirit and work all three every year.  There’s an article in my web site library, “Why We Need a Plan,” which goes into this topic in specific detail.  There’s even an example of my annual Dream Sheet, which breaks down by category my focus.

To some, I’m sure that sounds anal.  But to live my life on my terms--I have many irons in many fires, and to juggle them without losing my sanity--I need structure.  So I’ve created a plan that works well for me.     

Am I at my desk by 9:00 every morning?

No.  Often I’m at it at 2:00 in the morning or until 2:00 in the morning.  I ignore clocks.  They’re a pet peeve.  I work when I work, and stop when I’m done.  I have daily goals and a lengthy, prioritized To-Do list and that keeps me on track and productive.

Do I work on one writing project at a time?

No.  I typically work on four projects simultaneously, each one in a different stage of development.  I have worked in a linear fashion on a single book from start to finish, but it’s an oddity, not normal for me.

How long does it take to write a book?

Speaking as honestly as I can, it depends on the book.  Some come to me full-blown.  I test them for strength, depth and worth, and breeze through the writing, averaging between 20 and 30 pages per day, with many 50 page days.  Other books come slowly, element by element, and require a lot of background work, research, and intense development on all levels.  And then comes the testing, which often results in even more work being required before the first word of the book is ever written. 

In the end, which kind of book it was doesn’t show.  But there’s an amazing amount of difference in creating them, and I never know which kind of book one will be until I tackle it.  What I can say is that it takes what time it takes.  You work with it until it’s the best you can create at the time.  If that’s weeks, super.  If it’s months, that’s pretty normal.  If it’s years, it’s years.   

Do I write at the computer or elsewhere? 

I write all kinds of ways and in all kinds of places.  At the computer keyboard, in longhand, on the edges of newsprint—you name it.  Writers often get locked into thinking they can only write one way.  I fight that by writing whenever, wherever, however. 

I write in my recliner or at the beach, the park, local restaurants, my back yard deck or in the car (though not while driving; I pull over), using the laptop or pen and pad or a little Sony voice recorder. 

In the office, I usually write on the computer—sometimes keying in, sometimes with Dragon voice recognition software.

If I get stuck, (feel puny, or I’ve written myself into a wall), I write at the kitchen table.  When I was a kid, my dad told me 99% of all genius is created at a kitchen table.  It’s never let me down, failed to unstick me, or to punch a window into that wall.  (I suspect, largely because I expect that table to work magic, so it does.)

12.     I’ve missed several of your books.  How can I make sure I know when a new one is coming out?

That information is always on the writing web site (www.vickihinze.com).  But if you need a reminder, just sign up for the mailing list.  I never share my list, and you will get a note to let you know a new book is out. 

13. How many books will be in your WAR GAMES series?

I’m not sure.  The three “Double” books and a novella, all centered on one SASS unit (Body Double, Double Vision, Double Dare, Smokescreen).  When Bombshell ceased, I had just finished the first book in a trilogy of “Zone” books set in a second SASS unit under the same Commander, Sally Drake.  I’ve not yet decided what to do with it, or whether to continue the series.  What irks me most about not writing them is that when I started, I didn’t know Sally Drake commanded other units and if I don’t write them, I’ll never know if she commands other units, or if it’s just these two.  (She’s not talking.  It’s the nature of her job.)  I will say that I love writing them.  I guess it’s up to the commander.  If she nags me, I’ll write them.  On these books, I’m truly just along for the ride.

As for publishing KILL ZONE, I haven’t decided what to do with it yet.  When it is clear in my head, I’ll decide on it.  Until then, I’ll wait patiently for clarity.

14.     Are you ever going to write Serena’s story?  I need a Miss Hattie fix.

You know, I’m stunned at how often this question comes up.  I haven’t written in the Seascape series in over a decade, but I’m asked at least once a month about this.  I enjoy visiting Seascape Inn, and, I confess, I’d really like to know who is in that third grave on the island.  The only way to find out is to write the book.   I’m not opposed to writing another Seascape novel; I just haven’t gotten to it. 

In 1995, I shifted from writing novels with paranormal elements to military suspense and intrigue, and now I’ve branched out into suspense and supernatural and I’ve just sort of been in that mode and mindset.  I have to say that this coming up so often has my attention.  I’ll seriously consider putting a new Seascape novel on my writing schedule.

15.     What is your favorite non-writing thing to do?

Family anything.  Talk or be with my husband, kids and my grandchildren.  I don’t care what we do; that’s not important.  My most recent favorite thing was a “date night” with K-Bear, my two-year-old gran.  Her parents went out to dinner, so her grandpa and I had a “date” with her.  We went to her favorite restaurant for dinner—“Old McDonalds farm” (her name for the McDonald’s with all the animals in the playground)—and then we watched a Dora the Explorer movie—the one where Dora becomes a big sister.  Because, as luck would have it, our date day was the same day her parents told K-Bear she was going to be a big sister!  Now, I ask you, what can compete with that?