Evelyn Allen Harper just published her tenth book, Essence! This mystery novel is tinged with the paranormal and filled with surprises at every turn. You can find Essence available for purchase on the Ink Smith website, or on Amazon!
We chatted with Evelyn about her current projects, what she has learned as an author, and what is behind her inspiration.
Ink Smith: What are your current projects?
Evelyn: While waiting for my current book, Essence, to be edited, I started to write a story, still with no title, in the first-person tense. I’m just sorry I hadn’t tried writing in that tense sooner.
Ink Smith: Can you share a little of your current work with us?
Evelyn: This is an excerpt from the untitled story I’m writing while waiting for Essence to be edited.
“Buck and his gun were gone, so who was doing the shouting? The sounds were getting desperate so I ran to the cave’s opening and peeked out. There was no one out there, and all that I saw were sheets of copy paper, many with something red on them, being blown around by the wind. Where was the shouter? Moans from behind a huge tree answered my question. I cautiously crept toward the sound, peered around the tree, and screamed. The mountain lion lifted his bloody head from his prey and looked at me. I screamed again when I saw what he’d been chewing on. It was Buck.”
Ink Smith: Did you learn anything from writing your books, and what was it?Evelyn: Essence is my tenth book. In every book, there were many topics I had to look up on the Internet such as the climate of the area where the story is taking place, to the symptoms of a poisonous snake bite. Facts I pick up while writing one book, I sometimes use in another book.
Ink Smith: What inspired you to write your first book?
Evelyn: I have suffered from Restless Leg Syndrome most of my life. Neither of my two sisters is afflicted with it, so one night when the syndrome wouldn’t let me sleep, I sat down at the computer and started a story that had the main character, Molly, crying over her ‘crazy legs’ that wouldn’t let her stay in bed. I emailed the story to my sisters, and when they contacted me and demanded to know “What happened next?” I continued the story for six books in the Accidental Mystery Series.
Ink Smith: Is there a message in your novels that you want your readers to grasp?
Evelyn: The six books in the Accidental Mystery Series are filled with facts about Restless Leg Syndrome. The Nightwalker, a publication of the Restless Leg Syndrome Foundation, gave me free advertisement for my books. I picked up readers from all over the country. The next four published books are just for reading pleasure.
Ink Smith: Do you have any advice for other writers?
Evelyn: My advice is to just try to write and see what happens. You just might surprise yourself.
Ink Smith: If you had to do it all over again what would you change in your latest work?
Evelyn: I wouldn’t change the plot, but when I read the printed book, I always find many sentences that I would love to have the chance to change.
Fun facts about Evelyn: Her favorite color is red! And she loves ethnic food.
Be sure to follow Evelyn on her website: www.evelynallenharper.com!
About Essence
“Why are you wearing my wife’s perfume?” Laura Baker’s rescuer demanded, after
hoisting her out of the water.
Laura, a typical stay-at- home mom, is jolted out of her complacent world when she
discovers that her best friend, Joan Wilberson, is having an affair with her husband.
Banished from Laura’s life, Joan is an easy target for the escaped serial killer, George
Knox, but when George’s murderous plan is interrupted, the quiet town is thrown into
turmoil.
Broken hearted from losing both her husband and her friend, Laura is driven back to
her passion of painting and into the path of Josh Lang, a recently widowed author,
battling his own ghosts.
It isn’t until the alluring, Bob Miller, catches Laura’s eye that she thinks her life is
back on track. With no recent sightings of the dangerous convict, the small town is lulled
back to sleep, but unknown to Laura and the rest of the town, something much more
sinister is afoot.
The Inkwell And Quill 