On a Sundown Sea follows a woman with the gifts of being a medium and clairvoyant who meets the leader of the American Theosophical Society, who guides her on a spiritual path that could make her mystical dreams a reality. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I grew up in Point Loma, near Madame Katherine Tingley’s Lomaland. Though she’s been gone nearly a century, stories of her remarkable life—and the extraordinary happenings on that hilltop—still echo throughout the region. I’ve long been fascinated by the mysteries surrounding her. Was she truly a medium and clairvoyant? How did she transform barren land into a flourishing Theosophical community with gardens, a school, and an arts colony? And did she really believe her husband had been reincarnated as a turtle?

Determined to uncover the truth, I spent five years researching and writing this biographical historical novel. While no full biography of Tingley exists, I immersed myself in her speeches, personal writings, and countless archival materials—newspaper articles, letters, photographs, court testimonies, ship logs, and passports. The Theosophists were prolific writers and publishers; Lomaland even had its own press that produced pamphlets and magazines. My greatest challenge was reconciling the many conflicting dates and facts I encountered.

To follow her journey, I traveled to her birthplace in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and to New York City, where her story first unfolds. And to better understand her esoteric world, I attended mediumship readings and worked with a shaman.

What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?

A novelist’s job is to place obstacles between the protagonist and their deepest desire—and Katherine’s childhood vision of building a white city had no shortage of them. Every compelling story thrives on conflict, and characters become truly memorable when they reveal their touchstones, quirks, humor, and emotions. I also believe love, in one form or another, should always be present—it adds depth, humanity, and hope to even the most challenging journeys.

What experience in your life has had the biggest impact on your writing?

After a twenty-year career as a public-school educator, I found myself drawn to writing. I began attending a weekly drop-in group, where the facilitator gave prompts and set a timer to get us started. Writing in community helped me keep my pen moving, even on days when I wanted to stop. Initially, I thought I’d write children’s books or a memoir about my time in the classroom—but that wasn’t what unfolded at all.

Instead, characters began appearing on the page seemingly out of nowhere, and I just kept following them. I’m an intuitive writer, composing all my first drafts by hand in a journal. When I started, I never imagined I would create the Anne McFarland Series, let alone On a Sundown Sea: A Novel of Madame Tingley and the Origins of Lomaland. It’s been a journey of discovery, both of the stories themselves and of who I am as a writer.

What is the next book that you are working on, and when can your fans expect it to be out?

I’d love to publish a collection of my nature poetry, as well as a personal development book inspired by my philosophy and blog, Crealivity. At the same time, I’m resisting the pull of a first chapter that has jumped onto the page for a fourth novel in the Anne McFarland Series. Over the past ten years, I’ve sent four novels and hundreds of poems out into the world, but right now my focus is on promoting On a Sundown Sea. I’ve many local events planned here in San Diego first, and then I’m taking the book on tour to other parts of the country.

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