1. What is your favorite word?  You know how to start with a bang! As an author, I’m really kind of a word nerd, and I love words that have a hard “k” sound in them, like cacophony, for instance. But probably my favorite is “calliope” because of the other meanings associated with the word–not just Calliope for the Greek muse of heroic poetry, but probably more for the steam whistle keyboard instrument. We had a 4th of July parade each year in my hometown, and I always sat up on my dad’s shoulders to watch all the action. However, while the floats and bands and clowns and cars were great fun, what I truly looked forward to was the end of the parade, because that was when the calliope came down the street filling the air with its happy music.
2. What is your least favorite word?  “No.” I don’t think this answer needs any expansion 🙂
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, or emotionally?  There’s never one thing. Creativity is kind of like memory to me–I kind of get all my senses involved. For memory, each sense makes me remember something else about a time and place to solidify the remembered time, fact, or element, and I’ve found I do the same kind of thing when I’m creating–each word or phrase makes me think of the next piece to add into a scene or chapter. Small or large, its seeing, smelling, hearing, feeling, tasting each small part that lets me expand the picture from my mind to the page.
4. What turns you off?  That’s easy, negativity.
5. What is your favorite curse word?  Are you talking four-letter curse word? If so, I don’t know that it’s my favorite, per se, but my the one that pops out automatically when I’m not thinking is $hit. If not 4-letter, I tend to rely a lot on the word “foo” when things veer off-track.
6. What sound or noise do you love?  I love the sound of soft rain.
7. What sound or noise do you hate?  Anything repetitive.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?  I’ve always loved photography, and I would love to spend months on end traveling the world and taking photographs for a living.
9. What profession would you not like to do?  Work in a laundry–I don’t like hot and humid environments. Though I could get a lot of brainstorming done in a job like that.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?  “Your heart was always in the right place.”

Ritter Ames is the USA Today Bestselling author of the Organized Mysteries series and the Bodies of Art Mystery series. When she’s not writing or brainstorming new mysteries, Ritter is usually trying to get her favorite yellow lab to stay out of the pond, or keep her grouchy black cat from trying to give the dog away on Freecycle. Ritter would love to live on a boat and write from far flung locations around the globe, but the dog would constantly have to be fished from the water, and her husband and cat would just complain endlessly about the dog’s smell, so staying on land seems to be the only good option to keep her sanity and not get sidetracked from writing.

She is on Facebook at Ritter Ames Books, and you can follow her on Twitter @RitterAmes. Subscribe to Ritter’s Monthly Email Newsletter to get more upcoming news,  and special features and contests open only to “email newsletter subscribers.” Ritter uses her Pinterest boards at http://www.pinterest.com/ritterames/ to capture great places and ideas she wants to use in both series. Follow her website blog and boards to learn more about Ritter and her upcoming books.

The Organized Mystery Series

1. Organized for Murder
2. Organized for Homicide

The Bodies of Art Mystery Series

1. Counterfeit Conspiracies
2. Marked Masters
3. Abstract Aliases
4. Fatal Forgeries

Anthologies

• Midnight Mysteries
• Cozy Holiday Escapes
• Happy Homicides 3: Summertime Crimes