My writing influences include Stephen King, Anne Rice, Charles Grant, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Wilson Rawls.

I won the Society of Professional Journalists first place Mark of Excellence award for column writing in Region 8 in 1998 and 1999, plus a second-place for feature writing in 1999. I also have a couple of state chapter SPJ awards. In 2000, I won Short, Scary Tales' Best Fiction contest for my story "Reunion." In 2001 I won third place for historical romance novel and an honorable mention for short-short fiction from the Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc.