Interview with Annabelle Lewis Author of Dead Cat, Run & Cut and Run (and many more!)

Can you share a bit about your journey to becoming a writer/published author? Any interests or early signs as a child that hinted you would later put pen to paper?

I wrote dreadful poetry as a child but it was certainly heartfelt! 😊 Rumor has it there was a brilliant story about a talking fish too, but it’s nowhere to be found. Later in life after having babies, I began writing short stories about them and found that memorializing enjoyable. As an avid reader all my life, I felt at peace when living within the confines of the written word. My mother always encouraged me to write fiction, and after she passed, I gave it a shot and fell in love with my characters. I belatedly realized that for me to find out what would happen to them next I would need to write it! And so it began . .

You are the author of 8 published novels (hope I counted right), including 2 book series. Where do you find inspiration for your storylines? For the characters you create? Does it get easier or harder as you continue to come up with new ideas?

I’ve developed two casts of characters that at their core are about taking down the bad guys. I wield them as a force of good so I often think of the crime or the type of villains I would like to devour and then figure out how my characters would get the job done. The characters are evolving. In the Carrows Family Chronicles, the baby born in book one—Petunia—is now 16 years old in a book I’ve written but not yet published. The Boston Clairvoyants are newer, but I feel them developing too as I launch them on further adventures. So far, I’ve been lucky. The ideas are abundant, the wrangling of them is the difficult part.

Review Dead Cat, Run HERE!
Review Cut and Run coming soon!
Your newest is The Boston Clairvoyants Series featuring the titles Dead Cat, Run and Cut and Run. I understand you developed the idea for book one as a part of NaNoWriMo 30 day writing challenge. Where did this idea come from? Did you know it was going to be a series from the start? What was it like finishing an entire novel in 30 days?

I wrote each of them during the NaNoWriMo self-competition, but I didn’t finish either during the allotted 30 days. I hit the target 50,000-word count during each November but finished the writing of each book in their respective Decembers. I did not know it would be a series until I finished Dead Cat, Run and realized once again I was dying to know what happened to the characters next!

The idea for Dead Cat, Run originally came while thinking about the idiom—curiosity killed the cat. And then my head went to Schrodinger’s Cat where I couldn’t know if the cat were dead or alive until the box was opened, and my brain finally landed on—Dear Cat, if you’re in the box and you’re dead, you should run before I open it. It was a twisted idea path but ended on a play with destiny. I use the tagline: You’re where you’re meant to me, run if you can—to help express what it’s about. It’s all about the comma in the title!


Dead Cat, Run and Cut and Run feature 4 characters (3 human and 1 dog) that are reincarnations of characters found in mythology, each with special powers. Can you share a little about this mythology? Did it require a lot of research to build these storylines? Were their special talents a part of the mythology they came from?


Once I settled on a play between fate and destiny, I did a lot of research on mythology and came across a story of the Cumaean Sybil and the God Apollo. Using this tale (which I relate in the book), as the hierarchy of the story as well as the causality of events, I was able to construct a present-day tale. There are secrets left to be told that I don’t yet know about. I’m currently preparing to let my imagination off the leash and begin writing the third book—entitled How the Wicked Run. I can’t wait to see what happens!

How does the writing process work for you? Do you schedule a time every day, work madly when inspiration hits or ? What do you enjoy most about the writing process? What feels like a chore?

I try to work every day at any time I feel energized. At times I have been quite surprised to find that hours have passed with hands on the keys. My body is literally sore and I have to stop. Then I dream about the characters or lay awake as they play scenes I have not written—some of which wreak havoc with rough outlines and outcomes! I thoroughly enjoy reading what I have written the next day. It’s the fun part to just be on the adventure. What feels like a chore is the marketing. It’s a demanding, time-consuming, and necessary beast to manage—but there you have it.

What would you most like readers to know about you?

I’m a writer who will deliver on the happily ever after. I’m a lover of fun and a good belly laugh and hope that my sense of humor and snarky entertainment while making evil squirm will make you smile.

Do you have any spoiler alerts you'd like to share on something coming up in the near future?

Road Trip, Book 7 of the Carrows Family Chronicles will be released soon! I’m thrilled with this book as it takes place in Minnesota where I live. I plucked my billionaire family up and deposited them in the middle of nowhere for them to help in a murder investigation. None of the character’s lives will ever be the same. Also, if you’ve read Cut and Run, you’ll know how it ends. Are you smiling? What do you think Jenny will do next? Hmmm.

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