You are a very versatile writer, with your three bestselling and award-winning sub-genres:  Thrillers/Mysteries and Young Adult paranormal under the Wendy Corsi Staub name (your own) and your Women's Fiction novels under your pen name Wendy Markham.  Although authors often say their favorite book is the one they are writing now (or promoting now), do you have a favorite genre or book and why?

In my down time, my favorite television shows and movies are the ones that keep me guessing, so I have no qualms about admitting that I'm partial to writing suspense. Often, when I'm working on a thriller, I have no idea what's going to happen next, so in a sense, I have the same edge-of-your-seat experience that I aim to provide to my reader. Once I get on a roll and begin to inhabit my fictional world, the characters seem to take on a life of their own, and have been known to generate twists that catch even me off guard!

The author bio on your very interesting website (www.WendyCorsiStaub.com) mentions that you grew up near Lily Dale, N.Y., the country's oldest community of spiritualists.  Did this point you in the direction of paranormals or your psychological suspense novels in any way?

I had an inexplicable paranormal experience when I was about 13 that fueled the fire, but I was intrigued by Lily Dale long before that. Having been raised Roman Catholic, I guess I had a sort of forbidden fascination with the place. My family would go for Sunday drives along the lake there, and I found the Victorian setting incredibly atmospheric. I had always wanted to become a writer, and I always knew that one day I'd write about Lily Dale. I never ventured there for a spiritualist reading until I was in high school, when my friends and I had drivers' licenses and would go on our own for kicks.

Do you need a "different mindset" to get into the point of view of a teenager as opposed to an adult main character?  Does it help you to draw from knowing teens today or from your own memories of adolescence to write your tween series?

I like to think that I've never lost touch with my youth, though my kids might beg to differ. I have a great memory, which helps. So does social networking--not just with my kids' friends and my younger readers, but with old friends I've rediscovered on Facebook, etc. Remembering the good old days--and, God help us, the bad old days--with people who were there helps to put me into a place where I can channel all that adolescent angst.  I definitely draw on my own experiences as well as those of my kids and their peers. After all, most rites of passage are universal, right? Losing loved ones, leaving home, breakups, first love ... Despite her unique paranormal circumstances, my heroine has dealt with stumbling blocks that will probably resonate with most readers. Her world has broadened since we first met her; she's grown up--perhaps too quickly--and in doing so, learns to rely on herself. Like most of us do on the path to adulthood, she's become more open-minded and come to understand that the grownups in her life are flawed human beings and are not immortal or infallible.

You seem to balance promotion and publicity with a prolific writing career.  Can you give any advice about balancing the demands of promotion with the demands of needing solitude for writing?

Patience and timing are key. I've published more than 70 books over a 16-year career, yet it wasn't until 2005 that I got serious about promotion and hired a publicist.  At that point, I had a professional track record and had the resources to sign on as a retainer client with a reputable PR firm.  Seasoned authors who want to take the promo and publicity up a notch should do their homework, and be prepared to part with a fair amount of writing time--and cash. I'm fortunate to count a well-known author among my trusted friends; she's the one who steered me in the right direction--and warned me that the publicity machine might be more demanding, in terms of time and finances, than I had anticipated. She was right. She was also right when she said it would pay off.  I'd encourage developing authors to focus more on their writing than on self promotion. At that stage, really, only the publisher has the resources to break out an author; most of what you can do on your own is a drop in the bucket--unless, of course, you can hire a professional to launch a major PR campaign. In my experience both as an editor and as an author, when you're building a career, it's far more important to create a strong backlist and build relationships with publishers than it is to jump on the conference and bookstore circuit.

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Karen Harper has been published for 25 years.  She is the winner of the 2006 Mary Higgins Clark Award.  A former college and high school English instructor, Harper currently writes contemporary suspense for Mira Books and historical novels for Putnam.  She and her husband divide their time between Columbus, Ohio and Naples, Florida.