A chat with award winning author Liah Penn

There is just something about daughters and their dads. When a little girl hears golden words of wisdom from her father, it is something she seldom forgets.  Mandeville resident Laurie Pennison's dad once told her, "You can do anything you want but you have to work at it," and the lawyer, artist, and now author, has taken that advice to heart.

Pennison, who writes under the name Liah Penn, studied creative writing in college but has worked much of her career as an attorney and as a commissioned artist.  It has only been recently that she has returned to her love, and talent, for writing and she has come out of the starting gate at record speed.

Even though Pennison worked in the publishing industry in her early years, it wasn't until November 2013 that she was propelled back into writing.  She explained that her seventeen-year-old son, Cray, challenged her that year to complete in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) event where, after writing for thirty consecutive days, a literary artist submits a 50,000 word composition.

She noted that her son, who is also a writer, completed the NaNoWriMo challenge and that that month was "a real bonding experience for us" since they would talk about their manuscripts over dinner and every chance they could get.

Her first book, Pure Death, received rave reviews and so much recognition that her publishers have asked her to pen a series of novels featuring her two lead characters.

She explained that the success of her novel has totally taken her by surprise and the sudden success has been a wild ride.  

Her second novel, Pure Justice, the sequel to Pure Death, should be on shelves sometime this month. Her books are currently available on line at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and Kobo. We look forward to her on the show.