“I have always wanted to be a writer. I sometimes joke that I was a writer before I could write because no one played Barbies more intensely than me, and really, what is being a writer if not moving around fake people and bending them to your will?” Crafting full storylines with our dolls is definitely something we have in common with author Erin Sterling (she/her), but she took it to the next level.

“I also wrote all throughout my childhood and teenage years, but I’m not sure I ever seriously considered doing it for a living until I was in my mid-20s. I was teaching high school English at the time, and really fell in love with YA literature,” she says, “Inspired (and also a little insane), I quit my teaching job in 2008 to write what would become my first book, Hex Hall, and I’ve been lucky enough to be Making Stuff Up For A Living ever since!”

Here, she gives us a little more insight into her writing, what spell she wishes she could do, and what’s next for Graves Glen. 🔮

You also write thrillers under another name (Rachel Hawkins). How do the two genres—thriller and romance—inform each other? What’s your fave thing about writing each?
I love this question! I definitely think my thrillers are a little more emotional (and a little sexy!) because I write romance, and I think my romances tend to be tightly plotted and a little twistier because I write thrillers. I absolutely love writing both, and hope to continue to do so basically forever. The thrillers are fun because I get to make very big swings, and explore some of life’s darker corners, while the romance lets me—I hope!—create warm, inviting worlds that offer a bit of an escape.

The third installment of your witchy series, The Wedding Witch, just came out. What is Graves Glen and the latest book about?
The Graves Glen series is about two families of witches, the Joneses and the Penhallows, and their various romantic and magical entanglements in the small, witchy town of Graves Glen, Georgia. The Wedding Witch features the last Penhallow brother, Bowen, and his non-witch co-worker, Tamsyn, who find themselves transported back in time to Yule celebrations at a Welsh castle in 1957. While stuck in the past, Tamsyn and Bowen have to solve a ghostly mystery, make sure Bowen’s grandparents get married, and undo a spell gone wrong all while trying very hard not to fall in love. (Probably not a spoiler to say they don’t do so great at that last bit!)

Your books are about witches, obvi. If you could choose one type of magic or spell to be able to do IRL, what would it be?
An easy travel spell, hands down! No more jet lag? Sign me up!

What’s the best book you’ve read recently? What’s next on your TBR list?
Since we’re in spooky season, I just finished a great Gothic ghost story, My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen, and absolutely loved it. And I’ve currently got a bunch of history books lined up and waiting to go because nonfiction reading is my happy place.

Lastly, is there anything exciting coming up for you that you’d like to share?
There’s some fun stuff bubbling around a possible Graves Glen TV series that I’m really crossing fingers for, and I also have a few more stories set in the Graves Glen world that I want to explore, so lots of witchy goodness on the horizon!