Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I write historical fiction set in Texas’s colorful past, and yet my books are really about identity—who we are and how we became who we are. I was well into a successful career as a writer and editor. Then one day, life “threw a craving” on me, as we say in Texas. My spirit wanted to do what my spirit wanted to do. I wanted to write historical fiction, because I love history and I love stories and I love Texas.
I had worked as a journalist for years, starting out as a newspaper reporter. I went on to be the editor of two newspapers and later was a publicist, communications director, and magazine editor. Through it all I had an abiding passion for the place of my heart and its history.
I left my career and found myself again through writing and studying that place. Lucky for me, Texas has an amazing history, full of characters and adventure and extremes of weather and landscape. How people dealt with the place—and how they still deal with it—that’s the interesting part.
My goal is to convey the complexity of Texas’ rich cultural past and suggest how it informs the present. I am Texan through and through and part of every person, battle, tall tale, and twist of history that led Texans to where they are.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Legend of Juan Miguel is my first published novel, but I have also written a sequel and a third book in the series. I plan on publishing those novels during 2014 and 2015. I wanted to write about a Texas hero who was different than the usual and Juan Miguel certainly is. For one thing, he is a Hispanic hero, and that is fairly rare in Texas fiction. Also, he is just sweet. Everybody who reads about him falls in love with him. But in addition to that, he has a special power that allows him to take on the persona of another personality. He uses this skill to right wrongs and deliver justice but also to recapture his good name, fortune, and lost love after powerful Anglo ranchers swindle him.
Deprived unjustly of his birthright by ambitious Anglo ranchers, the son of the wealthiest Tejano in Texas is spurred on by a forbidden passion for the woman who is married to one of those ranchers. Equal parts history and mystery, romance and hero’s journey, this is a good old-fashioned Texas tale with a twist. We revisit Texas in the late 19th century, when the West began and Texas was in a border conflict with Mexico.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write every day and I am very passionate about it. I seem to be obsessed with it. Some days I tell myself not to write and to get some other things done but I find myself back at my computer—writing. One thing that’s unusual, I am not able to read the fictional writing of anyone else when I’m writing fiction. The other person’s voice gets into my head and interferes with my own voice. But I read a great deal of non-fiction while I’m researching the background history of the era I’m writing about.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have been greatly influenced by Larry McMurtry, the famous and prolific Texas novelist. Like everyone else, I loved his novel, Lonesome Dove. I also greatly admire the novels of Jim Harrison, especially Legends of the Fall. I love his ability to convey great amounts of meaning with few words.
What are you working on now?
I am putting the finishing touches on the third novel in the Juan Miguel series. Novel number two is named The Passion of Juan Miguel and is about to be edited. Novel number three in that series is named The Resurrection of Juan Miguel. When I am finished with that, I am going to write a sequel to my novel about an East Texas plantation named Portrait of Two Women in the Garden.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Luckily for me, I have a company, Violet Crown, that helps me with marketing and promotion. I rely on their advice for what sites are best for promotion. I think they plan to use a number of sites and test the waters of each one.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
My advice for new authors is write from the gut, not the intellect. I know I’ve taken a wrong turn and started to write from my brain when the space around my words becomes too expansive and the words are not focused. Then I know that what I’m writing is not specific enough to be what really happened. I know that I am reaching for generalities. You have to feel it. If you don’t, then maybe you’re not meant to write fiction. If it doesn’t come naturally, it will probably never come.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Learn all the rules and then forget them.
What are you reading now?
I just finished reading a book about a man who explored the Sierra Madres in Mexico in 1898, the same year I’m writing about. I love old, first-hand accounts by amateur historians. So much un-mined information in them.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Writing and publishing the other two novels in the Juan Miguel series and then publishing two novels in a series about an East Texas plantation.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would probably take a huge compilation about history, a Jim Harrison novel, and maybe a Patrick Conroy novel.
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