Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
A Professor Emerita at Vanderbilt University, I have published in popular magazines, including Working Woman, New Woman, Self, Home Life, Savvy, Christian Woman, and American Baby. My first novel, The Ticket, was a finalist in two categories for a Selah Award. My short story, “Recovery,” won first prize in a competition sponsored by Christian Woman; and my book “Pshaw, It’s Me Grandson” was a finalist in the USA Book News Awards. I am a co-writer of the screenplay for Jess + Moss, a feature film which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, screened at nearly forty film festivals around the world, and captured several international awards.
I love to be in the water—whether snorkeling, water skiing, boogie boarding, or just floating around—which may explain the setting for my newest series. (My family suspects me of being a selkie, or so my husband tells me. Look it up—I had to.) The Sugar Sands novels are set in a small beach community in LA (lower Alabama). Each book in the series stands alone, though some characters recur.
I’ve published six books: 3 novels, 1 narrative nonfiction, and 2 textbooks.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Song of Sugar Sands. Although I’ve always been someone who seeks a higher power (and feels such a presence in my life), I’m also a person who struggles with doubts: doubts about churches, denominations, religion, and myself. So I decided to put a character with these kinds of doubts in a relationship with a man of such a deep faith he feels compelled to share his faith with everyone he encounters.
SONG OF SUGAR SANDS is a novel about—in the words of William Faulkner—the human heart in conflict with itself. Who hasn’t, at least occasionally, struggled with doubts about her faith in God or about God’s personal interest in her life?
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I used to write in spurts, and I’d be untruthful if I claimed to be completely changed in this regard. But I have discovered a technique that helps keep me on task, even during those draggy days when I don’t feel remotely inspired.
Every day I try to write, at a minimum, either: 3 storyboards or one scene. The storyboard can take a lot of different forms. The one I use consists of:
Brief overview of scene
Time/place
Season/weather
Senses: sound, smell, etc
Images
Relationships of characters appearing in scene
Dialogue (I scribble a few lines here and sometimes the scene takes off at this point)
Subtext
Actions
Point of view
Climax
Final image and/or last line
I print out several copies of my storyboard headings (followed by a couple of blank lines after each), and I may stare at one for some time before I write a thing. Eventually, though, I begin to fill in the blanks. I tell myself it doesn’t matter what I write as it is just a storyboard. Often I get going and turn the page over to scribble more ideas for the scene on the back.
The following day I select one of the storyboards and instruct myself to write at least five pages. Since I’ve already put a fair amount of thought into it the day before—I have my storyboard in front of me—the scene often seems to write itself once I get going.
I don’t always fill in every blank on my storyboard. I often scribble other ideas that don’t really fit the storyboard. For instance, if an idea for the opening line comes to me, I jot that down. If this line leads to a complete paragraph, even better! In some ways writing a storyboard is like writing a story. I let the words take me where they want to go. The main purpose of the framework is simply to get myself thinking and get my pen moving. Some writers may not need this tool, but I’ve found that it helps me immeasurably.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I cannot remember how old I was when I read The Caine Mutiny (maybe 8th grade) and Herman Wouk became my favorite author. The Caine Mutiny fascinated me with Wouk’s portrayal of real, flawed but likable characters, each with his own manner of speaking. There were no beautiful heroines or handsome heroes, no good guys or bad guys. You could recognize a character by his dialogue even if Wouk didn’t identify him. Wow! I also marveled at the variability of Wouk’s work: Marjorie Morningstar, Herbie Bookbinder, and Winds of War, to name a few. I have other favorites whose novels are far more similar to one another, and thus readily identified with their creator, than those of Wouk. Maeve Binchy falls into this category, as does Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters, and even F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The Caine Mutiny was my favorite novel of all time until I encountered Crime and Punishment as required reading in 9th grade. I was fascinated that Dostoyevsky created characters seriously flawed (aren’t we all?) and, yet, not despicable—even, at times, sympathetic. Thus began my love affair with Russian authors: Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Pasternak and Chekhov. From the Russian novels, I discovered that “not being able to put it down” was not the highest praise, in my opinion, for a book. It took me the best part of an entire summer to finish Dr. Zhivago, and I treasured it!
What are you working on now?
Mainstream is a family suspense drama about three young couples whose five-year-old daughters disappear one August afternoon from a birthday party. Each of the couples wrestles with its own set of issues leading up to the disappearance. Told from the point of view of the three wives and one of the daughters, Mainstream finds each couple at a pivotal point in relationships and career choices when the disappearance occurs. Barbara has recently found out that her husband, Roy, has embarked upon an extramarital relationship while she’s been grieving a difficult miscarriage. Randa’s husband, Jonathan, has relocated his family to work for Roy, and is disillusioned by Roy’s work tactics and by his apparent affair. Jonathan’s sister, Joella–who quit school years ago and has recently started to college–has just learned that her house is being foreclosed upon.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Word of mouth
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up, not if you feel better when you write than when you don’t (as I do). Writing can be very discouraging at times, but I believe it’s worth it.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write something every day. Some days the words may flow. Other days they may be like pulling teeth. Write anyway. You can always throw it away later.
What are you reading now?
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
What’s next for you as a writer?
To write: Bell City Bottom, historical fiction, is the story of Effie Schultz. Born in America of German descent in the year 1900, my novel covers Effie’s life from 1912 to 1962. She lives through two World Wars and countless technological advances. Bell City is a small farm community in western Kentucky, slow to enjoy electricity, running water, and most modern conveniences. A free-minded, independent thinking woman, Effie is the youngest daughter in a family of nine children, born in a time and place where education for women is viewed as a frivolity. When her mother dies, Effie is the only unmarried daughter left to tend to her ill-tempered father and demanding brothers.
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?
Bible
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
Crime and Punishment
Anne of Green Gables
Author Websites and Profiles
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