Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a woman who has worn many hats. Over the years I’ve lived in five of the United States: New York, Florida, Texas, North Carolina, and now Massachusetts. I’ve worked as a waitress, a hairdresser, a seamstress, and a lab technician. I’ve been married to the same wonderful man for over 36 years, and we raised three lovely children: a daughter and a set of twin sons. My daughter recently gifted me with a grandson.
My passions are reading, writing, history, and researching the unexplained. I love the exotic and unusual—my home is filled with tanks of fancy angel fish and every window is lined with orchids.
Maternal Threads is my second published book. My novel, Phantom Traces was released in February of 2015, and my next novel, Memories of You, is coming soon from Lachesis Publishing.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book, Maternal Threads, is a memoir of discovery that began as the thesis for my MFA in creative writing from Lesley University. Yes, that’s right—I was 52 years old and still going to school. Still searching for that missing piece in my life.
To the world it looked like I had it all: my health, a loving husband, three successful adult children, a satisfying career. But I couldn’t help feeling as though there was some part of me I hadn’t yet discovered.
My daughter, who is also my best friend, grew up to be a completely different kind of woman than either myself or my mother. Where did this brassy, bold woman come from? She reminded me an awful lot of my Aunt Charlotte, my mother’s older “half-sister.” I knew little about Mom’s side of the family, as it was a subject she’d been loathe to discuss. My maternal heritage was an enigma, a conundrum. That’s when I realized what was wrong with me. I was half a tree. But by the time I had formed questions to ask, everyone who might have answered them was gone.
My quest to fill out the other half of my family tree uncovered more questions than answers, and took me back to 1920s New York, where my mother and aunt grew up. Right smack dab in the middle of the age of the flappers.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Since I still work a full-time day job, most of my writing happens in the dark. I rise very early and can usually be found tapping away at the keyboard by 5 a.m. I return to my office in the evening, after the day’s duties are complete and again, usually after dark.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love” taught me how the experiences of a single woman on a quest, even one as unique as hers, can provide universal enlightenment. It gave me the courage to write my memoir with the intention to share it with others—memoirs are NOT only about you. They reveal universal truths about life we can all relate to.
What are you working on now?
I also write novels, and am presently working on a romance with a ghostly twist entitled, “Spirits of the Heart,” set on the grounds of an abandoned state mental asylum in the town where I grew up.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I cast a wide net when promoting. In addition to Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Goodreads, and LibraryThing, I like to put my stories into pictures: storyboards on Pinterest, and book trailers on Youtube. Direct email sites such as Awesomegang have been critically instrumental in helping me spread the word about my books, targeting a very specific and receptive audience.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up. Keep writing. Join a critique group and realize that although half of the advice you receive may be useless or worse yet, painful to hear, there will be nuggets of gold in every reader’s response to your writing. Have confidence in your own voice and your own mission, take what is helpful to your craft, and don’t let the rest of it discourage you.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Listen to audiobooks. My coworker bugged me for an entire year to try audiobooks and I balked. She finally gifted me a free audiobook and well, I had no choice but to listen. Now, I am hooked. Audiobooks have enabled me to quadruple my “reading” time, as I listen to 5+ titles a month during my daily commute—time that had been wasted before.
What are you reading now?
At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Promotion, promotion, promotion! I’m scheduled for a number of signings over the next few months as well as several speaking engagements. It’s important, though, to keep on task in the writing of that next book, which my readers are already clamoring for.
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?
The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley to keep my imagination fertile.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert to keep me inspired.
Anything by Kristan Higgins to keep me smiling.
Author Websites and Profiles
Frances Susanne Brown Website
Frances Susanne Brown Amazon Profile
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