Interview With Author Jane Little Botkin
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I didn’t publish my first book until I turned 65!! I taught high school English thirty years first. Everything I write has a personal or family connection. My first book, Frank Little and the IWW, The Blood that Stained an American Family (University of Oklahoma Press, 2017), is about my great-grand uncle. He was murdered in Butte, MT, in 1917. His story impacted my Little family dramatically. When my son had to write a document-based essay (DBQ) for his AP US History class in high school on Frank, I knew I would have to research and write that narrative. The book won national awards. Likewise, my second book, also an award-winning biography on activist Jane Street (The Girl Who Dared to Defy: Jane Street and the Rebel Maids of Denver, University of Oklahoma Press, 2021), was because my own Danish grandmother worked as a housemaid in a Colorado mansion at the same time when this narrative took place. On a dare, I published my third book, The Pink Dress, A Memoir of a Reluctant Beauty Queen (She Writes Press, 2024.) Totally different way of writing!
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Had some girls in a San Antonio bar not challenged me in 2019, I would never have begun this project. I even signed a pledge on a cocktail napkin. This most recent book, The Pink Dress, Memoir of a Reluctant Beauty Queen Girl, delves into the early world of Guyrex, the famous Miss USA and Miss Texas beauty-queen makers. It poignantly reveals more than behind-the-scenes realities of Guyrex’s unique approach to pageantry in the Wild West. In other words, the memoir is not a “fru-fru” tell-all. It wasn’t until my mother passed, and I was able to look back in time, with the maturity and insight that age provides, that I realized that what was happening at home influenced those same years. I had a cheating father and an insecure mother. Since I’m also a historian, I had to place myself in historical context, that is during the American Counterculture Era of the 1970s, while at the same time, tie in western context. I wanted to bring the “western do-over” and forgiveness into focus. What was novel for me was that I had to look at myself as a historic figure—separating me today from the girl then—so that I had an unbiased view of the context. Writing the book was cathartic.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Aside from drinking red wine and eating dark chocolate while I write? Probably not. My desk is covered with research, books and papers, when I write. I appear a sloppy writer but actually I’m not a “pantser” when I write. I always have structure on my mind and how all the pieces will fit. I get my best ideas at three in the morning when my brain turns on. I immediately make notes on my cell phone’s calendar so that I can go back to sleep. And like most writers, I revise, revise, revise.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’m a retired English teacher, so I have read and taught many, many books over the years. My favorite of all is probably To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. As a teacher of classics and other books that used to be considered contemporary, literature such as Bless the Beast and Children and A Separate Peace, I always identified with motifs and other themes that the authors wanted to impart. I loved analyzing the structure and literary elements. But most significantly, biographers and historians Robert Utely, Leo Metz, and C. L Sonnichsen probably impacted my love of writing historical biographies the most. I have never been into memoirs. And look what I just did!
What are you working on now?
I am working on The Breath of a Buffalo, A Biography of Mary Ann Goodnight, to be published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 2026. If not for Mary (wife of famous cattle trail blazer Charles Goodnight), the southern bison herd likely would have become extinct. She was a remarkable Texas woman!
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve tried several ways. Instagram seems to work best for me as well as mailing “tip” sheets to book stores and libraries. I do advertise via X and Facebook, but quick access to the public seems to be primarily through Instagram. Speaking to groups also helps spread the word about one’s book. And book clubs are invaluable! Authors should always try to draw potential readers to their websites!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
It’s never too late to start writing! I have a second love that keeps me engaged in life. I do believe that my previous career prepared my becoming a writer. I do wish I had begun my writing career a decade earlier because I’m darn old! I’m just glad I took the leap when I did. I am having the time of my life!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I can’t even remember. I think I give more advice than receive it these days.
What are you reading now?
Hollow Out the Dark by James Wade. His books are dark, and I can get lost in them.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Besides working on the Goodnight manuscript, I have speaking engagements across the country as well as writing workshops and panels where I will be sharing advice or historical background. I also make a point of spending time with other writers just like me, a sisterhood of history nerds who like to have fun and write. This part of being a writer makes life so much richer.
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?
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe to show me survival skills.
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry to give me humor amid tragedy.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak to show me there can always be something worse.
The Bible to give me hope.
Author Websites and Profiles
Jane Little Botkin Amazon Profile
Jane Little Botkin’s Social Media Links
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