Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Border Girl is my first novel, although I’ve had articles published in newspapers and magazines. I was told from an early age that I’d be a writer, but I switched my major from journalism to geology. No regrets; it led to adventures in Canada and the US and then to many happy years teaching science in Arizona. As a Navy brat I’ve always loved being near the ocean, so I retired to Washington’s Olympic Peninsula where I wake up to a water view. One of my sons shares my love of trees and ocean and lives an hour away. The other loves the desert and remains in Arizona.
I volunteer at an animal rescue where I work with everything from alpacas to emus, but I especially love the horses. My sister and I had horses in California so a barn feels like home to me. I fix up dollhouses and make room boxes, and I’m always on the lookout for old quilts.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I started writing Border Girl while I was teaching 9th grade science. It’s hard for young people to figure out who they are and where they belong; especially so for multi-cultural kids. I wanted to give my Mexican-American students a strong, smart protagonist. The image of a girl on horseback in a torrential storm popped in to my head, and that was Nattie.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I need to nag myself to write, so when I sold an article I used the money to buy a ring to remind me that I should be working on my novel. I took it off when Border Girl was finished — it got in the way while shoveling manure and bringing in firewood — but now that I’ve started my second novel I needed a new reminder, so I got my first tattoo! It’s a book that says Border Girl. Maybe someday I’ll have a line of books up my arm.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love Kipling’s ability to describe a scene so vividly that you can feel the heat and smell the dust. Nevil Shute and C.S. Forester are great story-tellers. I didn’t care for Jane Austen at first read but now I love her books, especially Emma. (One of Border Girl’s readers said it’s like an Edwardian romance set in the American West.) I like Josephine Tey and Dorothy L. Sayers; I’ll always be in love with Lord Peter.
I read a lot of classics as a kid, partly because I looked for thick library books so they’d last longer. Dickens, Shakespeare, Cervantes… I never cared much for American authors; too grim and depressing. I’m a sucker for genteel British murder mysteries with a love story tucked in.
What are you working on now?
My second novel is set in contemporary Tucson. It’s about women who are neighbors on a little street and as they form a community, a sisterhood, they find their strengths. And some of them find love.
I didn’t intend to write a sequel to Border Girl, but Nattie is still rattling around in my brain so I may write some short stories. Or a sequel.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m terrible at promoting myself! I’m new at this, so I’m just floundering around, looking for sites that will help get Border Girl in front of potential readers.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Like everyone says, WRITE! It can be terrible and not at all what you want it to be, but once you have words on paper you have something to work with. I love rewriting and revising, so that’s my reward for slogging through the first stages.
If you self-publish, if you can possibly afford it, hire an editor and a formatter.
Try not to be disappointed if your friends don’t race to buy your book. My editor is a successful, long-established author and she says she has to hound her friends to read and/or review her books. People are weird. Write anyway.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
About writing? Or in general? My Great-Grandma Nellie said never wear dangly earrings when you go out drinking because they’ll get ripped out in a bar fight.
Advice about writing…. I found “Write for yourself, because you want to write” to be helpful.
What are you reading now?
Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke. And a history of the local area.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Aside from fame, fortune, and acclaim? Just kidding. I’ll keep working on my second novel in between trying to figure out how to promote Border Girl.
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?
Going back to my childhood strategy, I’d want the thickest books possible. So, the complete Shakespeare, the complete Kipling, the complete Sayers…And a survival manual.