Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
At 74 years old, I have spent much of my life writing: 3 novels, 2 non-fiction history, plus working as Editor in Chief of LawNow, a public legal education magazine for 15 years, teaching scuba diving for 20 years, and as a volunteer teaching seniors creative writing, and poor children in Peru and Ecuador. I’m also a dog mom, with agility and obedience ribbons for my dogs’ achievements. First 2 novels are lesbian mystery novels but through a debacle with the publisher I no longer receive any royalties although they continue to sell them.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest and best book as far as I can tell is ‘Dance Me a Revolution’. In 1987, I toured and trekked in Peru and Bolivia. Our guides were as wonderful as the sites, the history, the whole adventure. One day, limping in to the highest camp with our guide AnaMaria, I asked her “What did you study in university?”, partly because she was so knowledgeable about everything Peru and partly because it was unusual back then for an indigenous woman to go to university. She answered “Oh, we were all revolutionaries then. They closed the university.” That was the seed that inspired another 7 visits to Peru, the most recent as a research visit for Dance Me a Revolution in 2019, and the novel. To be clear, the main character Rosa is a trekking guide, but completely a figment of my imagination .
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m a slow writer, partly because I’ve usually been writing many things at the same time. While drafting-thinking about-abandoning-picking up again, Dance Me has been written over 30 years while writing the other 4 books & many social justice articles. During the final 2 years before publishing, I wrote 11 drafts—to make it as wonderful as possible. The other slightly different habit is after writing a first draft, I do all my revisioning and rewriting while my laptop reads the story aloud to me, which is extremely helpful as I tend to be an ‘oral/aural’ thinker.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
My parents read/made up over 300 stories to me before I was 3 years old & decided I would be a writer when I grew up…’The Big Golden Dictionary’ was my favourite book age 3-5. I would make up stories that included every word on the a page or the b page. Much later, Cdn writer W.O. Mitchell’s book ‘Who Has Seen the Wind’ had a big effect, only Cdn book in a 4-year Eng. Lit degree, and W.O. led a 6 week creative writing course in the 1970s, where he, Eli Mandel-poet, Sylvia Fraser-novelist, & Alice Munro-short story writer were all hugely influential and have continued to be through my life. Other influential books The Alexandria Quartet by Durrell, all Shakespeare’s histories & tragedies, (I wrote stage plays early in career) ?& Cdn novelist Margaret Laurence whose ‘The Diviners’ was the ‘turning point’ novel that triggered my serious turn to writing as a career.
What are you working on now?
Dance Me a Revolution is so new, I’m still very much involved with promoting it, but thinking about stories that have two dogs, Lucy & Branden as barkeologists sniffing out histories, or alternatively a memoir… leaning toward the barkeologists
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Oddly enough, #DogsofTwitter has been my best source of buyers for Dance Me a Revolution, although other social media help. My website has been helpful over the last couple of months. Promotions are my weakest point.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
‘Write it badly first’… Don’t struggle for hours or days to write the perfect sentence or find the perfect word during your first draft. Just write and write and write–even 10 minutes a day, it’s like playing practising scales on a cello–to get that first draft started & worked through to some kind of end. Then work on things 1 at a time, big things first–‘plot/setting/or character’ first. Then work on smaller but important things, e.g. MCs speech habits,
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It was a variation on ‘write it badly first’ from W.O. Mitchell, although he certainly didn’t say it that way. I was writing short poems at the time, and wouldn’t write a second line until the first was perfect… While they were good enough short poems, I would never have written anything longer without W.O’s ‘messy method’ of ‘just writing’, letting the whole grow over the drafts.
What are you reading now?
I read primarily for relaxation and fun, unless I’m researching something. Currently, I’m reading Margaret Maron’s ‘Bootlegger’s Daughter’ series.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Doing some freewriting on the barkeologist and the memoir/creative non-fiction projects to find out which one is most exciting for me.
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 take the complete works of Shakespeare, which may be cheating a bit. I’d also bring a book on boat-building, one on navigation, and a recipe book for fish with coconut & cactus side dishes.
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