Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live near St. Louis, Missouri where I loyally follow Cardinals baseball but don’t care for the local pizza. I am the writer behind The Practical Historian, a history and humor blog that often winds up being more about my dog. My books include the humor essay collection Launching Sheep & Other Stories from the Intersection of History and Nonsense, and three historical novels: Gentleman of Misfortune, Smoke Rose to Heaven, and White Man’s Graveyard.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest novel is called White Man’s Graveyard. It’s set in the 1830s and 40s in both Pennsylvania and Liberia and follows the story of a pair of siblings who are politically divided over the issue of colonization, or the movement to establish an African colony of freed American slaves. The book was inspired by a diary dated in 1837 that my family found stashed beneath the false bottom of a drawer in a lawyer cabinet among my grandmother’s possessions. The main characters of the book are ancestors of mine.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know how unusual it is, but I tend to want to see a lot of information at once when I am researching and writing. My office space contains lots of cork board and chalk board space and I often tape pictures and notes to the walls.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
So many. I first fell in love with writing and character creation while reading the works of Anne Tyler, Louis Erdrich, and Barbara Kingsolver. For exciting, heart-pounding stories, it’s hard to beat Orson Scott Card, Octavia Butler, and Neal Shusterman. Among the classics my favorites are Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain. But really, I think every book we read impacts us in some way.
What are you working on now?
Currently I am both publishing an episodic young adult sci fi dystopian story on Kindle Vella called Tiger Moth, while also researching and drafting my next historical novel which will be set against the backdrop of the 1904 St. Louis Word’s Fair.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I still market most effectively through my own blog, where I post weekly and interact with a great community of readers and fellow writers.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep at it. Overnight success has always been a rare thing in the publishing industry and it is growing rarer all the time. The writers who are successful are the ones who don’t give up.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
As refers to writing? Don’t leave the room. Writing is hard work and it requires a lot of time sitting at your computer painfully eking out words. In those moments when you are working through a scene and are feeling restless, stay with it and see where it goes. It can be so tempting to get up and change out the laundry or update Facebook, but that’s when you have to keep going. Don’t leave the room.
What are you reading now?
I just finished Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty, which is wonderful. Now I am reading a historical novel called Agnes Canon’s War by Deborah Lincoln, which I’m enjoying very much and Empire of Booze by Henry Jeffreys, an amusing nonfiction book exploring the history of some of the world’s favorite alcoholic drinks. I read pretty broadly.
What’s next for you as a writer?
More books! I’m also anxious to pursue the audio format with some of the titles I already have out there.
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 Bible, the Army Survival Guide, Roget’s thesaurus, and Jane Austen’s Emma.
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