Monthly Archives: October 2021

An Interview with Author Marcia Meier

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Marcia Meier is an author and a poet, a developmental book editor and writing coach, and the publisher of Weeping Willow Books. She spent nearly twenty years as a newspaper journalist and has authored six books and numerous freelance articles and poetry. Her latest nonfiction release, Face: A Memoir (Saddle Road Press, January 2021), has been described as “a gut-wrenching and brave plumbing into a girl’s heart and soul, and a triumph of guts and the human spirit.” You’ll find Marcia on her website MarciaMeier.com and her Amazon author page.

What would you like readers to know about Face?
I wrote the book to process the trauma I experienced after I was hit by a car at the age of five and dragged down the street, losing my left cheek and eyelid. I subsequently had twenty surgeries over the next fifteen years, and struggled with disfigurement throughout most of my childhood. My hope is that people who read my story may be better able to confront and process any trauma they may have experienced.

What prompted the push to begin the project?
A midlife crisis, really. My life was falling apart: My marriage was crumbling, my business was faltering, and my mother, who lived with us, was struggling with health issues. After marriage counseling with my husband failed, I decided to continue therapy, which started an eight-year journey of going back in time to come to terms with, and heal from, the trauma I experienced.

Was there anything surprising or unexpected that happened as a result of writing the book?
Yes, I have been surprised and delighted by the book’s reception and the feedback I’ve received from so many readers who tell me it resonated with them in many ways. For that I am grateful. I have also been really surprised to feel re-traumatized by the publication, when I thought I had processed and healed from it all.

How did Face come together?
I started to write Face in 2005, when I first started therapy. But I had a hard time getting purchase on the story. So in 2010 I decided to go back to school to get my master of fine arts in creative writing. I had been a journalist in an earlier life, and knew that having a deadline to complete the project (my MFA thesis) would be the impetus I needed to finish a first draft. And it worked, but then I spent eight more years revising it (and two agent’s efforts to sell the book). Saddle Road Press Editor and Publisher Ruth Thompson offered a contract in early 2020, another gift for which I am eternally grateful.

During the process of writing your memoir, it must have been difficult to re-live your experiences. How did you work through those feelings and continue on?
As I mentioned earlier, I was very surprised at my emotional response to the book’s publication. I had read the first chapter many times before several audiences and was able to do so without feeling the deep emotions that arose. But when the book came out and I started to do readings of other parts of the book and discuss its implications with Zoom participants, I started to feel a little emotionally unsafe. I’ve had to do some deep soul searching about this, and I’m not sure I’m completely resolved even today.

Do you have a favorite quote from the book you’d like to share?
“What does it mean to find oneself? For me, it has meant pulling all my splintered pieces together and understanding how that splintering affected me. It feels like the end of a very long, difficult journey. But who can know what life will bring? Being aware means I can make different choices. Choices based on what’s in front of me and not on what happened five decades ago. I can choose to follow my own heart and not be swayed by what others might think of me.”

In a memoir based on memories of incidents that occurred in decades past, where does a writer’s responsibility lie: with the truth of the facts or with her perception/feelings about what occurred?
Both. Memoir is an accounting of what happened to you and how that experience changed or affected you. Essentially your reflection and perception of your emotional response to the tangible facts. Readers want to know what happened, yes, but also how you grew or managed to overcome the trauma. That’s when experience can be translated into universal understanding.

Besides being an author, you’re also an editor and a writing coach. What do beginning writers misunderstand about storytelling?
It’s not just about you, it’s about your readers and their experience in the reading of the story.

What does a typical writing session look like for you?
I don’t have any pat routine, mostly because my days are often dictated by client projects and deadlines. But one of my favorite things to do when time allows is to go to a local coffee shop and write in longhand. I find writing with pen and paper in an environment away from my work space is the most conducive to creative output.

What writing projects are you working on now?
I’m working on two projects right now: a novel I’ve been doodling with for years, and a book of prayers, poetry, and short essays entitled A Writer’s Book of Prayers, Inspiration for Scribes and Other Creatives. I’m anxious to finish the book of prayers; it’s almost there.

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know?
Thank you!

KLWagoner150_2KL Wagoner (writing as Cate Macabe) is the author of This New Mountain: a memoir of AJ Jackson, private investigator, repossessor, and grandmother. Kathy posts to a speculative fiction blog at klwagoner.com and writes about memoir at ThisNewMountain.com.



An Interview with Author Jeffrey Candelaria

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Author Jeffrey Candelaria drew inspiration for his first novel, TORO: The Naked Bull, from childhood and teenage experiences. He began the book in 2008 and persisted another thirteen years until its publication in 2021. Jeffrey is currently the host of the radio show “Straight Talk with Jeffrey Candelaria” on KIVA 1600 AM, Saturdays from 1:00-2:00 pm. You’ll find him on RMKPublications.com, on Facebook, and his SouthWest Writers author page.

What would you like people to know about the story you tell in TORO?
First, TORO: The Naked Bull is a reminder that the lust for glory, self-aggrandizement and fortune seeking, when unbridled, can result in the destruction of the individual and the people they love. TORO is such a tale.

When readers turn the last page in the book, what do you hope they’ll take away from it?
That love, loyalty, and courage are bigger than secular accomplishments. And that readers want a TORO II.

What challenges did this work pose for you?
The story and plot were not an issue as much as the editing and formatting. The logistics of the book were challenging more so than storytelling and content.

Tell us how the book came together.
I visited Mexico City as a child. While there, my grandfather took me to a bullfight. I fell in love with the pageantry, protocols, and juxtaposition of man against beast. Again, TORO is not about bullfighting per se, rather it is the stage for the story of four brothers and their struggles to find themselves as individuals, independent of “The Family Montoya Legacy.” The book took thirteen years to complete. I worked on it every Christmas season during vacation from work. I completed the book during the heights of the recent pandemic.

What is the main setting?
The setting varies: The Montoya Ranch, ongoing confrontations with toros (bulls), and various situations which evoke behavioral manifestations and strife amongst the four brothers. TORO: The Naked Bull could easily be told in almost any place or time. It is a story as old as time: the lust for power, the jealousy amongst family members, and the discovery of one’s nature. Bullfighting and the trappings surrounding the pursuits of becoming a famous matador are the catalyst for the development of characters and circumstances which reveal unvarnished motivations and the brothers’ temperament.

Was there anything surprising you discovered while doing research for the book?
Perhaps the staging of the corrida, or bullfight, itself. The bullfight is a choreographed event with numerous protocols and very particular ways of presenting the “Dance with Death.”

What was the most rewarding aspect of writing TORO?
When completed, TORO was an exercise in catharsis for me. Additionally, it was a tribute to my late grandfather who raised me. (He is a character in the book.) I also learned a great deal about the human condition.

Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently if you started your writing/publishing career today?
Nothing. I enjoyed the process or writing, construction of plot and the overall journey.

What book has had a strong influence on you or your writing?
1984 by George Orwell.

What is the best encouragement or advice you’ve received in your writing journey?
Rose Kern’s advice about style. I have a background in journalism and I was writing in that stark style. For TORO, I shifted my style from that of a journalist to more of a storyteller.

What writing projects are you working on now?
OPEDs.

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know?
Please order my book on Amazon—TORO: The Naked Bull.

KLWagoner150_2KL Wagoner (writing as Cate Macabe) is the author of This New Mountain: a memoir of AJ Jackson, private investigator, repossessor, and grandmother. Kathy posts to a speculative fiction blog at klwagoner.com and writes about memoir at ThisNewMountain.com.



An Interview with Author Marty Eberhardt

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Marty Eberhardt is a former director of botanical gardens whose poetry and short prose can be found in nearly a dozen publications. In October 2021, Artemesia Publishing released Death in a Desert Garden, Marty’s debut novel and the first of her Bea Rivers cozy mysteries. You’ll find her on her website MartyEberhardt.com and on Facebook and LinkedIn.

What is your elevator pitch for Death in a Desert Garden?
Bea Rivers’ euphoria over her new job at Shandley Gardens is shattered by the death of the Gardens’ founder. When the police determine the death was a murder, Bea is drawn into the investigation, while trying desperately to maintain the life of a committed single parent dating a struggling writer. Every one of the members of the Gardens’ small staff and board are murder suspects. Through the sizzling and beautiful days of a Sonoran Desert summer, someone keeps dropping odd botanical clues. As Bea’s family’s safety is threatened, she discovers just how tangled the relationships at the Gardens really are.

What unique challenges did this work pose for you?
While I am familiar with the inner workings of public gardens, I haven’t had much to do with the police. I was fortunate to have a few friends in law enforcement who answered questions, and one read the book through.

Tell us how the book came together.
I’m not sure where the story idea came from, but first I imagined the place and the protagonist. The rest of the characters arrived in my brain and decided to do what they wanted to do. I picked a mythical botanical garden in Tucson, because I’m familiar with both public gardens and Tucson. I picked a harried single mother because I well-remember what that felt like, and I think many parents know this stress (even if they’re not single). Work/parenting challenges are front and center during this pandemic!

Who are your protagonists, and what do they have to overcome in the story? Will those who know you recognize you in any of your characters?
Many will see part of me in Bea Rivers. I was a single mom working in a botanical garden. Those in the know will also see the late Tony Edland in the character of Angus. Both of them are lovely guys. As for what Bea has to overcome, she has to be a good parent and a good employee simultaneously. As if that weren’t enough, she needs to solve a murder, because people she cares about are in danger of being accused.

Why did you choose the book’s main setting?
The setting is Shandley Gardens, a public garden in the Rincon Mountains east of Tucson. Using the Rincon foothills location gave me the opportunity to write about the beauty of the Sonoran Desert, which I love deeply. Also, there is no public garden in this location, in case anyone is looking for close comparisons.

What makes Death in a Desert Garden unique in the cozy mystery market?
There are several unique, or nearly unique, parts: the setting in a botanical garden, the Sonoran Desert natural history, and the single parent protagonist.

What was your favorite part of putting this project together?
I’ve heard many authors say this, but it was the way the characters took on a life of their own. I didn’t know until I got to the computer what they were going to say or do. Well, that’s not entirely true. I did plot things out, but how each character reacted to their circumstances was part of the mystery of the mystery.

You also write poems and short prose. Is there one form you’re drawn to the most when you write or read?
My primary reading interest is literary fiction. I also read a bit of nonfiction, especially if it relates to something I’m writing, and I read poetry. But I punctuate the serious stuff with mysteries. I relax with them, and so I tried to write one that would have what I want out of a mystery: a tough puzzle, some quirky characters, and a strong sense of place.

What writing projects are you working on now?
I’m writing a sequel to Death in a Desert Garden tentatively titled Bones in the Back Forty. A forty-year old skeleton takes a murder investigation from Shandley Gardens to a small town in southern New Mexico, where there’s a history of archaeological looting. I’ve also written an entirely different kind of book, a period piece set in early 1960s Saigon. It’s the story of how family members’ lives are changed by living in South Vietnam during the Diem regime, at the time of Buddhist burnings and multiple coups d’états. It’s tentatively titled American Innocents.

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know?
We humans must all nourish ourselves with what gives us joy, so that we have the strength to do the work of caring for each other and the planet. Much of my joy comes from immersion in the natural world. I try to communicate that in everything I write.

KLWagoner150_2KL Wagoner (writing as Cate Macabe) is the author of This New Mountain: a memoir of AJ Jackson, private investigator, repossessor, and grandmother. Kathy posts to a speculative fiction blog at klwagoner.com and writes about memoir at ThisNewMountain.com.



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