BROKEN WINGS - Carla Stewart - Free Book

Why do you write the kind of books you do?

I’ve always been intrigued with relationships and the quirky twists in life, so I wanted to write stories that reflect the human condition – both the tragic and the victorious. Because the past influences the people we are today, I wanted to tell nostalgic stories from the eras of my parents and my own childhood. So far I’ve been fortunate to be able to do that.

Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?

My birthday a few years ago. We went out to eat with our neighbors to a restaurant that had a jazz band playing. The band leader asked for requests so I asked him to sing Louie Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” since it’s my husband’s favorite song. A little later in the evening, the singer came to our table and sang the song to us, complete with the trumpet part. It was like magic in the air, surrounded with people we loved and being perfectly contented. That night I realized it’s not the big events or turning points in our lives that bring happiness, but the small moments that take our breath away. It really is a wonderful world we live in.

How has being published changed your life?

Very interesting question. Before I was published I fretted over whether I would EVER get an agent or a contract. Now I fret over whether I will have time to cook dinner or clean the house. It’s become a very consuming thing with marketing, networking, and juggling the different phases of each book. I don’t think I realized how many technical things I would have to master as a published author. Yet, when I get a letter from a reader I’ve never met, and she tells me she heard her father’s voice in my writing or that it made me her smile to remember forgotten things from her youth, it’s so rewarding. And there’s always Arby’s for dinner or the Merry Maids if I have company coming and no time to clean.

What are you reading right now?

 I’m working on edits at the moment, but the last book I read was Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson. I met this talented debut author last winter and loved her book. I’ve also just finished Patti Lacy’s upcoming novel, Reclaiming Lily, which I read for endorsement.

What is your current work in progress?

Stardust, a story set in East Texas in 1952 during the height of the polio epidemic. I just received the content edits for it and have a proposal in to my editor for a nostalgic “girlfriend” story tentatively titled Sweet Dreams.

What would be your dream vacation?

Spending three months in a cottage in England where I could walk my little dog on cobblestone streets and stop at the green grocers to pick up fresh produce for our evening meal.

How do you choose your settings for each book?

At the risk of sounding cliché, they actually find me. When I start thinking about a new book, I usually have a premise and a character or two. I put them in the setting that best fits their situation and the story they have to tell. In Broken Wings, I knew I wanted an aging jazz singer to tell her story to someone. I’d read an article in the Tulsa paper about the possible renovation of an old jazz hall. I did a little checking and found out Tulsa has a rich jazz history so it was only logical that this would be the setting. All my other contracted and published stories have been set in different parts of Texas. Someday I’d like to step away from “what I know” but we’ll see.

If you could spend an evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?

It would be a couple – George and Laura Bush. We have a Texas heritage in common as well as having twins. We wouldn’t discuss politics but favorite memories, children, places we’ve been, what matters most to us.

What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?

Traveling with my husband. Word Puzzle Books. Collecting antiques. Music. I used to quilt, paint folk art, and sew, but alas, those have gone by the wayside when I took up my proverbial pen.

What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?

Finding the balance between marketing and actual writing. I’m still trying to figure out the best way to manage that, but since I’m most creative in the afternoons, I try to keep those hours sacred for writing and tend to the marketing and editing chores in the morning. I rarely get on FaceBook until in the evening as I’ve found I spend too much time there.

What advice would you give to a beginning author?

Join a writing group and read books on craft. Don’t wait until you think you’re “set” to start writing. What you’re writing will become infused with the craft as you practice. Also, I think it’s a good idea to follow your gut and write that which is burning inside you. Agents and editors want fresh voices and yours might be the one they’ve been waiting on. That said, you have to follow some guidelines and know your genre and what is acceptable and what is not. It’s an ever-changing process and a noble calling. For a beginning writer, magazines and anthologies like the Chicken Soup books are also a good way to dip your toes in the water. And those publishing credits are like gold on your writing resume.

Tell us about the featured book.

Broken Wings is the story of an unlikely friendship between two women who end up being dependent on one another through some difficult situations. It’s a “framed” story so a good part of it is nostalgic and told as flashback which dovetails with the contemporary story. Here’s the back cover copy: 

Onstage, the singing duo of Gabe and Mitzi Steiner captured America's heart for more than two decades. Offstage, their own hearts have throbbed as one for sixty years. Only now, Gabe has retreated into the tangles of Alzheimer's, leaving Mitzi to ponder her future alone.

On the other side of Tulsa, everyone believes Brooke Woodson has found the perfect man--a handsome lawyer with sights on becoming Tulsa's next District Attorney. If only Brooke felt more sure. If only her fiancé could control his anger. If only love didn't come with so many scars.

When an accident lands Brooke in the hospital where Mitzi volunteers, the two women quickly develop an unlikely friendship birthed by providence and bathed in grace. And with Mitzi's help, kindness, and insight, Brooke learns how to pick up the broken pieces of her life.

Please give us the first page of the book. 

PROLOGUE

St. Louis, April 1935              

When you’re six years old and the only ocean you’ve seen is in a picture book at Public School No. 16, you don’t have a big view of the world. And the other kids running up and down your street in ragged knickers and hand-me-down dresses don’t know beans either. To all of us, a mountain was the pile of rocks along the banks of the Mississippi, one we clamored around, spouting truths about the universe as we knew it. And about our Huck Finn dreams of building a raft that would take us all the way to the ocean.

Sometimes when Mama sat with her arm around me on the wood steps of our two-room row house, I’d tell her my ocean dream. And how, if I couldn’t have that, I wanted to live in one of those houses on the other side of the green park. The ones that could hold a family our size six or seven times over. I’d fill it with children and get a pony for the backyard and two Great Danes for the front, I’d tell her. And it would ring with laughter and singing for everyone who passed by.

 “You’re a dreamer, Maggie,” Mama would say and twist my chestnut hair into two ropey braids. “But don’t you stop spinning those golden tales, ’cuz as sure as my name’s Lorna Beth Poole, I’m going to take you to the ocean, dumplin’. We’ll cross the mountains, dip our toes in the water, and collect sea shells by the dozen. And that’s a fact.”

Then Papa would be there, his moonshine jug hooked in the thumb of one hand, a black cigar puffing smoke like a locomotive in the other. And he didn’t allow such talk of the mountains or the ocean. Or much of anything.

How can readers find you on the Internet?  

Website: www.carlastewart.com

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/#!/ChasingLilacs

FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/carlastewartauthor 

Amazon link to Broken Wings:

Thanks, Lena, for having me on your wonderful blog!

And thank you, Carla, for giving us another peek into your life. Come back anytime.

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