Welcome, Marilyn. Tell us how much of yourself you write
into your characters.
All fiction begins with some element of truth. My fiction is
heavily researched and highly accurate. Many of my characters are based on
someone I know or an amalgamation of several people. In Prairie Grace,
Georgia is much like my mother, who bucked her mother’s Southern plantation
upbringing and propriety. Caroline in Prairie Truth, like her
mother, is a horse trainer, and that is me. Although, I was never the rebel
that Caroline is, some of my relationship story is written into hers. All We
Like Sheep: Lessons from the Sheepfold, is a devotional-type set of stories
of experiences raising sheep. My mother and I co-wrote this non-fiction book.
What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?
Oh boy, there are too many stories from which to choose.
Among them is a decision to stay as a guest at the home of a woman I met on a
ship. What made it quirky— maybe stupid or scary is a better description—is
that it was a home in mainland China in the 1980s. She served hard-boiled,
unrefrigerated pigeon eggs for the three days I was there, along with some
other less notable foods. She lived two hours by car from Shanghai. I spoke
Mandarin and was able to learn what life was life for this woman and her family.
I think that sounds wonderful, maybe except for the eggs.
I’ve traveled to Mexico several times and stayed with a friend there most of
the times. I love learning about other cultures. When did you first discover
that you were a writer?
I loved to write stories since I could write. I got a degree
in journalism, and writing has always been a part of my career. I have always
loved storytelling through the written and spoken word. I used to travel across
the prairie with my parents, see an old decaying house and wonder what life had
been like for the people who lived there. Stories emanated from there. Prairie
Grace stems from a Thanksgiving story I wrote in elementary school about a
dying Indian boy dropped on the stoop of a settler family’s home. They nursed
him back to health, and he later came back to save them from starvation. I
still have the hand-written story!
I love the San Luis Valley of Colorado where Prairie
Truth is set. When we drove through the valley as a child and young
adult, I always had stories percolating in my head. The hard thing is getting
the stories researched, fleshed out and down on paper.
Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy
reading.
I love Lynn Austin’s historical fiction. It is educational
and never predictable. Sandra Dallas is a secular historical fiction writer I
enjoy as well. Her stories are mostly set in Colorado mountain towns. CJ Box is
another favorite. His writing is modern, action/suspense set in Wyoming. I also
read non-fiction, but given the choice, I will usually go for good fiction. Fiction
must be hard to put down or it’s just not worth the time.
How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?
I recently moved back to the farming community in which I
was raised. Severing all activities from my former community, although they
were fulfilling, made me be much more intentional about the commitments I now
make. Nonetheless, it is difficult to balance a career that pays the bills with
my small sheep raising operation, my author career, and family. My daughters
are both adults and on their own. Living rural I don’t hear and see traffic,
which does bring calm to my soul. I can’t imagine how young women today handle
family, career, and other commitments.
How do you choose your characters’ names?
My maternal grandmother’s name was Georgiana, so that is
where I got Georgia in Prairie Grace. Since I’m writing historical
fiction, I always do research to make sure that name was used during the time
period. For Prairie Truth, I used historical documents for surnames
of people who were early settlers to the San Luis Valley. (Lead characters) Caroline
or Carolina was my choice, because it is used both in English and Spanish. Mauricio
is the name of the son of a family I lived with in Costa Rica. I used Mauricio
because it isn’t the common, stereotypical Spanish given name for a man.
What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?
Hands down, it is raising two amazing daughters. Kelly and
Shannon are kind, morally grounded, sweet young ladies. I could not be any
prouder of them!
If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why?
No question, I would be a horse. I raise sheep and have cats
and dogs I like very much, but the horse is beautiful, strong, and true. I’ve
owned, bred, and trained several horses throughout my life. They always teach
me patience and how to be their leader. The horse training pieces in both Prairie
Grace and Prairie Truth are my own experience.
What is your favorite food?
I love pulling a bison steak or roast from my freezer and
preparing it with fresh veggies and herbs from my garden. I do a lot of gardening,
freezing, and canning food from what it produces. We enjoy eating this throughout
the year. As for ethnic cuisines, I love Thai, Indian, and Mexican (or is Mexican
now more “American” than meat and potatoes?)
I live in Texas, and we eat TexMex. What is the problem
with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?
Time is always the giant I must slay. My journalist training
and experience has given me the ability to sit and write. I don’t have to get “inspired”
or warmed up. I wrote much of Prairie Grace in 2012 on my laptop while
waiting for my daughter at her choir practice.
Tell us about the featured book.
Prairie Truth, the sequel to Prairie Grace,
is set in the San Luis Valley of Colorado in 1888 when 23-year-old Caroline
seeks acceptance in a region of Colorado settled three decades earlier by
Mexicans. Caroline’s mixed white-Indian heritage makes acceptance by either
group difficult, as does her choice to excel as a horse trainer rather than to
pursue more domestic, traditionally female work.
Caroline has a traumatizing childhood experience when she is
first welcomed and later shunned at a nearby prairie schoolhouse. Her desire to
fit in sends her to Denver as a young woman, but she finds Denverites to be
even more disdainful of her Indian heritage than the settlers on the prairie
where she grew up. Disappointed, Caroline’s attention is piqued by a comment
from Lucy, an old friend of Caroline’s mother that Caroline could pass for a
Mexican señorita.
Caroline flees to the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado
where she learns Spanish and enough of the culture to pass for a Mexican
señorita, trying to appear as someone she is not disquiets her spirit and
causes her other problems. Her failed marriage officially ends when her pompous
mother-in-law learns Caroline’s true identity. Again, she must flee into
anonymity. This time she settles in the town of San Luis, Colorado’s oldest
(European) town.
Caroline is assisted in her struggle to assimilate by
Mauricio Cordoba, whose family of humble means prospered as ranchers in the San
Luis Valley until the death of Mauricio’s father. Mauricio’s own disastrous marriage and the
influx of Anglo settlers into the San Luis Valley changed the economic climate
and sent Mauricio looking for work with another ranch. Mauricio, a masterful
leader of his crew of vaqueros and a talented businessman, must earn enough
silver to sustain his own ranch, so that he can return home.
Mauricio Cordoba is intrigued by Caroline and knows she is
running from something, but even he does not guess her true heritage. They part
early in the story, but circumstances bring them back together in the town of
San Luis.
Please give us the first page of the book.
Sanchez
Estate, San Luis Valley, Colorado
Spring,
1886
Caroline kicked
the statue of St. Jude, Señora Sanchez’s favorite saint, tugging her bulging
saddlebags up and onto her right shoulder as she raced down the steps of the
sprawling adobe estate house. Her brief marriage to Carlos had been a disaster
in more ways than one.
“You may take a carpet bag of clothing, acquired during your
marriage, no mas, and the lazy horse, saddle, and bridle you rode in here with
when you presented yourself as a senorita,” Señora Sanchez bellowed after
Caroline signed the annulment papers. “You’re nothing more than a half-breed!”
Caroline sprinted to the barn. What an ignorant woman her
mother-in-law, now ex-mother-in-law, was to call her horse “lazy.” The woman
knew nothing of horses. The bay mare did exactly what she was bred and trained
to do. She worked hard, could pull down any steer and stood still as a rock
when that was required of her. She was no high-stepping parade horse, but
ranches needed strong, good-minded horses, and the bay was that indeed. Had
Mrs. Sanchez told Caroline she couldn’t take the bay mare with her, the woman
would have had a fight on her hands. Caroline’s ma had given the bay mare to
her for her sixteenth birthday.
“I spec it’ll be one of the last my sorrel mare Cheyenne
will birth. I want you to have her,” her ma had said. “Train her like I taught
you, and she’ll serve you well. When you find the right stallion, you can raise
a string of fine cattle horses.”
Caroline had left home two years later, the bay filly in
tow. She had been such a fool, but she couldn’t wait to get away from her
parents’ ranch in the Bijou Basin, a two-day ride southeast of Denver.
She jerked open the barn door, nearly pulling it from its
hinges. “Azucar.” Caroline called to the
bay mare as she stepped into the tack room to fetch her saddle, saddle blanket,
bridle and grooming tools. She had named the mare Sugar, Azucar in Spanish,
shortly after she started training her because the young filly loved the lumps
of sugar Caroline fed her. The mare nickered, swinging her head toward
Caroline. How long had it been since Caroline had groomed her mare? Much too
long. The Sanchez’s groom placed little value on grooming a horse, other than
when it would be on display, such as when it made a trip to town or during
festival days when the Hispanos paraded their high-stepping horses down the
main street. Caroline would have been glad to groom Azucar or the other horses,
for that matter, but Mrs. Sanchez insisted it was not fitting for a woman of
her standing.
Not only had Azucar been neglected, Caroline felt the sting
of Señora Sanchez’s unsuccessful attempt to transform her into a dutiful
daughter-in-law. For her mother-in-law, a proper woman excelled in embroidery,
discarded her personal opinions and rode only when required and only side
saddle while wearing a full skirt. It was “unladylike” for a woman to ride
astride, according to the señora.
Caroline had tried in the beginning. She really had. Her ma
had taught her the basics of sewing. She could hem a dress or sew on a button,
but it was beyond her why every towel and handkerchief had to be stitched with
ornate designs. Had she known being married would require her to become someone
she was not, she would never have agreed to marry Carlos. It was just one of
the reasons she regretted marrying the spoiled mama’s boy.
As she brushed and saddled Azucar, she wished she had left
the dress she was wearing in the house. Trousers and shirts were so much easier
for riding and working. And, she would have enjoyed her mother-in-law’s outrage
at seeing her former daughter-in-law ride down the lane at a gallop in men’s
trousers. At least she had the presence of mind to pull on her sturdy leather
boots before Señora Sanchez had thrown her out.
How can readers find you on the Internet?
Thank you for sharing your book with us. I’m very intrigued
by your story.
Readers,
here are links to the book.
Prairie Truth : A Novel
- Paperback
Prairie Truth: A Novel - Kindle
Leave
a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. You must follow these
instructions to be in the drawing. Please tell us where you live, at least
the state or territory or country if outside North America. (Comments
containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)
Void
where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants.
Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of
the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining
local/federal/international laws.
The
only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to
check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from
the posting of the winners to claim your book.
If
you’re reading this on Goodreads, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or
Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be
included in the drawing. Here’s a link:
- Paperback
- Paperback
- Paperback
- Amazon Paperbook
