Interview Kowanda Stroud

by

Kathy Elbinger

1) Tell us about The Best Of The Worst Times and your main character, Janiece Addison.

Janiece is fifteen years old in this book. She lives in a small southwest Oklahoma town. She has an easy life until she overhears an argument between her parents. Then, her life is turned upside down and she becomes rebellious. Her father hires an ex-convict to work for him and from him Janiece learns to forgive and not to be so eager to judge others.

2) What type of book is it and who would it appeal to most?

My genre is general fiction mainstream; however I am very close to being young adult. I hope my books are funny and inspirational. I hope everyone would enjoy this book. If you like nostalgia, looking back at different time in life, you’ll like this book. Hopefully even love it.

3) Tell us about yourself. Where did you get such a unique first name?

I live in Chandler, Oklahoma with my husband of 47 years. But my fictional town of Love is really based on my hometown of Fletcher, Oklahoma. I find my memories grow sweeter with age. Thank God for that! I have two grown daughters both are educators. I’m so proud of that fact. My eldest went back to college after her fifth child started school. She’s taught both the fifth and now the third grade. My youngest taught drama for 13 years and after getting her masters she is now a high school/junior high school counselor. Boy she should write that book.

My parents came to Oklahoma from Arkansas right after they were married in 1933. There’s a picture of them on my website taken on their wedding day. My mother’s father was a wandering preacher and she didn’t have many close friends as they lived in several towns. But in Viola, Arkansas she had a good friend by the name of Kowanda Carroll with Carroll being her last name. I’m told that it is a Cherokee name and some of the Cherokee did stop in Arkansas. I love my name and was proud when my daughter named her second daughter after me. That granddaughter just married and has informed me she will carry on the tradition. I hope so as that would please me very much.

4) Where did you get the inspiration for this book?

This is the third novel I’ve written about Janiece Addison. The Best Of The Worst Times is a sequel to Icey May and a prequel to Too Small For A Gate. I regret I didn’t write them in the proper sequence. I wrote Too Small For A Gate first but it was my last book published. Part of the original manuscript dealt with Janiece Addison’s young years and that’s where Icey May came from. I really regretted deleting her teen years so I went back and wrote this novel.

5) Was it easy or hard to write The Best If The Worst Times?

Both!! It was easy because I knew those stories and lived them. Yet, it was hard to come up with a crisis. So I just began to write all my familiar stories, at first thinking a crisis would come to me soon. It didn’t and I began to worry. Finally, since I knew I wanted to climax this crisis on Christmas Day I had to get busy! I sat down at the computer with two resolutions in mind. Sure enough while writing a third came to me. It was the best resolution possible. I love writing!

6) Your fans love to read about life in a small town. Why do you think they relate so much to this type of book, even the readers who didn’t grow up in a small town?

I love this question Kathy! When I wrote Killing Time under the pen name of Sharon Woods, I thought only a few friends would be able to see Love, Oklahoma. Boy was I surprised by the comments I received. It seems even big city people want to be nurtured and loved by a community. So many related stories of a special teacher in their lives that related back to one of my characters. I was flattered by their comments. We all want to go back to a slower time in our life, and to remember old songs, fad clothes, and hip magazines. Also, and I think this is the main reason, we love our parents and my stories cause others to remember stories of their families. Even though none of them are perfect they are ours and we love them.

7) How important are mentors and supportive friends and family to a writer’s career?

I think their support is absolutely essential when you first begin. Once you get started some things change. I remember having my feelings hurt when family members wouldn’t read my manuscript. Friends stepped in an encouraged me. Then some friends hurt my feelings when they didn’t agree with my memories. Such is life. A teacher once told me, “You will never be a writer until you can write without worrying what someone will think about what you’re writing.” Oh isn’t that so true? Now I write and I write for the story not for the reader.

I had a wonderful mentor that got me started. She absolutely hates ebooks however, and thinks I have sold out to epublishing. When we attended a convention together she was hesitant to have me tell an agent about my ebooks. I was thrilled when the agent was impressed. There comes a time when we have to do what our hearts tell us to do. Mine tells me I am getting older and do not have seven to ten years to see a book in print.

8) What do you wish you knew when you first started writing that you know now?

More of the writing tricks. My editor Dianne Hamilton taught me a lot with my first novel. Now that I’ve attended different writing conferences I’ve learned even more.

9) Are you going to set more stories in Love, Oklahoma?

A friend told me to cross those railroad tracks and get out of Love to write my next novel. So I am locating my next one in Chandler! I don’t travel very far and the stories will be along the same lines. But to answer your question, yes I have two more in mind that will be set in Love.

10) What question didn’t I ask that you wish I had?

You’ve done a great job with your questions Kathy.

11) I’ve been asked this before but I think it bears repeating. What is your advice to aspiring novelists?

Write, listen, learn, and be willing to share your stories, make up some along the way, and always stay true to what you want to say, not what others urge you to say. Let your heart do the talking for you.

Thank you Kathy! I’ve enjoyed this interview very much. Kowanda