Interview Margaret B. Lawrence

by Fran Keighley

1) Have you always wanted to write?

Yes and no. My earliest memories are of me lying in bed at night and telling myself stories I made up. Of course the earlier stories were about a little girl who rescued dogs or cats or horses from either dangerous situations or dangerous people. Occasionally I threw in the rescue of a child (who always vaguely resembled one of my siblings).

As I grew, the little girl grew and the stories changed to fit the age. While I dreamed of being a published author in my fantasies, it truly did not occur to me to work toward being published because I didn't think anyone else would be remotely interested in my stories.

To me, these stories were just a means of finally getting to sleep at night. I've never been one who needed eight hours of sleep. My average sleep cycle is 5-1/2 to 6 hours per night. Living on a farm as a child, where early to bed and early to rise were the norm, my sleep pattern did not fit what were the rules for bedtime for the rest of my family.

I finally started working toward being published back in the mid-1980s when a friend, who travelled with me on the dog show circuit, began pushing me to write the stories I would tell her as we drove to the next show.

2) Do you do a lot of outlining & developing before you begin to write, or "wing it"? (Couldn't resist that.)

I do a lot of "thinking" taking notes and so forth. And I usually develop character charts for all the characters, even those who are tertiary. It helps me to get to "know" my characters and know how they might react to any given situation. I have even been known to draw "house plans" so I'll "know" the houses in which my main characters live.

However, one of the things I have learned, over the years, is that doing detailed outlining is a total waste of time for me. I seem completely unable to "stick to the plan" because my characters tend to take over and "tell" me how the story goes. If I try to force the story to go the way I planned, it ends up sounding stiff and forced.

3) Do you write on any set schedule? CAN you write on any set schedule?

Oh, how I wish I could. I'm very lucky to snatch a half hour here and five minutes there. These little snatches end up being weeks and weeks apart. That's why the third book in this series is still incomplete.

4) What gave you the idea for this book?

Are you sure you have time for this? LOL Okay, here goes. I was working on an historical (To Touch The Sky, scheduled for release in April 2002) and needed to go to Office Depot to buy printer ribbons (for the old dot matrix printer). I'd travelled only about five miles when suddenly the two main characters appeared, on my windshield, having a heated discussion about the child, Aimee. Cari wanted to put Aimee in foster care (for her protection) and Linc was adamantly opposed to his niece ever going into the foster care system. The next thing of which I was aware, I looked up and saw a sign: Next Exit Britton Road. I had driven more than 25 miles beyond my destination and to this day I don't recall any part of that portion of the trip. To be honest, it scared the bejabbers out of me.

I thought it would be a good story, to be written at some vague time in the future. But these two characters would not leave me alone. They nagged at me, waking me from a sound sleep on more than one occasion. They would leap into my head at choir practice or during Mass, when I was driving, when I was in conversation with friends. Once when I was chairing a board meeting for the quilt guild an idea popped into my head and I stopped what I was doing to write it down. I finally decided I had to write the book to get them out of my head. Of course, two other characters from this book leaped in to my head to take up the (dare I say it?) void. <g>

5) Do you identify with any of its characters? If so, which and why?

Yes, and no. I think each of us puts some part of ourselves in our characters. Unlike Cari, I did not grow up in a home where domestic violence took place. My parents rarely even argued. But I worked for many years as a counselor for victims of domestic violence and saw what that did to the children. I think, more than myself, I see my late husband in the heros. Linc has qualities that are like Gene. More strongly resembling Gene is J. B. Anderson. He is one of the police detectives in this book and is the hero in the next, Michael; A Gift Of Trust which will be out late this summer.

6) I know you are or have been active in quilting and dog breeding and showing--are those reflected in any of your books? Do you plan to include them?

I've thought I would write a book about dog showing "some day" and I may, at some point, do that. I don't know if the quilting will ever be in my books because my heroines tend to be women who don't quilt. Maybe I'll write an older heroine, one of these days, and she will be a quilter.

7) Who are your own favorite authors, and why? Have any of them influenced your own writing?

Goodness, I don' t think we have enough room to list them all. I have been a fan of Nora Roberts for years. Also Linda Howard and Elizabeth Lowell. Sharon Sala, who also writes as Dinah McCall, along with Debra Cowan and Maggie Price also write books I love to read. The latter three all write romantic suspense stories, are local authors and I'm privileged to know them personally. Another local author whose work I admire and love to read is June Calvin. June writes Regencies. Then, there are the list of Wings authors. I have yet to find one whose story I did not enjoy reading.

8) Your book is a best seller & sold to the movies! Who would play the leading characters?

Well, as a late friend used to say, from your mouth to God's ear. Hmm. I am going to shock no one by picking Adrian Paul for Linc. It's really hard for me to think of who would be perfect. The one person whom I thought looked most like my idea of Linc is not an actor. His name is Andy Pettite and he's a major league pitcher. He's a little darker than Linc but the face is right. Also, the picture I have of him shows him with extremely short hair and Linc's hair is long. As for Cari I've always pictured Nancy O'Dell with much longer hair.

9) What would you do with the money from that? (And don't say charity, your family. What would YOU do, for yourself?)

I would go on a trip. I've always wanted to visit Scotland, Ireland, England, Australia and Canada. And I would remodel my house. If there was enough money I might have my house totally demolished and replaced with one I would like. It's a very long story but I've never liked my house and I've lived in it for more than thirty years.

10) What's next for Margaret B. Lawrence? Is it already written, &/or a WIP?

I mentioned above that my historical novel, about the Oklahoma Land Run, will be out in April. Then the sequel to this novel, Michael; A Gift Of Trust, will be out in late summer. I am trying, in every spare minute, to finish Brianna; A Badge Of Honor.

11) Does editing sap your own creativity? Copywriting did mine.

Yes and no. I'm sorry to keep being ambivalent with my answers. I find that I am most creative when I first get up. If I can't find the time to write early in the day I might as well just forget it. With the editing and constant drive to keep things moving, if I have a manuscript to edit, I can't bring myself to put my writing first. It's very rare for me to find a half hour free. So, it may be 2004 before the third book is finished...but I certainly hope not.