Interview Mary Jean Kelso

By

Mary Kate Brogan

1. You are enjoying a very successful writing career. What inspired you to write Back To The Homestead? By the way, I love the title.

 Thank you so much for the comment on the title. I was inspired to write The Homesteader after visiting what remains (40 acres) of my grandmother’s homestead some time ago. Then, the sequel seemed to need to be written so I wrote The Homesteader’s Legacy intending to kill my main character off and be done with it. But the readers would have none of that so I had to follow up with Back To The Homestead. The series seems very popular especially with Boomers and people who lived the homestead life. So, now, I am working on Life On The Homestead.

2. How long have you been writing?

It seems I have been writing all my life. I can’t remember a time when I couldn’t read and still have the very first book that was ever given to me when I was about five.

3. Is this book one of a series?

 Yes. I didn’t plan it that way but that is what has transpired since the first one came out.

4. How did you research the setting for this novel?

I guess you could say I used a lot of family history and let my imagination roam free.

5. Do you work from an outline?

 I have never become friendly with outlines. I feel too stifled by them. I do, however, once the chapters are done in rough draft list the chapters and what transpires in them in an outline form just to be sure I have things in the right sequence.

6. Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?

 I used to, terribly. But once I finally got honest with myself and my readers and wrote what I felt the characters would do and say without worrying about the comments I would get from other people, it went away. Now, I am too busy trying to keep up with writing demands to worry about it. I write adult, YA and children’s books (which are illustrated and released through Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc.).

7. Do you have another work in progress and, if so, is it the same genre?

 As I mentioned, I am working on #4 in The Homesteader series while bringing out at least three children’s books this year. Life On The Homestead is nearing completion in rough draft. I am aiming to have it to the publisher in short order.

8. What is your typical daily writing schedule?

I am a very sporadic writer. Since I write for a newspaper I have to meet my deadlines for that and fit the fiction writing in around those. Sometimes I write late at night when I wake up with an idea. I find creativity can’t be forced. So, if I have some time for writing and ideas aren’t flowing I write less creative pieces. When the storyline flows, I set aside the factual pieces. It’s all a juggling act.

8. Do you plan to stay with this genre or would you consider eventually venturing into other territories?

 I really like writing historical novels, but I like writing mysteries as well. The new children’s series is about a little special needs boy who is bullied by another boy and an albino horse who is also bullied by the other horses. They form a friendship that will go on through many books in the future. I guess I kind of write like I live my life, moving from one venue to another as the time and circumstances demand.

8. Do you enjoy the classics and if so, do you have any favorites?

Classics have always felt pretty laborious to me. Of course, I read them when I had to as a high school student. But, I really enjoy reading diaries of pioneers and cowboys and stories about everyday life in various places. In the end, we all meet our challenges one way or another and I feel the pioneers had to really struggle to make a life for themselves. Nowadays, we do, too, but it is usually financially and not meeting the threats head on where it is instant life or death.

9. How long did it take you to write Back To The Homestead?

Probably about nine months. It is taking longer for Life On The Homestead because I have had several books released since receiving the contract for that one. I introduced new characters in Back To The Homestead and am carrying them on into the one I am working on now. What is fun for me is to see how the story unfolds on its own. I like the surprises I get as the characters make their way through the pages. Even I don’t always know what is going to happen next!

10. How has your own life enabled you to write about independent heroines?

 I guess I come from a long line of independent women. Although women were restricted from voting and owning land in the earlier years, my grandmother was a woman homesteader when it was uncommon for a woman to do that. On my father’s side, my grandmother was the daughter of a Texas Ranger and granddaughter of a man killed at the Alamo. I have to believe these were very strong women, independent women.

Thanks for interviewing me. I hope the readers will get as much enjoyment out of reading the books as I do writing them.

 Mary Jean Kelso