Interview Mary Jean Kelso

by

Dorothy Bodoin

1) First, congratulations on your March release, Goodbye Is Forever. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Thank you so much, Dorothy. I am excited about the release of Goodbye Is Forever. I love the cover Richard Stroud did for it. I was born and raised in Eugene, OR. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t “play” with words. I can remember sitting on a cold linoleum floor when I was probably not more than five years old and cutting out paper dolls and dressing them and making up stories about what they were doing. The other day, that hit me and I wondered then if that is where the basis for creating characters and moving them about came from. We never know what small act might be the spark. When I was about ten, I had my own newspaper where I reported what was going on in the small community out in the mountains where we lived at the time. I gathered the information and typed it up on an old typewriter and made copies that I sold door-to-door for 5 cents each. So the urge to write was there early. When I began trying to get published, as an adult, I was amazed at how little I knew. You have to fill yourself up with life experiences before you can develop characters, I believe. A little over two years ago, I left Oregon and moved to Nevada. It was an area where I had done tons of research and knew a few other writers and historians. I had always had the desire to make the move but never the opportunity before then. Since coming here, I have signed four book contracts. It seems that I am reading constantly. Besides Parenting and Child Development books, I read for research purposes. If I just want to read a book for recreation, which I seldom have time to do, I like to read something by Phyllis A. Whitney. I’ve always liked mystery books (growing up on Nancy Drew) and I especially like books that have great settings where you can learn something about the location the characters live in. Guess that goes along with a love to travel. I like to see new places and experience new things. I am fascinated by people!

2) Goodbye Is Forever has an unusual but intriguing title for a mystery novel. Did you choose this title to reinforce the book’s theme?

Actually, it comes from a comment by one of the characters in the book. And, it also does support the theme because the main character doesn’t want to say “goodbye” when she leaves Virginia City. She wants to come back. There are a lot of people that have a hard time saying “goodbye”. But, something is never over unless there is closure and, if you walk away from someone without saying “goodbye”, they may never feel closure. You can leave them always wondering what happened. “Goodbye” is like putting a period at the end of a sentence.

3) Tell us a little about your book--its background and publishing history, if it’s a stand alone or part of a series, if it’s contemporary or historical romance like The Homesteader, what sparked the initial idea, if anything in your book is based on a real life incident.

Goodbye Is Forever is the first in the Lynne Garrett series. It originally came out in 1984 as Mystery In Virginia City. Since the publisher changed the title and that tied the book to a specific area, I always felt it was a regional book. Then it was reprinted in 1992 as A Virginia City Mystery. Still, it remained a regional. Now, I hope, with Wings ePress Inc., it will become international. It is a contemporary story and the first in the series. The sequel is Abducted! And the third in the series is Sierra Summer. The idea came from my first trip to Virginia City, Nevada. The history there, to me, is so tangible because the town still stands since the 1850’s and people live and work in it today. It is a great tourist area. Yes, I have been there many times and researched it (and continue to research it). It is an area I love. It is packed with history. Now, living about 40 miles away, I visit often--at least four to six times a year. I do autograph signings there at The Mark Twain Book Store several times a year. I also collect books on Nevada, which was a necessity when I lived in Oregon because there weren’t many books on Nevada in local Oregon libraries. Virginia City is “an antique hunter’s dream,” to quote myself.

4) Your heroine has a scarab necklace. For those who may not know, what is a scarab?

A scarab is a design of an ancient Egyptian beetle. I noticed that, for awhile (and I haven’t seen it lately) the state of Nevada put the image of a bug on its trash cans to indicate not to be a litterbug. That sparked the idea for the necklace. So, that played into the story as well.

5) Did you start with the Nevada museum setting or the plot or your characters?

I started with the title. That is often what happens for me. Then I wanted to write about the location, but I didn’t want to do a factual book so I peopled it and created a mystery. I thought history would be much more interesting if there was fiction woven into it.

6) Is your heroine like or unlike yourself? In what ways?

Lynne is probably like me only in that I never give up. I may think I’ve had it! I quit! But I find myself puzzling out another way to tackle the problem. Read--finding a publisher. She is much more adventurous than me.

7) Do you write an outline before beginning your books or let the story develop as you write it?

I rarely outline. I like the thrill of finding out what happens as the characters take over. That’s the fun of writing. Sometimes, I will break down the chapters into outline form when I am trying to flesh out the dialogue and narrative. But I seldom know where the story is going until I get there. Writing the first draft is just the beginning. I have to go back and expand on things and fill out the story, so it takes several rewrites.

8) How and where did you learn the craft of writing?

Kids today are so fortunate to have all the writing classes they have, even in grade school. I didn’t have that. I felt cheated because my English class had a bunch of “jocks” in it and they disrupted the class so much I never felt I learned enough basic grammar. I was always good in spelling and seemed to have a natural bent for writing. I learned writing in the school of hard knocks. Trial and error. As soon as creative writing classes and seminars were available in the area where I lived, I started attending those. We had a really great program near where I lived in Oregon that was put on by a chapter of the RWA--Dreamspinners. They always give a great conference and I learned a lot there. I was introduced to my first ebook and its author there. I have a massive library of “how to” books on writing and reference books on grammar. I took two writers magazines for a good many years, but found I hadn’t had time to read them for the last ten years so I dropped that. They are a great help and I highly recommend them to anyone wanting the nuts and bolts about the industry.

9) Describe your typical writing day--or ideal writing day.

Typically, I get to the computer by around 9 in the morning, but my day can run late into the night or, if I can’t sleep, the wee hours of the morning. Since I write for a local newspaper, too, I have to do interviews and take photos at all times and on all days, depending on what is going on in my area. I try to restrict that to human interest pieces and only do “hard news” if I don’t have a choice. It seems, right now, with two books in house for editing and reading galleys, I have very little time to do anything but revision and the mechanical things of the business. I am starting to work with Richard Stroud on the new cover for The Homesteader’s Legacy and am beginning to question my brain about what I’m going to do for the third in that series. I feel like I’ve already put the characters through so much, I’m wondering what’s left to challenge them with. I’m sure they’ll lead me into some adventure!

10) What do you find most challenging about writing a good mystery?

Placing the red herrings and keeping people from finding them until I want them to.

11) What do you find most satisfying about creating a book.

A sense of accomplishment when everything comes together like it should.

12) Who is your biggest fan?

That I can’t say. But, there are several I’ll always remember. There was one little girl that had a project at school where they were supposed to portray a character from their favorite book. She used her own money to rent a wheelchair and got her mom to drive her to school with it so she could be one of the characters from the Virginia City book.

13) To date, what has been the highpoint of your writing life?

Having people tell me that my writing has changed their life by getting them interested in reading. One girl that was a reluctant reader liked the first books I wrote well enough to read them and that created an interest in reading and she ended up going on to college. Those are the kinds of things that make me feel good about my writing.

14) If Goodbye Is Forever were to be made into a movie and you were in charge of casting, who would you choose for the heroine? The hero?

Wow! I don’t know. Possibly one of the Olsen twins for Lynne. Some young man with strong, dark features for Jeremy.

15) How did you find your publisher, Wings ePress?

I had actually had The Homesteader accepted by another publisher prior to Wings. Then they went out of business. I decided to try ebooks and somehow came across Wings in Writer’s Market. Later I realized that some of the books I had read and liked were written by Wings authors. I especially liked that they did the ebooks and PODs. I think that is the only way to go. Now, if we could just convince some of the big stores, like Borders, to get with the program.

16) Do you have any special plans to promote Goodbye Is Forever?

I have another book coming out in April, Blue Coat, as well as Goodbye Is Forever in March. I have been asked to come on a morning television show in Reno to be interviewed. Since the two books come out so close together, I thought I’d wait until I have both of them and promote them together there. Promotion, for me, is mostly leg work. I’m on the telephone, Internet, physically going to book stores, doing book signings, whatever pops into my mind!

17) Do you have a website where your readers can learn more about you and your work?

http://hometown.aol.com/mjkel/myhomepage/index.html

18) What will your next writing project be?

I have to turn in at least one feature article to the newspaper each week as well as other articles and photos so I can always count on that. But, I am beginning to scratch the surface of my brain looking for ideas for the third book in The Homesteader series. I am eager to start the fun of seeing that unfold.

19) What else would you like us to know--either about yourself or about Goodbye Is Forever?

In our area, and I would imagine any school district that has the Accelerated Reader Program, there are tests for the first four books so students can get credit for reading them. That is exciting to me. I think a lot of writers finally found success by persistence. In my case, if I had given up years ago, I wouldn’t be seeing the successes that have finally begun to come my way. Writing isn’t something you can do once and it is finished. It is something you have to do over and over and each time you are judged anew. It isn’t something where you write a novel and you are immediately on your way. If that happens, it is an exception. So, anyone that truly wants to be a writer has to stick with it through all the disappointments and rejections and just keep looking for the right niche, the right publisher, and the right breaks.

20) Thanks for the interview, Mary Jean. Goodbye Is Forever sounds like my kind of book-- mystery in a western setting. I’ll be looking forward to reading it.

Thank you, Dorothy! And, thanks to all the good people at Wings for having faith in the work we do.