Interview Mary Jean Kelso

by

Mona Jean Reed

1) How long have you been writing?

I've been writing ever since I learned how to put words together. I always loved office supplies, writing on forms, school work, etc. By age 8 I had my own "community" newspaper which I typed on an old typewriter and made copies and sold throughout our little settlement in Oregon for 5 cents each

2) Have you been writing fiction all along or did you start writing fiction sometime after your journalism and non-fiction writing?

Fiction has always been a passion for me. I wrote (and write) factual to support the fiction. I grew up on Nancy Drew and every other Saturday was a trip to the library to gather new books to read.

3) You seem to favor the west as a setting for your stories. What makes this area more appealing than others?

I have written contemporary stories but really favor the old west because my family's history is embedded there. My father was a young man when the west still ran with horses and I'm sure his story telling of his experiences had a lot to do with my interest.

4) Will there be more in the Homesteader series after Homesteader’s Legacy?

Yes. I almost have Back To The Homestead ready to send in. Just 10,000 words to go.

5) How do you do the research for your historical romances?

Most of my novels are character driven so the history fits around them being normal people and how normal people would have dealt with life 100+ years ago.

6) On the average, how many hours each day do you spend on your writing?

What with the newspaper writing and peripheral business to do with writing and the novels, most of my day is taken up with writing in one sense or another. I don't work an 8 to 5 day but any hours, night or day will suffice.

7) Which of the following do you most enjoy and why: Plotting new works, writing the first draft or rewriting and editing.

Actually I enjoy it all. I find doing the first draft is exciting because I never know where it is going to lead me and I like to get the same surprises my readers get. Rewriting is fun, too, because new ideas seem to sprout from the ideas already down. This just seem to come logically and one thing leads to another.

8) How or where do you get ideas for your characters?

The characters just seem to evolve. Molly came about from my grandmother Mary Ellen (Mollie) who was a woman homesteader and teacher in New Mexico. From there the three step-kids were added because when she came there my grandfather had died and she still was raising his kids from his first wife as well as several of their own. It just seems that the characters that are needed move in to fill the slots that need to be filled.

9) When you get ‘stuck,’ how do you solve problems in your writing?

When I finish a novel and send it in, I feel like the well has been emptied and may never fill again. My solution is to start reading anything and everything I can find that pertains to the era and characters I want to write about. Whether it is an autobiography by an old horse trader or newspapers from the era or fiction by someone else. Gradually ideas begin to take shape and, once the first draft is down, it is much easier to go back and fill out the story.

10) What are you working on now?

Besides keeping up with feature articles and photos for The Lahontan Valley News and BOOM! magazine, I am trying to finish up Back To The Homestead. These characters just don't seem to want to stop telling their story. As long as it is a series that is working, I'll try to stick with it. 

11) Is there anything else that you wish I'd thought to ask?

There are so many opportunities out there to write now, anyone that wants to be published, in one form or another, should be able to find their niche. I think it is a matter of persistence. It took me a long time to finally get to where several of my books have been published. Someone once said you had to write a million words. I think you have to get to a point in you life where you can be honest and not worry about what someone else is going to say about what you have written. When you write for yourself and your readers, things seem to start happening.