I want to welcome Marilyn
Gardiner. First I’d love you to introduce yourself.
I’ve been writing nearly all my life. My first novel was
written under the covers, at night, with a flashlight. I was eight years old. I
still have my handwritten notes and to my horror the plot sounds a lot like
Anne of Green Gables! I have been printed in every kind of magazine, newspaper
and publishing house you can think of, starting out with children’s stories and
inspirational pieces. My husband is a minister, and we have two grown
daughters, five grandchildren and five greats. I live across the street from
the library, which makes it convenient to always have books on hand. I rarely
leave the house without a book in hand, and there are books in every room in my
house.
More about me can be found on my webpage: www.booksbymarilyn.com
Tell us about your
latest release.
My latest release was a story about a wagon train going west
along the Oregon Trail . Comanche Moon won
first place in the latest EPIC contest—historical romance category. I love to
do research and writing. This book was a joy. I also have another historical
romance: Like A River My Love. The setting was on the Ohio River in 1778,
traveling with George Rogers Clark to Kaskaskia in Illinois . I was born and raised in that
country, and writing about it was like reliving my childhood.
Now I have a few
questions for you – I have found readers do like to know fun things about us
writers.
1.) Who is your
favorite villain – it can be from a book (even one of yours), movie or TV show.
And why?
I find it hard to pick one favorite villain. I want my
villains to be complex, with both faults (some truly horrific) and a
compassionate streak of some sort. Humans are a bewildering mix of experience,
temptations, challenges and decisions…villains more than others. Villains are
fascinating to me.
2.) Who is your
favorite character out of your books? Why?
My favorite character in my own work is Jenny, the heroine
in Comanche Moon. She is faced with enormous problems and feels inadequate to
cope with them. She has no choice, however, there is no one else to take charge
of her little daughter and herself. She grows, rather she matures, out of sheer
necessity, kicking and screaming all the way, but she emerges as a strong and
capable young woman – and she finds love in the bargain.
3.) What do genre do
you write? What made you pick that one?
I write in whatever genre my story chooses. I have two
historical romances, a four-book series of romantic suspense, one
inspirational, several action-packed mysteries and two classified as “women’s
literature.”
4.) What are you
working on now?
Right now I am finishing the rewrite on the story of a coal
mining disaster in W.Va.
and how the lives of an entire valley were forever changed. Title: Thine Is The
Kingdom, a symbol for the mine tipple which dominates the entire valley and the
lives of the people who live there in a thousand ways.
Then, I have another finished book waiting for me to
correct. Night Travelers is the story of four women, in four generations,
living under one roof all summer. Each has her own problems and solves them in
her individual way, yet at the bottom of their soul they are surprised to find
they are much alike.
5.) What got you to
start writing?
As I said before I was very young when I began to write.
When I was about ten my grandmother informed the entire family (aunts, uncles,
cousins, etc) that one day I was going to write all the books she never could.
She only had a sixth grade education, but was an avid reader. Sometimes I think
I write for her. I often have a grandmother in my books. Cicada Summer is my
latest short story, available as a download through Amazon—cheap, cheap, cheap.
Grandma Livvy is one of the central characters in this story.
6.) Where do you get
your ideas from?
From life. My own experiences and what I hear or read about.
Television, newspapers, conversations that I have had and those I’ve only
overheard. Every word I hear is grist for my writing mill. I research a lot and
have been in an unimproved cave,
where the worst thing was having to crawl beneath a low ceiling and not knowing
what I was putting my hands in on the floor! For another book I had to know
what the banks of a large river looked like and what it felt like to be on a river, in Like A River…so I pleaded
with a nephew to take me out in his boat and
took a ton of notes. I’ve traveled extensively in Great Britain , and in Jamaica , and all over the U.S.
Often I have put myself in danger wanting to know what was going on. Fires, tornados,
floods, etc. My husband gets quite upset with me. Having grown up with my
curiosity, my children take it for granted.
7.) What would people
who read your work be surprised to find out about you?
I live a very ordinary life.
I have flown an airplane (with the pilot beside me), I have sung,
sometimes professionally, since I was twelve years old. My best friend was my
accompanist for many years, and we had a lot of fun. Music and writing/reading
are the two passions in my life. I enjoy knitting. Although the first sweater I
knitted was for my husband and one sleeve somehow grew three inches longer than
the other one! My husband and I have taken in too many troubled teenagers to
count, for various lengths of time. I am profoundly grateful to have been a
solid presence in the lives of young people who had very little or no stability
at all in their lives.
8.) Do you have any
special talents?
Music and writing are, I think, all I know. I was a
secretary for the years my husband was in school. That was four years of
college, plus a couple more while working for two Masters degrees and a PhD. I
gathered many experiences during those years, most of which show up in my
books.
9.) What was the one
piece of advice you received when you were an aspiring author that has stuck
with you? Why?
A speaker at a conference once told me…”White! Write! Write!
Hell, in the teeth of the storm, write. Success comes from applying the seat of
the pants to the chair!” I have taken that advice seriously. I keep regular
office hours. And I take my writing seriously. It isn’t a hobby, it is my
passion, and I respect it.
10.) If you could talk
to any famous figure (present, past or fictional) who would it be and what
would you talk about?
I’d love to talk with Ghandi, with some of the women in the Bible, with Harper Lee, Maya
Angelou…with so many people who have been effective in the lives of others—and
Wilbur Smith, a fabulous word-smith.
11.) What song would
you say describes your life?
“As Time Goes By.” I
am at that point in my life where the years seem to fly by at warp speed. I’ll
never live long enough to write all the books that are in my head.
12.) If you could come
back as any animal – what would it be?
I can’t make up my mind between an elephant and a
hummingbird. Basically for the same reason. Because of their size they enjoy
total freedom.
Blurb:
Spring has come early along the Oregon Trail. Jenny Nation, her husband and five-year-old daughter are only three weeks into the trip by wagon train when Daniel is killed. Frozen in grief and fear, Jenny must make up her mind whether to press on with the train or turn around and go back to Independence. She chooses to go on, knowing she’ll have to drive the wagon alone, care for the oxen, hunt for food, and possibly fight Indians. Through stultifying heat, terrifying storms, walking beside the oxen, a buffalo stampede, and the kidnapping of her daughter by the Comanches, Jenny refuses to give up. “Every step brings me closer to Oregon,” she tells herself, over and over again. Jenny somehow finds romance with the train’s guide, Zane Thatcher. To keep Jenny—a lone woman—from being thrown off the train as a burden, Zane agrees to be responsible for her. However, it isn’t easy because Jenny insists on being independent and they argue at every juncture. In spite of it all, she faces the challenges of the trail with growing confidence, courage, and humor. “Every step…Oregon. Every step…”
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