Interview With the Author
1.) Victor’s Blessing takes place from 1839-1888 (49 years); how long did it take you to write it?
A long time! I started it when my youngest child was about four, he’s twenty-seven now! I took many breaks though. Life got in the way, but I always came back to it.
2.) Did you want to be a writer?
Yes, but I did not think I had any talent! But I always found myself watching movies or TV shows and thinking “that could have been better! That character would never do that!”
I just wanted to tell a story that was bittersweet but uplifting. I went to college and majored in something I was supposed to be able to support myself with (Spanish).
Spoiler alert, I can find the bathroom and order a beer in Spanish, but not much else.
3.) What was the hardest part of the writing process?
The research. I knew I wanted to write about the Civil War. Most novels written about the Civil War are from the souths perspective, and I wanted this to be from a different point of view. And the amount of information on the Civil War was staggering. I had more trouble with what NOT to put in, rather than what I included.
4.) What was the easiest part?
The dialogue. When I look at other authors’ works they have a lot more narration than I do! And I love the narration. But I wanted my readers to feel my characters, and I found my fingers could barely keep up when I was writing about a disagreement! And I was thrilled that I was able to make an argument make sense from both people’s perspectives.
5.) Your book deals with two vastly different religions: Christianity and the Osage spiritual traditions. Was that difficult to do?
When I researched the Osage spiritual beliefs, I was struck by the similarities-overall creator, and their desire not to hurt any living thing. But also found the differences intriguing. I found the Osage’s reverence for the earth and the sun, uplifting. I hope I was able to portray Victor’s confusion concerning Christianity and his mother’s Osage beliefs. I tried to represent both beliefs with honor and respect simultaneously.
6.) Celena has four brothers and two sisters, plus many townspeople. Was there a reason for introducing so many characters?
I did it for really only one reason. I introduced the characters, and let the reader “get to know them” and relate to them so that when tragedy occurs the reader feels it.
I come from a big family. I also have four brothers and two sisters, and although I did not model them after my siblings, I did use my sibling’s birth order to keep them straight in my head. I want the readers to “know” Trigg and Amos and the other soldier Victor and Ethan meet during the war. always knew their fate and wanted the reader to grieve at their loss. I hoped you the reader, missed the characters after the close of the book.
7.) Did you always know what happens to Victor at the end?
Always. And I did briefly (I walked around my neighborhood for hours) try to think of a way to let Victor live without ruining the story. But it would not have been the story I wanted to tell. And it was very difficult for me to kill him because I am so enamored of him.
8.) Is it true that Victor’s Blessing was longer than the finished product? What made you cut it down?
Yes, it had much more detail about Penelope and Ethan’s tangled relationship, and although I love it, and still love it, knew the novel’s length would scare off too many readers. It was even suggested to me by my editor to turn the Penelope and Ethan saga into a novella. In the end, I decided against it, wanting to make Victor’s Blessing a complete work in and of itself.
9.) Speaking of other novels, do you have anything in the works?
Yes, thank you for asking. I am working on a three-book series about four of the 88 young women that immigrated from France in 1721 to what is now Biloxi, Mississippi. They were known as the Bailene Brides. All information regarding them had been misfiled in the archives until recently (1987). These women went on to marry and found the Creole families of Louisiana and Mississippi. These novels will also incorporate the paranormal.
10.) Do you believe in ghosts, since they are showing up in all your books?
I honestly don’t know. I want to believe there is something else out there. I have always liked the spookier love stories: Wuthering Heights, and Jane Eyre. It is intriguing to believe in something you can’t touch, feel, explain, or quantify-like ghosts, religion, or simply… love.
