HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA FOR YOUR BOOK?
Once upon a time, I was given two books detailing our family heritage: one on my dad’s side and one on my mom’s side. I skimmed through them and then put them away; caring for three small children left little time to read.
When COVID held the world hostage, I found the books while cleaning out a closet. Since I was now retired and unable to go anywhere, I had the time to read them.
What I discovered was amazing. The details of short stories, pictures, documents of births, marriages, deaths, divorce was beyond description. Both books ended with my parents, as well as their siblings, who were all now deceased.
I wanted to bring it up to date, so I contacted my cousins. I shared my findings with them, which stirred memories in them as well. We all remembered bits and pieces of these stories, as well as our own not written in the book. There were some stories we were told never to speak of, which, of course, we did anyway.
One story that especially caught my attention was that of my great-grandmother on my dad’s side. Apparently, she had two children by two different men. The younger of the two was my grandfather, who was later adopted by a man of the last name of Coats when they married. I could not find any legal documentation of the adoption—I suspect it may have been recorded in the family Bible and simply considered legal at the time. There were, however, records of them having additional children—my great-aunts and great-uncles—whom I have met.
I didn’t uncover much more about her through genealogy sites or by contacting people who were related to her. I did come across one photo online, but her face had been scratched out, and the next time I went to look for it, it was gone. Fortunately, there was a clear picture of her in the book I received.
Thoughts of my Great Grandmother never stopped, and I decided I would write my own story about her—in historical fiction form.
DID WRITING COME EASY FOR YOU?
No, I struggled in school!
When I attended Kankakee Community College, English was a required course and involved writing term papers. We were allowed to rewrite them if we received a low grade, which, of course, meant I was rewriting all of mine.
I thought I had finally figured it out by the time we had to write a term paper for our final exam. I confidently handed it in. But a few months later, the teacher called me to apologize for failing me. She said she had never had a student work so hard and still not get it.
Years later, I went back to college to take the classes required to open my own preschool. Imagine my grief when we were told a term paper was involved—and I had no idea where to start. While working as a teacher’s aide, I happened to pick up a magazine in the teacher’s lounge. In it was an article about a storytelling festival, along with interviews from three storytellers. I was intrigued and wrote my paper on storytelling. Finally, I got an A on something.
That article was a turning point for me. Afterwards, I went to storytelling workshops, festivals, and joined clubs, and I became a freelance storyteller. Never in my wildest dreams did I think my experiences would lead me to write a novel.
HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE TITLE?
My parents’ first home was a small farm in Lawrenceburg, TN. They called it Mockingbird Hill
HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT YOUR RESEARCH?
Luckily, history was a subject I enjoyed in school. I still didn’t earn high grades, but it came more easily to me. When I decided to write historical fiction, I began reading books by various historical fiction authors. I also started reading articles about events, food, clothing, language, costs, and other aspects of the era. In addition, I watched documentaries and spoke with people who had either personal experiences or additional knowledge about the time period
WHY IS THERE SO MUCH DEATH IN YOUR BOOK?
When I was reading my family book, I saw documentation of deaths due to diseases, stillborn, accidents, and wars, especially in the early years. If they lived on a farm, they had several children in order to take care of the farm, but this also increased the chances of losing children. If they lived in the cities, deaths came from living in closed rooms that held several people, unsanitary conditions – sharing one bathroom for the tenants, rat-infested buildings, unsafe work conditions, just to name a few.
Since my book covers several decades, there are going to be a lot of deaths.
HOW DID YOU KEEP ALL THE CHARACTERS STRAIGHT?
I had a lot of personal notes that didn’t always work. The book spans over 100 years and covers seven generations, involving husbands, wives, one remarrying after a spouse’s death, women having children outside of marriage, adoptions, deaths, and extended or blended families—much like today.
The whole time I was writing, I kept thinking about everything I’d been told in writing classes: limit your characters, don’t name walk-on characters unless necessary. But as much as I tried, I couldn’t stick to that. Each generation had its own story, and the characters needed to be known.
The interesting thing I found when talking to people about the book was that they would immediately bring up a situation that happened to a character—something that touched them personally. They’d reflect on how traditions or history from that era were handled. Many found themselves admiring these strong women and what they went through, which often led to deeper conversations about other characters as well.
IS THE BOOK BASED ON YOUR RELATIVES?
It is fiction, but I used the names of some people and places I knew to make the characters feel more relatable to me.
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER?
That is really hard to say, as I saw part of me in many of the characters. Others came from the life experiences of people I knew and admired, and from stories that needed to be told, based on what I discovered in my research. Hopefully, the reader will be able to relate to at least one of them.
IS THERE GOING TO BE A SECOND BOOK?
I honestly thought I was done with the first book, even when my beta readers wanted more—which is why I added the epilogue.
But one day, an idea came to me about how to tie everything together, and I began writing the second book. It will continue with Katherine’s story.
I don’t have a release date yet, as I don’t want to put that pressure on myself. However, the tentative title is: Beyond Mockingbird Hill: Winds of Change.
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