Welcome, Merida!

I’d love to hear about your inspiration for this novel.

For three decades, I was a university professor who taught classes and wrote textbooks on “nerdy” subjects centering on computer systems in healthcare.  

But a decade ago, informed by my experience in a male-dominated area, I started my practice as a leadership coach to help women break the glass ceiling and fulfill their leadership and economic potential. Consequently, during the past ten years, I transitioned from writing textbooks to motivational books on creating environments where people flourish through better leadership.

About a year ago, I was on a conference call discussing concepts of what makes a fulfilling life with fellow life coaches.  Bang! Like a thunderclap, I had an insight. What would it be like to help people understand the concepts of a flourishing life in a story instead of through a motivational book or text? After all, I thought, storytelling has been the most compelling form of communication for thousands of years. As far as I could recall, none of the great prophets fed up learning objectives and multiple-choice questions to their followers.  No!  They got their message across through stories.

Motivational books and textbooks give frameworks, theories, and ideas, but they don’t immerse us in the human experience. They don’t show us how others face challenges, embrace their passions, overcome sorrow, celebrate achievement, quash self-doubts, develop positive emotions and relationships, handle betrayal, or act on aspirations. 

Storytelling ignites our imagination and emotion.  We experience being part of the story rather than being served up a platter of facts, exercises, and information. As Dr. Pamela Rutledge says, with storytelling, “we become participants in the narrative. We can step out of our own shoes, see differently, and increase our empathy for others. Through imagination, we tap into the creativity that is the foundation of innovation, self-discovery, and change.” 

This eye-opener was enough for me to take on the challenge of novel writing.  My passion is to help people catapult beyond concepts and theories and jump into the wonderment of imagination in designing a flourishing life for themselves.  Storytelling does this best.

Happily, as a novel author, I have jettisoned learning objectives and test questions.  Ah…the freedom makes me feel as light as a balloon on a summer breeze.

Find it on Amazon ~ Bookshop ~

Tell us about what you write.

 I like to write women’s fiction that describes the human experience—how ordinary women tackle challenges, live through sorrow and betrayal, struggle with doubt, and act on their aspirations to achieve flourishing lives.

When did your writing journey begin?

Although I’ve been writing textbooks for almost twenty-five years, my fiction writing began in 2018.  I was recovering from two major surgeries that occurred within about ten weeks of each other.  So, I had time to contemplate and was looking to the future.  By chance, one day, I was on a conference call discussing concepts of what makes a fulfilling life with fellow life coaches.  And bang, like a thunderclap, I had an insight into my future. What would it be like to help people understand the concepts of a flourishing life in a story instead of through a motivational book or text? After all, I thought, storytelling has been the most compelling form of communication for thousands of years. As far as I could recall, none of the great Profits fed up learning objectives and multiple-choice questions to their followers.  No!  They got their message across through stories.  I had toyed with the idea of writing a novel for several years, and this was the incident that propelled me forward to “look to the future.”

What was your inspiration for Blackhorse Road?

You might say that the title is more than the sum of its two parts.    

Irish immigration to Canada in the 1840s sets the context for the beginning of the novel.  The protagonist, Luci, a girl of the 1960s, is searching for her North Star and is influenced, through family lore, by the grit and courage of her great grandmother, Lucinda McCormick.  In Celtic myth, the horse represents freedom, and a black horse signifies strength, wisdom, and maturity for overcoming life’s obstacles.  So the first part of the title, Blackhorse, represents these elements of the story. 

How the second word of the title, Road, plays out to create a title that is more than the sum of its parts, the reader will have to find out.  No spoiler alerts!

Do you find inspiration in your own life for your writing?

This is a great question, and I devoted an entire post on my blog to it. When I tell someone that I’m writing a novel, the inevitable question I’m asked, “Is this about your life?” My novel’s story blossoms from my imagination, but that imagination is influenced by my experience, perspectives, and observations. Jane Austin and Alice Munro, for example, wrote about what they knew; separating the author from the story, I believe, would be difficult.  So, in Blackhorse Road, I was inspired by the turbulence of the 1960s and the pursuit of transformational change.  The protagonist has to face topics surrounding social justice, the Vietnam war, and a stream of women’s issues that move into the 1980s.

But it has not been my recollections of 1966-1986, nor the locations chronicled in the book, that fueled sixteen-hour days of writing.  Instead, it has been the supplemental research that has proved most fascinating. I’d take a shovel and start digging and couldn’t stop, hungry to learn more and examine how historical events, politics, economics, philosophy, religion, and psychology would influence the challenges, values, and actions of the story’s characters and ultimately their outcome.  Many of these findings I’ve transformed in the whirlwind of my imagination on the pages of my novel,

Tell us about your experience with the publishing process.

I went the self-publishing route.  I’m 72 years old, and I figured that I didn’t have five or more years to fiddle around with finding an agent, then hoping that the agent would be able to shop the title successfully to a publisher.  Besides my age, I had had experience in the publishing world writing textbooks that were published through a traditional publisher, as well as a few that I had self-published.  So I was familiar with traditional and nontraditional publishing processes.

Because of my traditional publishing experience, I had contacts in the publishing business.  One of the first persons I contacted was the developmental editor who had worked with me on two of my textbooks published through a traditional publisher. Luckily, she had experience in fiction and was delighted to serve as the developmental editor for Blackhorse Road.  My developmental editor had other contacts in the field, and through her network, I found an excellent copyeditor.  Through the networks of my developmental and copy editors, and my own research, I put together a top-notch team to help me: proofreader, cover designer, interior book designer, and beta readers.

Any new projects on the horizon?

My second novel is tentatively titled Suzanna.  This is another work of women’s fiction.  In this story, set in the 1980s, the female protagonist’s quest for autonomy is challenged by the era’s cultural barriers and a co-dependent and mentally abusive relationship. I think readers will enjoy the introduction of a coincidental experience, that some may call paranormal, that we all have experienced but are hesitant to admit.

Words of advice for fellow writers in the trenches:

One of the biggest helps to me has been the community of other writers and professional associations. The Authors Guild, The Women Fiction Writers Association, and the Independent Book Publishers Association have been invaluable to me. Join as many of these professional groups as possible. Second, have a team of competent people to provide critique and improvement to your story and writing.  If you go the self-publication route, put together a high-caliber team of professionals who can advise and help you through the process.

What was the most interesting part of the story to write/research?

As I said in one of my blog posts, it has been the supplemental research that has proved fascinating.  

Specifically, researching Irish immigration to Canada and the US and uncovering the stories of “coffin ships,” the horrible number of deaths of Irish immigrants, and the perils of transatlantic voyages. 

A painful discovery was the euphemistically titled “maternity home” for unwed mothers that proliferated during the 1950s and early 1960s.  One of the characters in the story describes her experience:  “Many of the girls have registered under an assumed name, and I’m not even sure when I talk with someone whether she is using a manufactured or real name.   I’m so happy that I refused to be stripped of my identity like so many of the others. At least I have that comfort. You can’t believe how the staff shames us and pressures us to give up our babies for adoption. Most of the girls are surrendering their newborns, even though that’s not their wish.  I’m so thankful that Pop supported my decision to keep the baby, even though it wasn’t what Mother wanted.”

I used several resources to research various aspects of the era and the geographical areas that provide the backdrop for Blackhorse Road.  For those interested in digging more deeply into the period and explore more on their own, I’ve posted some of these resources on my website.