The Interview - Mary Elizabeth Fricke

How did you become an author and get published? Share your experience.

Trial and error. Writing to me is as natural as breathing. However, years ago an editor told me I had natural talent but I needed professional training. So I embarked on a 3 year correspondence course through the, then, Writers' Institute of America. Even then, several years passed before I managed to get an article published. Then more articles. And then, my autobiography, Dino, Godzilla and the Pigs was published by SoHo Press. I stuck with nonfiction for a while but my heart has always been in fiction. I was doing online writing with Guru.com when Pigeon in a Snare, #1 of the Birds in Peril Series was accepted by AKW Books. Pigeon was actually the fourth fiction story I had written. When AKW closed several years later another author persuaded me to try independent publishing and that has worked the best for me.

Can you explain your writing process? Do you prefer to create an outline and plan beforehand, or do you prefer to write more spontaneously and organically?

I may write a shorter version of a current story just to help me keep ideas in line. However, I do not write a formal outline. I sometimes write scenes or sections at random, if that is what occupies my mind, and will incorporate them into the story later

Tell us what you enjoy most about writing [genre].

creating the story

Have you been able to incorporate your previous experience in [jobs/education] in your writing?

My stories tend to be located in rural or small-town areas because that is the world I know. I grew up in rural Missouri and have lived most of my life on a farm operated by my husband's family for five generations. As I have always taken an active interest in the farm, I usually incorporate 'farm topics' in my writing

Describe the [book/series] in 10 words or less for people who are just learning about it.

Birds in Peril (the Complete Series)

Five women met, fell in love with and married men who aided the arrest and subsequent imprisonment of Sheldon Humsler. Even though the events that disrupted their lives, did not necessarily involve Humsler, they certainly invoked the conviction that one day Humsler would find a way to enact his revenge.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?

I'm a night owl. My best writing is done late at night after everyone else has gone to sleep, when the television is turned off and the telephone is not likely to ring

Share some advice for aspiring authors. What advice would you give to your younger self?1. What is your favorite line from your book?

Just do it. Sit down and write that story. No one but you can take that story from your mind and put it on paper or computer page. So, just do it.

Have you ever experienced writer’s block? How did you deal with it?

The primary reason I did not complete the Birds in Peril Series sooner was because lingering illness kept me mired in horrendous writer's block. I was filled with brain fog and pain so debilitating I sometimes wonder how I ever survived those days. Most of the time I didn't have the energy to try to write anything. If I did try, most of the time my brain just would not connect the words. Over time, as I recovered, the urge to write slowly returned so I was able to finish the series. Today, I still do not have the stamina I once had to complete a story in record time. It is difficult to sit for long hours for any reason.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Read. Play with my grandchildren. Go on road trips with my husband

Did you have any say in the cover design?

My niece creates all of my book covers. She asks me to describe how I envision a cover and then she imagines and creates from there. I am continually amazed by how well she interprets the simple cover descriptions I give her

What can we anticipate from you moving forward?

I have the rough draft of another romantic suspense in the works. I'm just not ready to talk about it right now. There are other ideas. We'll see where the muse leads

Did you always want to be an author? If not, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I was telling stories before I learned how to write them down. I always knew that one day I would 'write a book'. I wasn't prepared for how difficult it was to achieve that goal and then to publish what I had written...but I did it over the years with much trial and error and eventual success

Where do you like to write? In a coffee shop? In your home office? On the beach?

When I began writing professionally one of the insisted-upon rules was to create a place to write where there would be no interference from anyone or anything else. A published author once instructed those of us attending his workshop that the best place to write was in the basement facing a plain concrete wall. I thought that was a bit extreme but a desk in the corner of the living room didn't work because of family activity. A desk in my bedroom didn't work because my husband tended to dominate it. Eventually, we added a 'home office' with a desk for him and a desk for me along with file cabinets, bookshelves, and all those office things. It's still not quiet as it's right off the living room but it is established as 'our workspace'.

What other hobbies do you have outside of writing?

Reading...everything, anything. I also like to do crafts, crochet, painting, sewing

Do you have any personal connection to the story or characters?

My stories all tend to have rural and small town settings because that is the world I know.