Author Interview ~ Judy Alexander

Judy Alexander lives in Santa Ana, California. She’s been blessed with a very full life with her husband Gene: two sons (ages 21 and 14), a church family, interesting work opportunities as a corporate writer and photographer, and hobbies (horseback riding and gardening).You can learn more about the writing life at http://www.judyalexander.com/

What book or project is coming out or has come out that you’d like to tell us about?

My first published novel, Desert Medicine ,will be released in November by Kregel Publications. In Desert Medicine, a newly divorced young mother of twins who runs a plant nursery, discovers the true meaning of family and grows spiritually while helping an eccentric older woman from her church.

This colorful woman relates her own feisty search for family, beginning as an abused girl in 1930s Panhandle Texas, sent to live in border town Calexico, California, with a maiden aunt who runs a home hospital.

Tell us about your journey to publication. How long had you been writing before you got the call you had a contract, how you heard and what went through your head.

A fourth grade teacher, Miss Jacobsen, helped me discover my talent for creative writing. But that was a talent that I didn’t take seriously again until years later, after a college degree in business, a failed marriage, and a young son. That’s when the call to write fiction became so strong that I could not longer ignore it. A writing conference in Santa Barbara convinced me that I should try writing a novel.

Because I’d been told that I had a God-given gift for writing, I planned to apply hard work, take writing courses, join a writing critique group, and upon completion of the first draft of my novel, receive a publishing contract.

Reality was quite different from my expectations. Instead, I spent five years researching and writing my first novel. For another couple of years, I sent the novel to editors and agents, who all rejected it. Finally, a writing mentor, Jo-Ann Mapson, told me to put my first novel into a drawer and start my next one

Jo-Ann did me a favor by suggesting I give up, at least temporarily, on my first effort. She told me that I had other novels inside of me and that I should let them out. So, I spent another six years writing Desert Medicine (during this time I was also working part-time as a marketing communications writer and raising two boys.) By the time I finished in October 200, I was once again sure that I’d soon be published. When agents and editors didn’t snap up my book, I drug my husband to New York, and we physically showed up at the offices of several publishers and agents. While the trip was interesting, it resulted in no sales.

The next six years I spent in alternating spurts: first revising and sending out Desert Medicine, giving up for a time (there was a limit to the amount of rejection I could handle), then trying again. I started yet another novel, this time no longer believing that I’d be published, but simply because after all these years of early morning writing sessions, I’d become addicted to my quiet time alone with my laptop computer, or maybe it was the early-morning chocolate-spiked coffee that called to me.

Finally, I decided that I either had to throw myself into another edit of Desert Medicine or give up on it completely. I read about a writer’s conference in Nebraska (where I have relatives) at which an advanced workshop leader would read an entire novel manuscript. Fortunately, my instructor, Brent Spencer, was a kind, insightful writer and editor who told me to not give up on Desert Medicine, and then gave me concrete editing ideas. This was in June 2005.

Almost a year later, I attended the Festival of Faith & Writing in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a semi-annual event that I’ve attended many times because it’s a gathering place of my favorite writers who also happen to believe in God. That year, the organizers offered an online posting of book proposals, so I posted a marketing plan and first chapter of Desert Medicine. When I got back from the convention, I found an email from Steve Barclift of Kregel Publications, expressing an interest in the manuscript.

So, about 15 years later than I’d expected, I had a book contract.

Do you still experience self-doubt regarding your work?

Yes! This seems to be true for my other artistic endeavors, too (I’m also a photographer.) I vascillate so precipitously between unrealistic self-confidence and unwarranted self-disgust. I’ve gotten better at continuing to write even when I doubt the wisdom of doing so. I figure that I may not be a good writer, but at least I will have learned self-discipline, so that on the days when the ideas flow, I’ll know how to sit in my chair and get the work done.

What mistakes have you made while seeking publication?

My biggest mistake was being too reticent about networking, especially in the beginning. At one writers’ conference at Squaw Valley, I wrote to several agents before the event, but then failed to introduce myself to them because the organizer mentioned on opening night that we shouldn’t be obnoxiously pushy. When I returned home, I received a letter from an agent asking why I hadn’t introduced myself after writing such a warm letter. Publishing fiction is a business, and therefore, the more people in the industry that you know, the better off you are when you go job hunting, or, in this case, looking for a book contract.

What’s the best advice you’ve heard on writing/publication?

Persistence, persistence, persistence.

What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve ever heard?

If you’re a good writer, you’ll eventually be published. I don’t believe this is true. Talent alone will not lead to publication. Author Elizabeth George says that you need three things to get published: talent, hard work, and perseverance. And you can get by with just two: hard work and perseverance.

What’s something you wish you’d know earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?

I’m not sure I was mature enough earlier on to realize that no one was going to “discover” me. When I started, I had a rather magical view of the process of getting published: I thought that you have God-given talent, you use that talent, and the world gathers around to admire your talent. Instead, publishing is a lot like most of life: You learn your craft either formally in school or from others in the business, you practice your craft almost every day, and then you meet people in the business and show them what you can do.

What has taken me a long time to learn is to allow others to help me edit my work. What assisted me in the area was having a day job as a marketing communications writer in the corporate world where I saw the value of teamwork and watched my articles improve with editing. I doubt that I would have learned these things if I’d stayed home alone for years in my writing shed.

Is there a particularly difficult set back that you’ve gone through in your writing career you are willing to share?

When I was already ten years into my endeavor to be a published author, and I’d completed my second novel (the same Desert Medicine that is coming out in November), I was sure that I’d find an agent and publisher almost immediately. From reading how-to books, I knew that most writers found an agent because they were referred by a published author. So, I took writing classes from a local author whose work I admired, and she recommended me to her agent. I was positive that I’d “made it.” So, I was completely devastated when that agent declined to represent me. To further make that time difficult, a fellow student was accepted by the same agent and quickly had a big-budget, two-novel deal!

What are a few of your favorite books?

I love anything written by Anne Tyler. She truly excels at subtext: What people say and what they mean are not in synch. That disparity adds great tension. She’s also the master of metaphor, detail, and dialogue. Now that I’m a writer, I often get distracted when reading a novel because I’m analyzing the author’s techniques. But with Anne Tyler, I lose myself in the story and have to force myself to reread to see how she structured a scene.

What piece of writing have you done that you’re particularly proud of and why?

I'm very proud of Desert Medicine. I really poured myself into writing this book, and then I edited and edited, many more times than I’d anticipated. The result is a moving story that seems to be larger than myself. I feel about Desert Medicine the way that I feel when I look at my grown son: How did a boy with a flawed mother turn into such a fine young man?

Do you have a pet peeve having to do with the business?

It doesn’t pay very well for most of us, myself included. Many of the published writers I know have to have day jobs.

Take use through your process of writing a novel briefly—from conception to revision.

I would not recommend my process to anyone. It is very slow and lacks efficiency, but here it is: I journal and journal about anything and everything. Then I go back to my journal and see what issues are haunting me and what characters are stuck in my head, and then I pull those sections into a separate file.

I try to figure out if there’s a story that would hold all these random ideas and feelings. I basically have lots of wall paper and carpet samples, but no framing. So, I try to build a frame, and then add back in my wallpaper and carpet. But it takes a lot of editing to get that frame, and even then, I find out that I’ve put three sinks in the kitchen, and I have to throw out the big brass sink, even though it’s so picturesque, because the kitchen needs an oven instead. What keeps me going is that during this time, I feel God’s nudging and help in the form of research materials or people who cross my path and fill in the gaps in my narrative. Writing a novel makes me very observant and daily life feels richer and more meaningful because it’s potential fodder for my next chapter.

Do you have a dream for the future of your writing, something you would love to accomplish?

I’d love to publish 10 novels. I’ve got another one almost done, so that means that I’ll have to write another eight.

Was there ever a time in your writing career you thought of quitting?

Most definitely! A year and a half ago, I was writing down my New Year’s resolutions and wondering if one of them should be to allow myself to stop writing, but then I realized that I’d grown addicted to my early-morning writing times, or at least to the Starbucks coffee that I drink at that time.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?

I love the daydreaming, anything-is-possible early stages of writing. I’m not the most willing editor, even though I’ve seen time and again that my writing only begins to shine if I edit, or allow someone to help me to edit.

How much marketing/publicity do you do? Any advice in this area?

Kregel Publications, my publisher, has great rapport with Christian bookstores, which gives Desert Medicine entrée into the large Christian market. Kregel has a very supportive, proactive marketing and publicity team. I plan to support their efforts with as much self-marketing as I can.

Because I taught a college-level public relations course, it would be inexcusable of me not to apply some of what I taught to my own life, even though at times it feels awkward. I’ve updated my website. I’ve made postcards with the cover of my book that I pass out to friends and at conventions. I’ve hired a friend to serve as a freelance publicist, for those situations where it’s better for a third party to promote me, such as when contacting a radio producer. In the near future, I plan to reach out to book clubs.

Have you received a particularly memorable reader response?

Because the book hasn’t yet been released, most of my readers have been at my publisher. I was so flattered when I visited there in February and they put out a sign saying Kregel Welcomes Judy Alexander. That was the first time I really felt like an author. Several of the employees said that they’d read my book and were happy to be working on it.

Parting words?

You know in your gut whether or not you are a writer. If you are, then you will keep going, even if your life is full of responsibilities. In the meantime, keep your sense of humor and be very kind to the people who live with you and accommodate your idiosycrocies.

Be willing to encourage other artists. I feel that it’s now my turn to help other writers. I hope this interview serves as part of that effort. Fellow writers can contact me at judy@judyalexander.com. God’s blessings on your creative endeavors!