Interview with Mary
Paddock,
Author of
Souvenir,
A Collection of
Short Fiction
Interviewed
by Author Roy Murry
Can you tell me a little about yourself?
I was born in Houston,
Texas, but have spent the majority of my life in Ozarks. I’m the mother of four boys (all teens and
young adults) and I’ve been married to my closest friend for nearly twenty-five
years. We live near Table Rock Lake in
SW Missouri with a larger than average number of dogs and cats.
In 2010, after
twenty-plus years of homeschooling and seeing the last boy off to public high
school I decided it was time to finish my own formal education. I’m an English
major at Missouri State University. When all is said and done, I want to teach
creative writing.
I’m an obsessive
gardener, love to read (everything—from sci-fi to literary fiction), camp,
collect flea market china, and walk my dogs.
Do
you remember the first story you wrote?
The first story I remember writing as a kid was
about an Indian Princess who ran away to join the circus because she wanted to
be a lion tamer and she didn’t want to marry the Indian Brave her father had picked
out for her. (Had there been circuses that
accepted runaways then, I most assuredly would have run away to one, because I
desperately wanted to be a lion tamer or an elephant trainer).
I wrote my first “novel”, when I was about thirteen.
It was about a homeless woman who was hitchhiking across the country I was
raised in the 70s when one often saw people doing this and knew people who’d done
so and lived to tell the tale). Along
the way she met and fell in love with two different men. Though I wrote other
stories during those years as well, I wrote and re-wrote that particular one
more than once throughout my adolescence, adding to it and editing it as I
matured.
Were
you inspired by someone or something?
I’ve been inspired by lots of someone’s and something’s.
While growing up I was surrounded by
“outside the box” thinkers and creative people.
When presented with a problem or a need, their go-to-solution was to
make it themselves.
Want a better doll? Make it yourself. Have a better kitchen floor? Learn to cut and lay your own tile. Want to have a better song - Write it (and sing it) yourself. Produce a better painting or carving? You’ve got it—do it yourself.
So it stands to reason that when I wanted to read a story about a young woman who finds a stray dog with an unusual talent (Fassen Files), that I’d write the story I wanted to read.
Want a better doll? Make it yourself. Have a better kitchen floor? Learn to cut and lay your own tile. Want to have a better song - Write it (and sing it) yourself. Produce a better painting or carving? You’ve got it—do it yourself.
So it stands to reason that when I wanted to read a story about a young woman who finds a stray dog with an unusual talent (Fassen Files), that I’d write the story I wanted to read.
What
do you like about writing a story?
I am addicted to two things—I love the high of
stumbling into a new idea and piecing together something that works—it’s like
meeting new people or starting a new job, only without all the inherent
risks.
And I love the satisfaction of coming to the end of
a story. I’ll be honest, finishing a novel is an angst-ridden experience and
I’ve been known to put off writing those last pages for months (even years)
because I struggle so much worrying about getting it right, but once I’ve typed
those final words, whatever they might be, I
know I’ve done something that is—for me—monumental. This never gets old.
Can
you tell us about your book?
My newest book, entitled Souvenir, is a collection
of short fiction and poetry largely focused on women who are dealing with
ordinary problems in extraordinary ways. I am proudest of the newest piece in the
collection, “FUM” which is a look at what would have happened if the Giant’s
wife, in Jack and the Beanstalk,
decided to leave him.
What
genre best fits for the book?
It is largely literary fiction, but I’ve also
included a couple of pieces that are probably best known as magical realism aka
fantasy. For those who’ve read my
previous works, they need to know that this one is very different—largely more
serious and not quite as much of the fantastic.
Are
you working on something new at the moment?
I’ve just finished a novel I’ve entitled Bright
about a middle-aged mother of three who had an affair and is attempting to mend
her marriage. Her lover doesn’t take the break up well at all and decides that
“if he can’t have her nobody can”, but his goals extend beyond killing Hannah.
He wants to kill her family as well. However, he does not count on love being
more powerful than death. You can
expect it to be a while before this one makes it to market as I plan to follow
my own advice in number 4—as stated below.
Do
you have any tips for aspiring writers?
1 Read.
Read everything. Take risks and read books you don’t even think you’ll like.
Don’t skip the badly written works either—see if you can determine why they’re
bad. The same goes for well-written works.
Know what works and why.
2
Write—write
a lot. Consider short fiction or poetry first because you stand a better chance
of finishing what you start. Think—if you write a short story every week,
that’s 52 stories. In all those stories—you’re bound to write a handful of
stories worth re-working. Too, it’s also easier to publish short fiction than
it is longer works. Once you’ve had a
piece or two published, you’ll never quit. It really is a heady experience.
3
I
think it was Stephen King who once said that the difference between a writer and
someone who wants to be one is that the writer finishes what they start. This
is a habit you must get into if you really want to be a writer. As often as
possible, make yourself see your work through to the conclusion, even if you’re
fairly sure it’s junk.
4
Seek
out and embrace no-holds-barred, objective feedback. As a writer you don’t need
your ego stroked nearly as much as you need honesty. Learn how to re-write and re-write again
until your work is the best it can be.
Where
can people go to read your work?
All of my work can be found on Amazon. Sing and
Fassen Files (two previous works) can also be found at a variety of eBook
stores, including Barnes and Nobles. Amazon offers free samples. For the time
being, if you have a Kindle, you can read Souvenir for free.
I have a website that can
point you toward the various sources and is a great place to find updates as
well as ways to get in touch with me:
Do you have anything to add?
Yeah. I want to thank
those who’ve already bought my previous works as well as those who’ve written
reviews. And I’d also like to thank you Roy for extending the generous
invitation to come here and talk about my work and writing your own review as
well. It means more than you know.
