Interview with Author Callie Murray

Callie Murray
https://www.calliemurray.com/
The Brunswick: A World War II Novel of the American South 

T4JYM: Your book, The Brunswick, releases today. Can you tell our readers what they can expect from it?

CM: The Brunswick is historical fiction, set in 1939 just as the second World War is brewing overseas. The book starts with a look at Charlotte, a 10-year-old girl in Austria, but then it spends most of the time with Cora and Thomas in a small town north of Atlanta, Georgia.

The book tackles some hard topics like suicidal thoughts, grief over parents, and the horrors that are emerging in Europe as the Nazis take power. There are also strong themes of foster care and adoption and the nuances there. But overall, it’s a book of hope and redemption. (There’s also a love story throughout!)

I end the book with a very personal author’s note about the true stories that inspired The Brunswick, some from 1939 history and some from my own life.

T4JYM: You list a variety of projects you have done over the years. How did you make the jump from entrepreneurship to being an author?


CM: Writing a book is a lot like building a business, I’m learning! There are tried-and-true frameworks and there’s the ultimate goal of finding product-market fit, but there’s also so much room for creativity and input from others. I spent my twenties building a quirky marketing company called The Big Fake Wedding, then I helped grow a marriage counseling app and then a popsicle company, and then I started an HR agency. Writing historical fiction feels like a wild turn, but through it all, I’m really just building something to hopefully solve a need!

T4JYM: What’s next? Do you have any new writing in the works?

CM: I do! When I signed this book deal, it was actually a two book deal with book two TBD. I just finished the first draft—another Southern story, this time at a turpentine camp in south Georgia in 1938. It is wildly different from The Brunswick but still has similar themes.

T4JYM: What do you feel is your “legacy” regarding your projects?

CM: I hope that my books (and all my projects and relationships, honestly) tackle real-life suffering with honesty and depth but with hope and redemption. So often, we gloss over the realities of hardship with cliches or shallow hope, but my intention is to really sit in the complications a bit and then let a stronger, more secure hope pull us through.

T4JYM: What advice would you give to someone interested in publishing?

CM: A friend once told me to write the first draft just for myself, just telling myself the story. I’d absolutely give this same advice and say to start writing with just you and the story in mind. When you get back to editing (my favorite part!), that’s when you can really start thinking about readers, agents, publishers, booksellers…

When I decided to write and then publish a novel, I pitched the idea to my husband as “training” for it, just like he trained for marathons. We set aside time each day (for a while, it was in place of watching Netflix!) and I began to really study other authors as well.

I’d also say that it’s a LONG process! Buckle up!!

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