Author and Speaker
By: Trisha Bleau Smith
T4JYM: Can you give us a brief overview of the latest book you have written? Can you outline other books you have written to give our readers a general feel for the kinds of works you write?
MM: My newest release is entitled IF I IGNORE IT, IT WILL GO AWAY AND OTHER LIES I THOUGHT WERE TRUE. (Read two free chapters at http://www.marshamarks.com) My first book published in September 2001, was entitled 101 AMAZING THINGS ABOUT GOD, and in May 2002, my second book was 101 SIMPLE LESSONS FOR LIFE – which essentially every teenager in the world should read. Actually they will love all three books they are small, and light and tell pretty much every stupid thing I’ve done in life. Like how I thought it was a good idea to throw away traffic tickets, thinking who in the state of California keeps track of these things – it turns out someone does. I had to go to Court. YIKES – read the rest in my first book. Then there is the time I rushed my little baby to the Doctor thinking she had a horrible blood clot on her leg. Well, this is so embarrassing but true, it turn out, it was a Grape Gummie Bear. Actually half a grape gummie bear… hey they look just like a blood clot, when they have been stuck to a leg for a few hours. The heat of her body had melted that thing right on her leg.
Or in my latest book IF I IGNORE IT, IT WILL GO AWAY AND OTHER LIES I THOUGHT WERE TRUE – my funniest book to date – oh just get it and read it.
T4JYM: Why humor? You seem to sprinkle each book you write with a healthy dose. Why not something else to reach your readers?
MM: Sometimes people learn better when they are laughing. That is why I use humor. The answer to “Why not something else” is, I write what I know. It is very important to write what you know and not what someone else knows, that they think you should write.
T4JYM: Do you receive positive feedback from your readers? What do they have to say about your works?
MM: They say they love me, or are out to kill me. Mostly they say they love me, and I love them too. (I just wish I’d hear from someone outside my immediate family.)
T4JYM: You titled your book, If I Ignore It, It Will Go Away, And Other Lies That I Thought Were True. What are some of the common lies and why do people choose to ignore them?
MM: That Prayer doesn’t work. That God doesn’t want to be bothered. That with enough organization you can control a child. That just because you are a famous writer, that means you’re rich. These are all lies I once thought were true.
T4JYM: What is the biggest thing you have learned through writing books so far? What is the biggest thing you have learned from reading other people’s works?
MM: That honesty is the best policy. If you write honest – it will come through. If you don’t, it may get published by a Christian publisher, but it won’t read true.
On the topic of honesty, I have a problem with swearing in my life. I’ve been trying to stop, but sometimes when I drop something on my toe, say at a Christian Booksellers convention – a swear word might come out of my mouth. And if a certain publisher (not my current one) hears that word, they may say they never want to sell my books, ever.
But, honesty is important, because we all sin, and those who say they don’t, are liars. So, let’s confess it. And move on. Also if Jesus loved us while we were yet sinners, how much more does he want to be close to us, now that we are admitting what he told us about ourselves all along.
The picking yourself up part and starting over, as if God really has removed any trace of your sin…is the most difficult part for us to grasp. Especially those of us who have been known to be repeat offenders.
T4JYM: Who have been your biggest influences in life? Who have been your biggest influences in your life as a writer?
MM: This is a hard question to answer. I love C.S. Lewis though he never wrote about being a Flight Attendant. Or doing stupid things. His life was never compared to Lucille Ball —but, I like his pragmatic, logical approach to faith. And I loved Charles Schultz the Creator of the old PEANUTS – and Charlie Brown series. And my favorite all time best written book, (except for certain boring parts) is by TOLSTOY – Anna Karenina. And the funniest book I have ever read, at least the first half… is A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES, but I don’t like the last half of that book at all. So, I’m all over the board in tastes.
I would say that Anne Lamontt in Traveling Mercies helped me a lot deal with real life, and gritty faith. And her book Bird by Bird, is perhaps the best book on writing, I’ve ever read. But, reader beware, there is swearing in both of those books.
T4JYM: What is your next topic going to be for writing? Do you have ideas for what to write about next? Do you have any plans to continue writing more books?
MM: My next book, to be released May 2005, is entitled FLYING BY THE SEAT OF MY PANTS: FLIGHT ATTENDANT ADVENTURES ON A WING AND A PRAYER. The book after that and the 3 after that are also already in the works. So, YES, if God keeps me healthy, I plan to keep writing.
T4JYM: Do you do any other kinds of writing – magazines, newspapers, etc.?
MM: I do lots of other kinds of writing. Screenplays. Novels. Children’s Books, and Cartoons and Newspaper Columns. There are samples of my work, on my web-site: http://www.marshamarks.com
T4JYM: What training do you have in writing? Did you take any writing courses in college to obtain the skills you have currently?
MM: If you mean by “training…” what train did I jump on and hurtle towards my destination of being a writer…? Then the train I took — involved College Courses, in English, and creative writing. And I sought out someone near me, more famous than I, and paid her to help me learn. And I have attended every Writer’s Conference I could get someone else to pay for. And I have emailed my favorite writers. And sometimes I’ve looked in the front of books, and seen the name of the editor, and emailed them and thanked them for such a great book. And I have visited web-sites like www.publishersandagents.net and used them. And read everything on http://www.absolutewrite.com and subscribed to WRITERS DIGEST Magazine.
But, the best training I received to be a writer, was to live through the hell of my childhood, and remember things. And write them down alone, in my own little corner where I was hiding from all that was awful. I wrote to help me understand why there is evil in the world, and to help me deal with is. So, without formal training, it is possible to be a writer, when all you know, is pain.
C.S. Lewis said, “God whispers in our pleasures and shouts in our pain”. I think, when you write about pleasures the world pays scant attention, but when you write from your pain – the world sits up and listens.
T4JYM: What advice would you give to someone who wants to pursue a career in writing?
MM: I’m assuming by using the word Career, you are asking about someone who wants to write not just for fun, but get paid for it. In that case I’d give them the same advice I’d give anyone who wants to pursue any paying career, such as a career as a Professional Musician, or as a Player of Professional football. PRACTICE, PRACTICE — PRACTICE! And while you are practicing, learn all you can. Read books. Go to your local Barnes & Noble and look in their WRITERS REFERENCE section. Go to my web-site http://www.marshamarks.com and read the writer’s tips. PRACTICE FOR YEARS, and don’t be discouraged if in the beginning — when you know you don’t know all you’ll need to know, before people will come to you and say ‘tell us what you know’. There is a line in a book I’ve written, that isn’t published yet – and it says “Most famous people weren’t always that way, it takes time to be famous, usually more than a day”.
And I would say the very “DESIRE” to pursue writing is a gift from the Giver of all good gifts. Begin unwrapping that gift and delight in the Gift Giver.
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