Mary Connealy
https://www.maryconnealy.com/
Author of Into the Sunset
T4JYM: Tell our readers about Into the Sunset, releasing October 15, 2024. What can they expect from it?
MC: Into the Sunset is book #3 in the Western Light Series. This series was inspired by the book ‘The Woman They Could Not Silence’ by Kate Moore, the biography of a woman locked in an insane asylum by her tyrant husband and her fight to be free. Her fight, and her work after she was free, changed the world and inspired me to write this. Maeve O’Toole gets asked to help babysit while her friend faces her deepest fear-being locked in an insane asylum. Dakota Harlan gets asked to come along to fight on their side. He needs to get away as he’s got a feuding family of hillbillies trying to kill him. He ends up doing a lot of babysitting and she ends up shooting someone.
T4JYM: Being a writer of historical fiction, how much time and research goes into a book? And how do you ensure your writing is historically accurate? Do you utilize fact checkers or era specialists?
MC: I don’t use fact checkers. I do all the research myself. A lot of what I write, set in the cowboy era of the American West is similar as to the clothing and settings, the lingo…but each books main research is mostly into what location I use and, in many cases, like this series, into the basic inspiration for the book. In this case, research into insane asylums of the mid-1900s. Fascinating and disturbing to read about. I try very hard for historical accuracy, all the characters are fictionalized of course. Any failures are my own, if I didn’t ask the right questions or jumped to conclusions based on what I read…and my editors at Bethany House Publishing are very knowledgeable and help a lot.
T4JYM: Publishing a book is a lot of work! I have dabbled in self-publishing myself, so admire authors with established resumes and lists of published works. What does the writing process look like for you? Walk us through everything that happens from idea to publication.
MC: The ideas, that first spark, can come from anywhere. I once wrote an entire series sparked by a flume that ran alongside the road I was on. A flume is a huge wooden trough that lumber companies used to use to get logs down off the mountain and this was a historically reserved one. Then once the spark is lit, I think, what a fast way to escape from a mountain…but what do they need to escape from? You start backing up, filling in. In this series the books were inspired by reading that book, The Woman They Could Not Silence Then once I have an idea, I write it up and pitch it to Bethany House. If they say it works, my goal is to write 1000 words a day seven days a week. I sometimes write more but I try to never write less. I miss days, or course, but some of that is expected and I leave time to take days off occasionally. My books are 70,000 to 75,000 words long, so I should be able to write a full-length book every10 weeks, right? And I write three books a year so I have 16 weeks to write it. With revisions and occasionally down time, I do a good job of getting the book done. Three stages of revisions with Bethany House and then work promoting the book like with Teens4Jesus and I keep very busy.
T4JYM: I love your writing style and the fact that you add a touch of humor to your books that many authors do not include. It adds a level of depth and relatability to the characters, in my opinion. Are there any characters from books you have written who hold a special place in your heart?
MC: I hate to start picking favorites because while I’m writing the book, usually THIS group of characters are my favorites because I get pretty deep into the story. I have an affection for strong woman. Becky Pruitt, the feisty lady rancher heroine from Marshalling her Heart, Cheyenne, the heroine from A Man with a Past. A personal favorite is Belle Tanner, the heroine from The Husband Tree. I do try and mix it up though. In one series I try to have characters that are different from each other.
T4JYM: You have some awards you have received listed on your website, but our readers are likely not familiar with what these are. Can you tell our readers about a few of them and which ones mean the most to you?
MC: Getting nominated for a Christy Award was a thrill. I didn’t win but I’m still just delighted by that. I belong to an organization called American Christian Fiction Writers. I’ve received their Carol Award twice and been nominated a few more times and that’s always exciting. I am published today because of contests I won before I was published and I really made great connections through those. I highly recommend unpublished contests for aspiring authors.
T4JYM: Besides writing books, tell our readers a little about you and the things that keep you busy.
MC: Not much encroaches on my writing time… you could, in fact, say I’m a pretty unbalanced person… which is a scary thought! I have seven spectacular grandchildren. Just coincidentally, the smartest and most beautiful seven children ever born. What are the odds, huh? But it happened.
T4JYM: What kinds of books do you enjoy reading? What are you reading currently?
MC: I read widely in most all genres. I like detective fiction and, right now, I just received Erica Vetsch’s lastest Regency Romance called A Thieving at Carlton House. I love these books. I love Karen Witemeyer’s books. I think she’s just the best at making the book strong in characters, plot, humor, action. She does it as well as anyone. Basically, if they’re sassing each other and falling in love while they’re running for their lives, then I’m happy. That’s what I love to read so that’s what I write.
T4JYM: Who are some of the authors you enjoy reading? What authors have inspired you as a writer?
MC: My inspirations are, probably a little odd. Walter Farley wrote The Black Stallion books, I was a big reader as a kid and I devoured those books. That’s the first time I was aware of being really pulled inside a book. He’d write those horse races and I could feel the speed, hear the thundering hooves. I was riding that horse, smelling the dust, wow. He’s the first author I ever read that made me wonder, “How did he do that.” I also felt the genius of Mary Higgins Clark. I remember finishing her first book (first to me, that is) and flipping over the book and wondering “Who is this woman?” I was inspired by Clive Custler and his Dirk Pitt tough, brilliant ocean explorer books. And the other one I think of is Francine Rivers Mark of the Lion Trilogy. The way she created that Roman world really made me see what could be done with words in the hands of a genius.
T4JYM: Please tell us how you came to be a Christian and how this has influenced your writing.
MC: I wrote for ten years before I earned my first contract. At the end of those ten years, I had twenty unpublished books on my computer. I’d written for a while before I even knew there was Christian fiction. Once I discovered it, I realized that in all my finished books, my characters were conducting themselves as Christians, but the faith thread was just unspoken. It was easy and fun to wake up that part of the book and speak of faith.
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