I recently interviewed Naomi King (Charlotte Hubbard), author of Amanda Weds a Good Man. Read more about this book here.
1. What do you think is the biggest issue facing America today and why?
It’s hard to choose just one, unfortunately! I suppose I’m most concerned about the lack of accountability on every level of our lives. When I was a kid in school, we were taught to respect our parents and teachers, we were expected to tell the truth, and we were punished for cheating on tests and doing other things we knew were wrong.
And yet, by the time I graduated from college, America was impeaching a president who’d covered up a major scandal called Watergate. When I was teaching, even in very small, rural towns, parents were expecting the schools to raise their kids—but woe to the teacher who destroyed Johnny’s self-esteem by calling him out for misbehavior, much less making him an example to the other kids of how NOT to behave. Parents and kids alike were shirking responsibility and expecting to get away with it.
It really bothers me that so many people think nothing of misrepresenting the truth, and take no responsibility for their actions—much less apologize or make amends for bad choices that affect their families, friends, and coworkers.
I won’t go on and on here. I think these issues are a big reason why Amish fiction is so popular. The Amish lifestyle and work ethic, and the way they build their lives around their faith and their families, attracts readers to stories set in a less complicated, more orderly world. The Amish believe in admitting they’ve done wrong and then compensating for it, and asking for forgiveness. It’s a social model we accepted in earlier centuries, but it seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur.
2. What are your thoughts concerning healthy living? This often means different things to different people, but how do you manage your family diet, exercise regimen, and anything else you would like to tell us about health issues?
Because I’ve reached that age where you live by a lot of numbers, I’m more diet-conscious than I used to be. I’ve gotten away from most processed foods and salt, sugar/artificial sweeteners, and gone toward eating a lot more fruits and veggies and less meat of late—the improvement in my cholesterol and weight is incentive enough to stay with that plan. I still bake about 80 dozen Christmas cookies, however…and some those make it to my mouth!
I should get more strenuous exercise, yes—but I spend more than an hour each day strolling with my dog, who has been gracious enough to age right along with me these past ten years! There’s no escaping a lot of hours in my chair (although I’ve considered getting an adjustable computer platform so I could stand up while I work), but I offset that by getting up fairly often to put in a load of laundry, cook, or take the dog outside.
Another mental health effort: I’m taking guitar lessons, and I go to choir practice and sing in church each week. I can feel really bogged down by trying to keep up with my book deadlines while also doing the promo that’s expected of authors, so I make a conscious effort to get out among people and do musical things that allow the nonverbal part of my brain to PLAY once in a while. It’s not a perfect plan, but something must be working, because I can’t remember the last time I was sick, had the flu, or felt depressed.
3. Since you are a well-respected writer of Amish fiction, how do you view the Amish, their faith, and their way of life? Would you ever want to (or would you have ever wanted to) become Amish? Why?
While I’m a good cook, I can sew, I pressure-can veggies, do my own cleaning, etc.—in other words, I’m pretty traditional, far as being a homemaker—I know better than to think I could ever become Amish! I truly admire women who keep a house and a large family together without a dishwasher and an automatic washer/dryer, and I respect the religious priorities that prevent electricity and technology from ruling the roost in Amish settlements.
I think most people look at the Amish way of life and wish they could emulate the sense of peace, order, and acceptance of God’s will the Amish strive for—not to mention the less hurried lifestyle and family oriented lives they lead. Most of us have that ideal in mind, not realizing that the Amish have issues, just as the rest of us do! It’s also important to remember that you can sincerely want to become Amish—you can learn their language, walk the walk and talk the talk by selling your car and your appliances and technology, and dressing Plain. But the church district still has the final vote on whether you are accepted into the faith—as Andy Leitner, Rhoda’s man, learns in WINTER OF WISHES.
I have an independent streak a mile wide (and I tend to write my Amish women as more outspoken and freethinking than most of them are in real life). So, while I greatly respect these folks, I know I couldn’t give up my computer or my car to live their way. The writing career would be the first thing to go, wouldn’t it?!
4. Describe the person who you would consider your best friend. Why do you view him/her that way? What qualities are important in a best friend?
My best friend, Johnny Lynn, is my longest-time friend: we met in Angel Choir at church when we were eight and her mom was the volunteer director…of a group that was not so angelic at times! While we were not “best friends forever” back then, because we both had a lot of other friends we did stuff with, our friendship has lasted more than fifty years now! And we think that’s special, even if the big number makes us say, “no, no—we can’t be that old!”
Her birthday is three weeks before mine (which means she will always be older than I, and I never let her forget it!) Now, instead of exchanging gifts, we set aside a few days each year to take a chick trip together. You’d think, with me being a self-employed writer and her being a retired art teacher, we could easily find those days and make our arrangements, but no. Seems we both lead busy lives—and because she lives in Iowa and I’m in Minnesota, it’s not as easy to find a get-away spot.
These past couple years, we’ve found little towns like Pipestone, MN and Spirit Lake, IA that are about the same driving distance for both of us. There’s no dead air, once we get together, and no such thing as a dull trip/location. Even when the weather’s not the best, we’ve had fabulous getaways, and I hope we’ll enjoy these trips for a long time yet. Johnny Lynn and I laugh a lot when we’re together—or on the phone—and that’s the best therapy there is.
5. How has your faith played a critical role in your life? Share as much or as little as you would like?
As with most people, over the years I’ve been squeezed out of (teaching) jobs, lost friends and loved ones to major disease, wondered how I would pay my bills, and wondered why I was doing my best yet the crap continued to hit the fan. My husband and I have moved many times, to towns where we didn’t know a soul, yet we made it work. After a major shake-up with my first publisher—at which time my agent fritzed out on cocaine and disappeared for weeks at a time—I went through a seven-year period when editors wanted nothing to do with the proposals I wrote, nor would other agents take me on.
And then there’s the life-altering incident I’ve described in #6, below. While it ended well from one perspective, it was a very, very stressful event because my parents were not happy that I found out about their deception. Nor did they support my decision to reunite with my birth father.
Maybe this sounds simplistic, but without my faith, I would’ve rolled myself into the fetal position, stuck my thumb in my mouth, and faded into oblivion long ago!
6. Many of us have times in our lives where we know God intervened in a situation, and that is the only way it could be explained. Do you have a story like that which you would like to share?
When I was 40, I received a letter via my publisher, and it was from a young woman who said she was my half sister—that she and I (and her three brothers) had the same father, but that my mom had been married to him first and then divorced him to marry the man who’d raised me. She included an old black-and-white photo of me standing beside a man I remembered visiting in my childhood…but I’d had no idea he was my father!
It’s a long complicated story with a happy ending, thank goodness, but needless to say I was gobsmacked by this revelation because I’d had no idea my dad wasn’t my birth father. I was only a year old when Mom divorced my father and then married Dad six months later…which was a huge no-no back in 1954. Which was why, when Dad moved us to the Midwest, they allowed the new neighbors to assume we were Dad, Mom, and kid, all with the same last name.
And because other family members believed it was my parents’ responsibility to tell me about this situation (and it was…but they didn’t) my grandparents, aunts, etc. all kept quiet. They died keeping this secret intact—until Susy found my very first book in a store, saw my photo in the back (I look so much like our father!) and asked our father if it would be all right to contact me. She and the brothers always knew about me, but I had no idea about them. I did indeed reunite with everyone, and I’m so blessed to have them in my life now (although my father has since died).
I’ve left out a lot of details here, obviously. But I believe God led my other family to finding my book, and He also saw that Susy’s letter got delivered from my publisher—even though it sat in their New York office for nine months before somebody finally sent it to me!
7. How do you promote your books? What have you discovered are the best ways to promote your books in today’s world?
For each of my Amish books, I’ve done virtual tours on a lot of blogs—like this one. I think they’ve given me a lot of exposure I wouldn’t have gotten by just going on Facebook, going it alone. I also have a newsletter I send via email when my books come out, and I still maintain a snail-mail list, as well, because a lot of my readers don’t engage in online activities—and some are of an age that they never got into computers, but they love to read these Amish books. I also belong to several Facebook groups that are Amish-oriented or are set up to let members know about new books coming out.
While I can’t quantify how many books I sell according to how much time/effort/money I spend on these virtual tours and mailings, my sales figures suggest that these activities are gaining me enough new readers to make a difference. While I have absolutely no control over where my books appear (my Seasons of the Heart series is sold in WalMart, for example, while my At Home in Cedar Creek/One Big Happy Family series is not—but that series is promoted more directly to the Christian market), I can inform readers that they’ve come out via my two Facebook pages and my dual website—and blog tours like this one.
Unfortunately, signing books in bookstores is becoming difficult to justify. It’s an investment in time, travel, and money—and unless you’re an author with a BIG name or have a very loyal local following, the bookstore might buy a bunch of your books, and they’ll still be sitting on the signing table when you leave. There’s just no guarantee that anyone will show up—even in the bookstore where I’ve signed every one of my books, for more than 20 years!
These days, nearly two-thirds of my sales are digital books. Just one more reason online promotion has become much more practical way for me to reach readers.
8. What is the most frustrating thing about being an author? Why?
See the answer to #7. Promotion is both a necessity and a huge time-taker. Gone are the days when a writer could hole up in her office like a reclusive hermit and just write books. Now the publishers expect you to promote—and sometimes, before they take you on as a new author, they check to see that your website is attractive and updated often, and they observe your online presence in social media. If a publisher feels you aren’t visible enough online, they might decide not to offer you a contract!
It’s also frustrating that with online publishing so readily available, anyone can be an author these days. I have to shake my head when I see that New Writer claims she’s just sold 100,000 copies of her latest book and has an enviable Amazon rating…but she’s a lot better at getting her Facebook friends to flock to Amazon and buy it than she is at actually telling a good, memorable story. And quite often her “book” might have fewer than 50 pages! Or it’s serialized, and you have to shell out $1.99 each time she puts up the next installment.
Nuff said about that. I have to ignore that sort of distraction and concentrate on getting my writing done. Online hoo-hah can suck me in and consume hours each day that I’d intended to spend on writing. I alone can write my book and get it turned in on time, so I have to keep that as my highest priority.
Thanks so much for spending this time with me, and for your interest in my books!
Read my review of this book here.
