Change The World With Words

I’d like to say a huge thank you to Lynda M. Martin for generously giving her time (in the middle of her hectic pre-publication schedule) to talk about her new novel and share her experience with readers of Change The World With Words. I hope you enjoy reading her interview as much as I enjoyed interviewing her.

Lynda, congratulations on your new novel, This Bird Flew Away, out January 27th 2011. Can you tell us a little bit about your background?  How long have you been writing and what sort of writing do you do?

I was born in the U.K. and entered Canada with my parents as a small child. I grew up in southern Alberta, Canada, a land of vast, wide-open spaces, rolling plains and the Rocky Mountains glowing silver and blue on the horizon. My passions back then were horses, barrel racing, reading and writing. Yes, even as early as seven years of age, I was making my own books, complete with illustrations. Usually when I should have been doing something else.  What I remember most was my mother’s voice shouting “get your nose out of that book and do as you’re told.”

My love of writing was a natural part of me. I wrote a lot throughout my youth. Really bad stuff most of it, especially the teenage years – all that angst.  Mine was not a happy or easy childhood, and those problems culminated in my ending up two thousand miles from home, alone at the age of fifteen. I was lucky. I survived. At seventeen I was married and had my first child. At nineteen I was alone with two children. My careers then were waitressing, cleaning and telephone sales from home. Anything to make a meager living. I still managed to write three novellas that were published in serial form in a now defunct journal called The West Wind.

I did get an education, thanks to some very progressive social programs for people like me who had dropped out at an early age. I studied business administration, though I still wrote and pursued an education in writing on a casual basis. In my early twenties, I began volunteering with a program to get troubled girls off the streets. This led to my second career in child protection, a passion that stayed with me my entire life.

What sort of writing do I do? You name it. I’ve written such fascinating works as Internal Controls in the Accounts Payable Cycle – a thrilling read — at one end of the spectrum and Paula’s Pillow Talk, the crassest of commercial erotica on the other. I write articles both for print and the Internet on any number of subjects, though my favorites are writing about child abuse and protection work, and writing about writing. I edit, coach and teach writing now and specialize in working with the new writer.

I’ve had this series of novels in my head for as long as I can remember, but never had the time to write them. I began spending my winters in Florida several years ago, leaving my husband, grown daughters and grandchildren and spending four or five months in our vacation home, alone. Then I began seriously writing.

What’s the book about, and what inspired you to tell this particular story?

This Bird Flew Away is the story of a girl, Bria, left vulnerable to the world through the mental illness of her mother, her friendship with her grown cousin through marriage, Jack and the woman who wants to be her foster mother, Mary.  Bria’s journey takes us through her ever-worsening life situations until she is forced to try and fend for herself.  At the age of twelve, she disappears — trafficked. When she finally surfaces, injured and traumatized, Jack fights to become her guardian, and Mary gives her a home. Things do not progress smoothly. (An understatement.)  We receive the story through our two narrators, Bria and Mary. We only ever meet Jack through their eyes.

Though the subject matter may lead one to believe this may be a dark story, it is quite the opposite. It is a story of strength, healing and the true meaning of love. Bria may have been a victim, but she does not remain one. She’s honest but a world class liar, vulnerable but tough and always thinks she knows best.  I admire her, love her and she makes me laugh.

 And I don’t want to give any more than that away.

As you know I’m a big believer that words can change the world. Your novel addresses important social issues. Did you set out to write a novel that would educate and influence readers, or did you just write from the heart about what’s important to you?

I wrote from the heart. Did I set out to educate others? Not on a conscious level. In fact, I have to say this story wrote itself. It just came flowing out. A truly transcendental experience.  It wasn’t until I finished I realized what I had done. I had mapped out the route of healing as I’ve lived it, taught and seen in others, at least in those girls that survived.

Many did not.  

Years ago, I attended an international conference of child protection workers where experts explained that the official statistics on child sex abuse, 25% of girls and 11% of boys is grossly understated. Most such crimes are never reported. The true world-wide figure, they suggest, is 7 of 10 girls and 4 of 10 boys will be sexually assaulted before the age of 16. Horrendous! 70% of women were abused as girls. That figure haunted me. I can no longer attend a gathering of women without wondering who are the lucky 3 out of 10 who don’t carry those memories.  Since that conference, I’ve brought this up with every woman I get to know well enough to do so. To date, I’ve met two or three who have no memories of some sexual interference of a kind. Perhaps it was just the ‘funny’ uncle who liked to fondle bottoms, or tickle you to make you wiggle in his lap, but so many, far more than most of us can imagine, have far graver experiences they’d like to forget.

When I first started writing articles for the general public on my experiences as a child protection worker, my email in-box became deluged with messages from those trying to recover, those wanting to share their stories, some for the first time. It was overwhelming.

The true scope of the problem means that two thirds of survivors receive no help. And if so many who do receive the help available, such as it is, don’t make it, what does that say? I asked some of those who wrote to me to act as advance readers for This Bird Flew Away – I’ve had over one hundred – and many of them said they found the book helpful, giving them comfort and self-knowledge. Gratifying.

I wish I could say I set out to do this. But I didn’t. All I know is this story had to come out and did.

How did publication come about? Did you go through an agent or direct to publishers? Any huge obstacles you’ve had to overcome along the way?

Oh gosh – agents! First of all, I’ve been away from publishing for a few decades and it truly is a Brave New World. It used to be you sent your hard copy off to a publisher, and if they liked it, then you got an agent to handle your business affairs. Now you can’t get close to the traditional publishers without an agent. And try and get one!  I’ve written articles about that journey, too. I particularly enjoyed the emails that came two minutes after I sent my first query that read ‘After careful consideration…’

So, like everything else, I went DIY and agented myself.

I ruled out self-publishing for a number of reasons. Now, I know it works for some, but for fiction and a debut novel I felt it was the wrong approach for me. And to tell the truth, I didn’t want to be all alone out there. I decided to submit to the independent publishers, the small houses where I could keep some control over the end product. Of five publishers contacted, four gave me an offer to publish.  On the advice of a friend who had recently published, I chose to go with his publisher. My experience with them has been very positive so far.

They’ve allowed me to do my own cover art, choose the internal design and fonts and use my own editor, Kathryn Lynn Davis who has worked with me on this project from the beginning.

I wrote a post recently about how writers have had to become marketers too, partly due to cuts within the publishing industry and also because of competition for potential buyers’ attention created by the “information age”. I know you’ve been involved in the promotion of your novel. How has that gone and what have you learned?

It’s been a wonderful experience. I’ve learned so much! Before I started this, I knew nothing of the Internet, of building a platform, of websites, of social sites, of search engines, how to Twitter. I was pretty dim. Since then, I’ve built up an on-line presence. I made my own website – there’s a wow! – which has seen over 21,000 visitors since August 19^th. I hope that’s a good omen. I started with Facebook and have met many great people there; with Linked-In, ditto. I started publishing articles on Hubpages and developed a readership. I  learned about Twitter. Now if you Google my name or the title This Bird Flew Away, the first four pages are links to me. I’m told this is a good thing. I learned how to write a press release, and did.

I used the services of Premium Promotional Services, Jo-Anne Vandermeulen and Brian Knight to get me set up on the social sites. Everything else has been DIY.

In my mind, the Internet is the world’s biggest market place. Whereas an author can go sign books in a book store and meet maybe 20 people if you’re lucky (and if your name isn’t Sarah Palin), on the Internet you can connect with millions of potential readers.

This old lady has learned a lot of new tricks, and if nothing else, it’s been a great deal of fun. Particularly the thousands of people I’ve met, and the good friends I’ve made.

What would you say are the most important things you’ve learned through the process of writing this novel?

At the risk of sound like a blowhard, the most important thing I learned while writing This Bird Flew Away is that I’m a good writer. I can tell a strong story, build complex characters, use words with skill. I’ve always thought I was; now I know it. I went into the second novel of this series, Fly High; Fly Blind with confidence and it is now in revision.  The third, Finding Emily, still in draft and growing, is proving to be gut-wrenching in the need to be honest in the writing. I think it may prove to be the best of the three.

I feel that in some respects, my life has been a preparation to write these books. I know I’ll be writing novels till the day I die.

It’s like I finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up. If I grow up. They say if you haven’t by the time you’re in your fifties, you don’t have to.

Lynda M. Martin is a full-time writer, editor, writing teacher and coach. Learn more about Lynda’s writing, or her editing/coaching services for new writers at Lynda M. Martin, Writer and Editor. To reserve a copy of This Bird Flew Away (and for a chance to win a signed copy) visit http://www.thisbirdflewaway.com/ You can find Lynda on Facebook here, and read more of her work here.

Update: This Bird Flew Away is now out and available at Amazon. Click here to order.

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