A Visit with Joyce B. Lohse

Joyce Lohse is an award-winning biographer and journalist, who has been inducted into the Colorado Women Hall of Fame. She also serves as executive director of Women Writing the West.

Joyce, your books have won quite a few awards, which tells me that you spend a lot of time in research and writing. Which book was the most difficult to write and which did you enjoy most?

Each book had its own set of advantages and challenges. My shortest book, Justina Ford: Medical Pioneer, the first title in the “Now You Know Bio” series from Filter Press, was most difficult to write. Although Dr. Ford was a wonderful character, research material contemporary to her lifetime was scarce. Fortunately, she received recognition and was interviewed toward the end of her life. Through those precious retrospective articles, I was able to find her voice, and learn about her experiences, obstacles, and personality.

First Governor, First Lady: John and Eliza Routt of Colorado, is a personal favorite. For years, I was a journalistic drifter, unsure how and where to apply my writing skills. Through genealogy research of my ancestral cousin, Eliza Pickrell Routt, I found my niche in the world of biographies. Extensive research of the Routt’s lives and characters took about five years. That project also helped develop m y knowledge and love of Colorado history. In 2008, I attained and accepted induction in the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame for Eliza Routt. It was an accomplishment to speak on her behalf, and share her story with an audience of 750+ people.

Tell us about your journalism background. When did you begin writing?

I wrote stories  and learned the power of the pen at an early age. A poem I wrote about my father riding the commuter train to Chicago each day was published in the local newspaper. Readers loved it. Soon, I was editor of the junior high newspaper, and was forevermore hooked on writing.

Later, at Northern Illinois University, I received a rock solid, old-school journalism education, producing stories on yellow second sheets on typewriter. My specialties were feature writing and photojournalism. I especially enjoyed writing profiles bout people and their lives.

For whom do you write?

I write for “all ages.” My titles for the “Now You Know Bios” series from Filter Press, an independent commercial publisher in Palmer Lake, Colorado, makes them accessible to many readers. My simple and direct journalistic style lends itself to a wide reading audience. However, I need to restrain myself from getting carried away. For instance, I acquired enough material about General William Palmer and Baby Doe Tabor to write two or three bios.  It was a sad and painful process to remove half of my work from my Palmer manuscript. However, the book had done well, and received the 2010 Best YA Nonfiction Award from the Colorado Author’s League.

What sparks your interest in people that determines whether you write about them?

I enjoy writing about pioneers. It is extremely important that the stories of early pathfinders are shared and preserved in western history. Women’s history is especially important and appealing to me, although I do not wish to be pegged as only a women’s writer, or a feminist. For that reason, I also write about men. I choose all my subjects carefully. More accurately, they choose me. When good stories make themselves available or known to me, I am naturally compelled to share and preserve them through my biographies.

What does membership in Women Writing the West mean to you?

Women Writing the West has a hugely positive impact on my writing. When I joined the group, I had one self-published book to my credit. Now, my seventh book is in production with Filter Press. WWW provides innumerable ideas, education, inspiration, and networking opportunities, as well s role models, friendships, and adventures in an otherwise isolated occupation, I am so fortunate to be part of a sharing community of talented western writers.

How would you spend your time, if not a writer?

My work has always revolved around publishing and administrative skills. For fifteen years, I was a self-employed typographer and pre-press graphic artist. I have worked in sidelines of writing, research, and publishing, but never far from it. Jaunts and outings with friends have a way of turning into research adventures, often to historic settings, and always great fun.

What do you enjoy most about writing and what annoys you?

Research is the most enjoyable part of writing. Finding nuggets hiding in archives, or even in plain view, then implementing them into a story makes my spirit soar. Recently, I have enjoyed cooking recipes from Baby Doe Tabor’s cookbook. It provides a strong connection with her for my next book, Baby Doe Tabor: Matchless Silver Queen.  Also, nothing beats the euphoric feeling, or “writer’s rush,” upon finding long sought-after or missing research elements, or finishing the last sentence in the last paragraph of a manuscript after months of hard work.

The worst part is when I prepare my tax return and realize my income is rather paltry. As Kurt Vonnegut would say, “so it goes.”  As my publisher would say, “are priceless.” Otherwise writing is the best job in the world.

Why should the younger generation be interested in our Western heritage?

The American West was built and expanded from the collective courage, hard work, and independent spirits of pioneers, immigrants, and Native Americans. Through biographies, we learn about their accomplishments and successes, as well s mistakes, hardships, and tragedies, which all combined to create Western life and culture. To this day, people in the West maintain a strong pride and independence, which evolved from its pioneering past.

Advice to fledgling Western writers?

Maintain a high ethical standard. Do not curt corners. Respect and protect research materials, and choose sources carefully. Do all you can to locate, interpret, and preserve the truth. Be professional. Mistakes are inevitable. Own up to them, and move on. If you honestly say you ha e done your best possible job, then you have.

Thank you, Joyce, for taking part in this series.

Joyce’s website: www.LohseWorks.com

Her blog site: www.Joyce4Books.WordPress.com

© 2010 Jean Henry-Mead

A Visit with Craig Johnson

An hour-long television pilot based on Craig Johnson’s Western contemporary series, featuring Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire, has been given the green light by the A&E network. 

His seventh novel in the series, Hell is Empty, will be released by Viking on June 2, 2011, and his sixth novel, Junkyard Dogs, will appear in trade paperback from Penguin.

Craig, have you always been a writer?

Nope, my father says I just come from a long line of bullslingers and I’m the first one to be smart enough to write them down… Honestly, I came from a family of readers and I think it’s a short step from there to writing books. I built my ranch myself and finally settled into the life with the thought that I’d always wanted to write a novel. I guess what basically happened was that I ran out of excuses.

When and where did you make your first sale?

Viking/Penguin picked up the first in my Walt Longmire series six years ago, and it’s been off to the races since then. Kathryn Court, the president of Penguin USA shoved a copy of The Cold Dish (a novel I considered to be a stand-alone) across the lunch table in New York and said, “We’d like some more of these…” Do you believe I argued with her? Thank goodness she won. My agent asked me who I wanted to be with and I thought of all those Steinbeck books I’d read as a child (and still do) and chose Viking/Penguin. It’s been pretty wonderful working with a literary press that gives me a lot of leeway. My last two contracts stated that the books had to be mysteries and have Walt in them… That’s a lot of freedom.

What made you decide to settle in Wyoming to write your first book?

I grew up in the Midwest, but my grandparents lived in Kansas and New Mexico, so I wasn’t completely unaware of the American West. When I was eighteen I loaded up an old Army pack, a thousand bucks and lit out for the territories. I think Louis L’Amour would’ve approved. Anyway, in my journeys I was working for a rancher up in Montana and delivered some horses down to Wyoming where I inevitably built my ranch near Ucross.

Your Western cntemporay mysteries and articles have received quite a few awards. Which means the most to you?

Getting pulled over by a highway patrolman between Basin and Otto in the Red Desert and being told, “I read you books, Mr. Johnson…” He let me off, so I guess he liked them. I get a lot of emails from law enforcement telling me that they think I get it right, and that means a lot to me.

You latest book tour encompassed quite a few towns and events. Do you enjoy meeting readers and talking about your books, or do you prefer to stay at home on the ranch and promote your work via the Internet? And which methods of promoting your books have been the most effective?

Oh, I like living on the ranch and writing or else I wouldn’t have chosen this as a livelihood. I like meeting people and talking about the books though. They say that print ads, commercials, Internet and all that sells books, but I still think the old hand sale buzz of somebody saying, “Hey, have you read..?” Still works the best. Maybe it’s because the nearest town to my ranch has a population of 25, but I genuinely like people and enjoy talking to them about my books. I also think that the book sellers are the best friends an author can have. I do events in every one-horse book store on the High Plains because those people are important not only in the sense of sales, but their ability to tell me where I got it wrong and where I got it right. It’s an occupational hazard in living in a state with only a half-million occupants, that folks recognize characters in the books.

What do you enjoy most about writing and what chaps your hide?

 As stated above, I really enjoy the isolation of writing. Heck, in any right-minded country they’d lock me away for sitting in a room by myself and typing about my imaginary friends. Dislikes..? Oh, people who I meet that proudly proclaim, “I don’t read.” That just worries me… Somehow I bet they find time to sit in front of a television for four hours a night. I think reading is a good habit for your mind, it keeps you alert and engaged unlike a lot of other activities.

What’s life like on your ranch near Ucross, Wyoming, and what’s your writing schedule like?

Well, I have a ranch so I get things sorted out at daybreak, make a big pot of coffee, and sit down to write. Sometimes I break for lunch, sometimes I don’t. I came to this wonderful life in my mid-forties, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let them find out I shouldn’t be doing it. I attempt to only work six days a week, but I eventually end up in my writing loft with ideas that can’t wait, or trying to fix up mistakes I’ve made.

Tell us about your protagonist, Walt Longmire? And how much of him is autobiographical?

More than I’d be willing to admit. Walt’s probably who I’d like to be in about ten years, but I’m off to an incredibly slow start. In my experiences with law enforcement, I tried to put together my version of an ideal sheriff. Not that Walt’s perfect by any means, but the kind of guy I’d want pulling his cruiser in behind me; kind, patient, tenacious, intelligent and with a sense of humor. He’s no Captain Marvel, but he’s very good at his job. I think the humor is important, anybody that’s ever done the job knows how important a sense of humor is in getting you through the day.

Advice for fledgling western mystery writers?

Keep it real, do your research, and be honest to the place you love. Don’t have your protagonist running around on a cruise ship. One of the things I try to do is pull the seminal information for my novels from local newspapers, which keeps the books grounded in the social and cultural problems my neighbors and I face. I could just come up with wild plots, but I think that’s a disservice to the modern mystery reader, they tend to be looking for something more than just a ‘who dunnit’. There’s so much out there that needs addressing, I don’t think you have to go off looking very far away. That’s the advice I’d give.

Thanks, Craig. 

Craig's website: www.craigallenjohnson.com


© 2010 Jean Henry-Mead

A Visit with Johnny D. Boggs



Johnny Boggs

 Johnny D. Boggs has not only won two Spurs and the Western Heritage Wrangler Award, he's been called "among the best western writers at work today" by Booklist. He leads the precarious life of a full-time writer with magazine articles as well as novels about the West, Revolutionary and Civil War. baseball, Old West comedy, murder mysteries, young adult adventures and more.

Johnny, how does it feel to be considered “among the best Western writers at work today” and “the best living fiction writer?” Has it been a struggle to reach the top?

I’m pretty sure you can find people who’ll call me “among the worst western writers at work today.” And as a friend of mine remarked after the True West [magazine] “best living fiction writer” honor: “It beats being called ‘best dead fiction writer.’”

It certainly was a struggle. About a dozen years ago, I was writing “on spec,” couldn’t find an agent willing to take a chance on me, was being rejected left and right by publishers everywhere, and feared I’d spend the rest of my career writing potboilers. More so, I was worried that I’d have to get a real job.

It’s still a struggle. I imagine it always will be. What drives me is fear. Fear that I’ll have to take that “real job,” and miss the opportunity to coach my son’s Little League team, to watch him grow up, to spend time with my wife and family, and to do what I think I was born to do.

Have your writing awards helped your writing career and which award means the most to you?

The awards certainly helped open some doors, and they’ve probably given me a bit of freedom, letting me write fiction that doesn’t always fall under that “traditional Western” umbrella. Not that there’s anything wrong with traditional Westerns. I don’t know if I could single out any one award, though. That’s like picking your favorite kid, or the best Randolph Scott-Budd Boetticher movie.

I remember an email I got from a man who had read one of my novels. Turns out, he knew my dad, and told me this incredible, heartwarming story about Daddy and his father -- which I’d never heard. Another time, a woman who had read one of my novels said, “I thought I was being entertained. Turns out I was being educated.” You can’t hang them on your office wall, but those mean more to me than any award.

Which novel was the most difficult to write and which do you consider your best? Why?

None was easy, but I’d say Northfield was the most difficult. Most writers, I imagine, can get back into the groove, so to speak, find the right tone and voice, by rereading the previous chapter or two of the book they’re writing. But every chapter in Northfield was told from a different first-person point of view, and that person was a historical figure. So from structure, to viewpoint, to trying to keep everything as historically accurate as possible, that had to be the hardest book I’ve ever written.

And it’s probably the best. That said, a couple critics raved about Walk Proud, Stand Tall, and my mother and older sister still say Doubtful Cañon’s my best. My favorite is Camp Ford, a Civil War baseball novel. It might not be the best, but it was the most fun -- if I can call it fun -- I had researching and writing.

I always remember something John Jakes once told me: “Books are like children. You love them all, but some of them don’t quite turn out the way you’d hoped.”

Camp Ford and Northfield turned out better than I ever imagined.

Growing up in South Carolina must have influenced you in writing about the Civil War. When and why did you decide to write Westerns?

My ancestors settled in South Carolina before the Revolutionary War. I had ancestors fighting on both sides of the Civil War. My great-great-grandfather was Cherokee. I’ve always loved history. All of that plays a part in my fiction. I’ve published a few contemporary Southern short stories, and have toyed with the idea for a Southern-set mystery, but I love the West. I was playing cowboy as far back as I can remember, creating my own characters, making up my own stories. Watching "Gunsmoke" with my dad became a ritual. My senior year in high school, I played hooky to watch "Fort Apache", and I was writing Western stories as early as junior high school. After I earned a journalism degree in college, I applied at practically every daily newspaper out West, and got lucky. My first job was at the Dallas Times Herald. The American West was ingrained in me, so it became natural that I’d write about it.

How did your novel, The Killing Shot, come about?

That was my editor’s idea. Gary Goldstein’s a big fan of James Cagney. So am I, and I spend far too much time watching those great film noirs from the 1940s and ’50s. So when Gary asked if I might be able to re-imagine and re-invent Cagney’s 1949 crime classic "White Heat" as a Western, I was intrigued. It was a challenge, and I appreciate a good challenge.

What’s your writing schedule like?

I write for a living. There’s no trust fund, no retirement, no inheritance, no steady paycheck. And my wife’s a realtor, so her income can be inconsistent. Writing is a job. I’m up in the morning, and as soon as my 8-year-old’s off to school, I’m in the office.

Deadlines dictate what I’m working on. Since I do a lot of magazine work, I might be interviewing someone in the morning, writing another magazine piece later, and working on a novel-in-progress that afternoon. But I’m writing, editing, researching or interviewing. At least seven hours a day -- often a lot more -- and at least five days a week.

I like the magazine work, and not just because it means there’s a check coming. I can move from writing about Italian wines to checking the facts for Boys’ Life magazine’s “Heads Up!” department, to profiling a retablo artist, then writing a travel story before moving on to an historical novel. That keeps my mind working and, I hope, my writing fresh.

How have Western novels evolved since you began writing them?

Most importantly, we have managed to tear down some fences. The West didn’t begin in 1865 and didn’t end in 1900, and it wasn’t always west of the Mississippi River. Western fiction doesn’t have to be about gunfighters and ranchers and cavalry and Indians. Two of my novels (The Despoilers, Ghost Legion) are set in the South Carolina backcountry during the Revolutionary War, and one that’s coming out next summer (South by Southwest) is about a escaped Union POW and runaway slave making their way from South Carolina to Texas during the closing months of the Civil War.

I’m quite happy to see readers, editors and reviewers noting the Western themes in novels like Aryn Kyle’s The God of Animals and Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men, not to mention those great contemporary mysteries by writers like C.J. Box and the late Tony Hillerman. Those are indeed Westerns. When it comes to Western literature, or any genre, really, I don’t like boundaries and I don’t like rules.

Who most influenced your own writing? And why?

Anybody you read and like influences your writing. Mark Twain’s still my favorite writer, followed by Jack London, John Steinbeck, Charles Dickens, Raymond Chandler, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edna Ferber. I love the prose of crime novelists Elmore Leonard and William P. McGivern. I’ve always admired Tim O’Brien, Russell Banks, Emma Bull, John Jakes, T.R. Pearson, David Morrell, Pat Conroy, Isaac Asimov, Edward Abbey, Tom Piccirilli, and too many more. Among Western writers, I’d have to say Dorothy M. Johnson, Jack Schaefer, Will Henry, Elmer Kelton, Fred Grove and A.B. Guthrie Jr. were my biggest influences. They showed me just how literary Western fiction can be. And Max Evans. I love that old mongrel! Among the newer breed of Western writers: David Wilkinson, Lucia St. Clair Robson, Mike Blakely, Jane Candia Coleman, Tim Champlin, Max McCoy, Elizabeth Crook and Michael Zimmer. Obviously, I read a lot.

Yet the biggest influence was Alexandre Dumas. I was 12 years old when I read The Three Musketeers one summer, and that’s probably when I truly understood just how far great literature could take me away from those tobacco rows.

Who do you write for?

Me. I know I can be hard to pin down -- a baseball novel, a comedy about Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody as actors, Revolutionary War novels, murder mysteries set in the West, Civil War tales, young adult adventures -- which undoubtedly frustrates my agent and editors to no end. I can hear them pleading, “Please, Johnny, for God’s sake, put a cowboy in your next book!” And, yes, I know I have to write something that publishers think they can sell. But, bottom line: I have to write a novel or short story that appeals to me, that challenges me.

Advice to fledgling Western writers?

Read, read, read, read. Research, research, research, research. Write, write, write, write. Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. Repeat the process. Then rewrite it again.

Thank you, Johnny, for taking part in this series.

Johnny's website: www.JohnnyDBoggs.com.

Blog site?

We keep talking about starting up a blog. I’ve been telling myself for years that I don’t have time to blog, that I write for a living, but you can’t overlook how technology and marketing keep changing. So I expect I’ll be blogging by sometime in 2011.

I’m on facebook -- friend me if you want -- and imagine I’ll try to figure out how to use it more for marketing and publicity, too.

© 2010 Jean Henry-Mead