Meet another one of Lockhart’s local writers, Phil McBride, who writes civil war and early Texas historical novels. With lots of battle scenes!

What drew you to writing novels?

Curiosity. As a reader of novels, for fifty years I was in awe of those who could write hundreds of pages about people they created, and figure out wheels within wheels of plot. All my adult life I wanted to try my hand at it. Now I regret I waited so long to start.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I am in no particular order a husband, father, grandfather, son, brother, uncle, Christian, friend, volunteer for a couple of worthy causes, and compulsive writer. I am a retired public school educator. My 38-year career as a public servant started as a night janitor in Austin while a student at UT, and finished as assistant superintendent of schools in Lockhart, TX, where we still live.

Being principal of Lockhart High School for nine years was the hardest and second-most gratifying job I’ve had. Writing novels is the second- hardest and most gratifying job I’ve had. I have to admit that as a writer, nobody gets mad at me over things other people did, which happened a lot when I was a school principal. But I certainly earned more money as a high school principal than I do now as a novelist.

What is one piece of advice you’d give beginning writers?

It’s all about the characters you create, and we’re all human, even our paper people. So put your own soul into your words, and a heart into every character, even the stinkers. Put at least a hint of a dark side into every character, even the sweeties.  

Tell us about A Different Dragon Entirely,   

I love dragon lit. I grew up with Ann McCaffrey’s fantasy dragons and Tolkien’s Smaug and now writer Naomi Novik’s Temeraire, the Napoleonic War dragon. I wanted to try my hand at dragon lit, but I wanted my dragon to be a Texas dragon, a critter set apart from all other dragons.

ADDE is historical fantasy about a teeny weeny female horny toad who lived on the Texas frontier in 1840. One memorable day a very old and very odd priest laid some Druid magic onto the little lizard, enabling her to grow to house size and fly. She became a Texas-esque dragon named Leine who lives a hundred years on the prairie in solitude. Then she meets Mally, a saucy fifteen-year-old farm girl. After a bumpy start, a girl-meets-dragon bromance begins. Mally’s family worries that Lien is more demon than dragon, and Leine herself can’t decide how human she wants to be. The pair get pulled into the Great Comanche Raid of 1840 and the historical Battle of Plum Creek.

I confess I had more fun writing ADDE, my sixth novel, than any of the others. There is a freedom in creating a main character who is a dragon, a license that is missing when all your characters are excruciatingly human. Maybe that’s why all those superhero movies and vampire and werewolf novels are so popular these days. 

I know you are a re-enactor. Tell us a couple of your experiences being one.

I’ve been a Civil War reenactor for twenty years. It’s an odd hobby involving military history, old-style camping without modern gear, wearing wool uniforms during a whole weekend even in the southern summer, and messing around with muskets.

Over the years I’ve had a few magic moments where my immersion into the role of a Civil War soldier transported me back in time, if ever so fleetingly. My biggest surprise learned in my first sham battle was that when the shooting starts, a soldier’s world immediately narrows down to his own tiny slice of the battle. You become intensely busy loading and firing your musket. Doing your job becomes all consuming. There’s no time to gaze around to sort out what’s going on, to see how others are doing.

My reenacting experiences and reading the memoirs, letters, and diaries of real Civil War soldiers jointly spurred me into writing my first novel, Whittled Away.

Do you have a book signing coming up? If so, where and when? 

Sorry, no book signings on the horizon.

NOTE FROM GRETCHEN: Phil’s books are available through Amazon.com at https://www.amazon.com/Philip-McBride/e/B00HPM46A6/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

And he writes a consistently entertaining and informative blog you’d enjoy http://mcbridenovels.blogspot.com/

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  FantasyLife by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

San Antonio Zoo Lights.

Where you can ride a camel. And the bears might stand up for you. And some of the elusive cats hidden in those artificial little caves reveal themselves. (I believe we’ve seen each of these animals at least once. Several we don’t see for years at a time, but they’re there.)

My sister rode a camel. I watched. Those camels are fine! But I rode an elephant once. I’ll give the camels a pass.

You can roast marshmallows over a real fire (then add the graham crackers and Hershey’s chocolate for a s’more). Alas, we were too stuffed by the meal event listed below to even look for this.

And listen to a mariachi band while eating a great Christmas buffet of Mexican food at Mrs. Claus’s Cocina/aka the restaurant nearest the hippo building. We made a new friend, the food was delicious, we decorated cookies with Mrs. Claus, and got our picture taken in a snow globe. Let me repeat. The food was delicious. Children danced around between the tables (after we’d finished eating). The mariachi music was fun.

If you’re interested in the dinner, for some reason I can only find it by Googling it. Here’s the link. https://sazoo.org/experiences/mrs-claus-cocina/

Afterwards, walk around in the dark looking at the zoo’s Christmas lights. Lots of lighted trees, a musical light show near the carousel. Riding the carousel in the dark!

It was cold. And I mean cold. Tolerable, though. Several places to warm up.

CAVEAT: This photo has nothing to do with the San Antonio Zoo. It’s the Houston Zoo. I just wanted to show it off.

And I’ll tell you a secret.

I’m a writer. I write novels. And I’ve incorporated a small bit of the San Antonio Zoo experience in my newest book, a mystery novel whose title shall remain a mystery until it’s ready for publication. I just wrote THE END. I  have a few mistakes to correct. It’s a really fun book. But back on topic:

Go to the zoo. Make some memories.

And take the time to visit the birds, and the fish. If you’ve never seen a Moray Eel, here’s your chance to see a huge green one. We drop in to say hello every time we visit. It’s ginormous! You want to hug it (but don’t!).

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: Funerals for Horses by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Hell House by Richard Matheson.

You can find my books at https://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold. Elevation by Stephen King. Worthy by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold.

My books: The Cowboy’s Baby, Arroyo, Talking to the Dead Guys, Twisted Rixter, Baby Sings the Boos, Tea With a Dead Gal, The Safari Bride, Ill Met By Moonlight, The Cowboy’s Baby Goes to Heaven, The Cimarron Bride, The Goodall Mutiny, The Goodall Manifest, and The Goodall Marauders. 

Thirteen in all, ranging from sweet fairy tale based romances to action/adventure space opera. Also includes humorous horror, weird western, and exciting historical romances.

https://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix 

Well, I just moved my paperback book management from Createspace to KDP. We’ll find out how well it worked when I buy my first paperbacks. Createspace had its problems, but I was used to them, and the resulting final product was great. Here’s hoping for KDP paperback quality equal or better.

ARROYO will probably be the first book I re-order. Science fiction readers tend to like this book, and I’m down to three copies. Not near enough for AggieCon next March.

And then there’s the very good chance my next mystery novel will have been published by then. I’d planned it for 2018, but I’m not going to rush it. It is really, really good.

Speaking of really good, you should see the review of THE CIMARRON BRIDE on the Kindle page. Wish more people who like/love the books would review them.

Also, for the next two weeks THE CIMARRON BRIDE is on sale (the Kindle version) https://amzn.com/B07GTSD421

These are poppies. Suitable for my topic and suitable for November 11.

I just slept through the movie The Grinch, for which I’d paid $10.00 to see. If my sister hadn’t jabbed me at one time, it probably would have been well worth it. The sleep. There’s nothing like a comfortable, lay-back seat where you stretch your legs out and a dark, noisy theater for a good nap. This was at Westgate Cinema.

This isn’t the first time I’ve missed the movie I paid to see. Maleficent was one of the others. And not only in public. Last night I slept through most of Tomb Raider. 

Of course, sleeping through these movies doesn’t mean they’re bad movies. Just that I’d rather sleep, I suppose.

P.S. It’s better to do this when you have a companion at your side. I don’t suggest it when  you’re all alone.

Another type of poppy, also relevant to the day.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  How To Be Good by Nick Hornby.

My books can be found at https://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

For ages, I used to watch horror movies all October long, in honor of Halloween. In time, I needed more than just October, just to get through the Universal Monsters and all the other classics.

Haven’t done that in several years now. I’m binge watching the entirety of Game of Thrones instead. Am almost finished with Season 4. Not a bad substitution.

Happy Halloween, all! Safe trick-or-treating! And don’t eat so much candy that you fall ill. Drive safe, too. (Illustration by Streetlight Graphics for ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT)

They’re here! My copies of the paperback of THE CIMARRON BRIDE. It will take me a while to check each book, and sign them all, but they look beautiful. This will be our primary book for the Texas Book Festival at the end of the month. We’re going to make it an all-romance table this year. Plus a backup. I haven’t yet decided if I’ll bring the cozy murder mysteries or one of the short story collections. 

Speaking of short stories, I have just written two new ones. The Curious Case of the Missing Book and North of Fog. I’m submitting them to magazines, too. If there are ultimately no takers (which translates to rejection by all), they will become part of a new collection for later on. I like them. Some of you will like them, too.

I’m not going to do a WHAT I READ THIS WEEK this time. Haven’t been keeping up with it.

THE CIMARRON BRIDE

Having her will cost Junyur Wilde everything else he’s ever wanted.

Letting him go will force May Ling back into the whorehouse she’s hoping to escape.

The Cimarron Bride is their story, a western romance set against the backdrop of the very last Oklahoma Land Race. It’s 1895, and the rich young cowboy who’s fallen in love with his older brother’s Chinese mail-order bride has finally caught up to her. In a whorehouse. That she refuses to leave. Even forcing a younger, more innocent girl on him as a replacement.

There the adventure begins.

Junyur Wilde is in for the ride of his life, because neither of these two ladies is what she seems.

https://amzn.com/B07GTSD421

Meet Tam Francis. She has written and published THE GIRL IN THE JITTERBUG DRESS, THE GIRL IN THE JITTERBUG DRESS HOPS THE ATLANTIC, GHOSTORIA, and THE FLAPPER AFFAIR. 

I  asked her : what was the inspiration for THE GIRL IN THE JITTERBUG DRESS?

My main inspiration was a longing for my husband. He was active duty Navy and frequently deployed–gone for three, six, and even ten month boat debts, usually to the Middle East). We were struggling financially, and I was at home with two young children. I wanted to write about my love for swing dancing, vintage sewing, and retro living, (cocktails, crafts, thrift-shopping). I wanted to pretend he was still there, and we were out jitterbugging and competing in dance contests. And writing was cheap entertainment for my restless heart.

At the time, I was doing a lot of sewing from vintage patterns, creating matching outfits for my son, daughter, and me. I wanted to write about that process and how fashion can define you to the world, so I knew the book had to have a jitterbug dress. Then I started thinking about where that dress came from. Why the dress was made and who wore the dress. A story began to form.

I have always loved past decades, but none more so than the 1940s war years. The bravery of not only the soldiers, but the families and communities is inspiring, not to mention the big band music–a gorgeous soundtrack for the era. But as much as I love the 40s, women were just beginning to find their independence. I would not have wanted to be a woman growing up in that era. I like the rights and freedoms I have today. So, the thought came to me to write a parallel story of two women coming-of-age in two different eras: the 1940s and the 1990s. I liked the nifty, fifty year gap, too. And of course, somehow, they’d both have to wear the jitterbug dress at some point in time.

The 1990’s also happened to be the time of the swing resurgence and the era in which I learned to jitterbug. For me, both those snapshot in time are/were magical. I had fallen in love with a handsome guy that loved old movies, big band music, and vintage shopping as much as I did. We took dance lessons, and the life consumed us. As I sat alone at night with my two babes sleeping and my husband across the world, I wanted to recapture those feelings. I could do that with writing.

How about you introducing us to your main characters.

The story follows two young women as they transition from high school students to new adults. June, the 1990s character, is a smart, quirky girl who doesn’t quite fit in with her peers. That is until she finds swing dancing and the oddball gang of characters she eventually calls friends. She keeps her emotions private and doesn’t easily share the tragedy from her childhood. Though she tries to hide it and  doesn’t let it stop her from accomplishing her goals, she also suffers from un-diagnosed panic disorder.

Violet, in the 1940s, is a spunky, stoic, and somewhat cynical character who has had to drop out of high school to work and take care of her dad. Her mother left them after a shameful scandal. Violet has therefore become jaded about love, so when she suddenly falls for a jitterbugging sailor, she’s a bit lost.

How did they come about?

Both June and Violet are amalgamations of people I know, with little parts of me thrown into each of them. My dad was in the army, so we moved around a lot. I often felt like the outsider, being the new kid in town every year or sometimes every few months. Both June and Violet share those outsider feelings in different ways and for different reasons.

I’ve also known amazing open-minded people who inspired me to be a better person and caused me to question my perceptions. I imbue both June and Violet with self-analyzing inner dialogue as they make the transition into adulthood.

Because June has led a somewhat sheltered life, she starts off a little more emotionally immature than Violet. I wanted to highlight the differences and similarities of coming-of-age in the 1940s and the 1990s. I gave Violet more social and mental maturity, but more naivety about love and relationships than June.

Give us an idea how you wrote this book.

I had had early success in my writing career with poetry, poetry slams, and journalistic writing. I was editor-in-chief for two indie mags (From the Ashes: Arts Magazine, and Swivel: Vintage Living Magazine), so when I had the idea for the novel, I thought I could just sit down and write it. After all, I was a prolific reader. And with nothing but housewife boredom and time on my hands, how hard could it be?

Yeah, harder than I thought. To write a good novel that is.

For the first Girl in the Jitterbug Dress novel (it’s now a trilogy), I loosely plotted. I had a timeline with key events  that needed to happen to each character as they moved through the narrative, eventually meeting in June’s timeline (Violet as a mature woman). I was inspired by Jane Austen (yes, I went there), Margaret Atwood, (feminist themes), and at the time was reading Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Series (teen angst and first love). Those authors, and of course the bits of my favorite movies, got mashed up and put in the mix as I wrote, not to mention my love of literary language and poetry.

The first draft was a long hot mess with good characters and a cool parallel plot. Because I didn’t know any better, I overwrote everything with abundant details and too many backstory jaunts. Embarrassingly, I queried agents with the 250k manuscript, (oh yeah, two-hundred and fifty thousand words!). Of course I received rejections, but I also received asks for partials and complete manuscripts which told me the idea and characters were solid. When the manuscripts were ultimately rejected, I deciphered the agent-speak and figured out my tome was too long: “Are you planning on making this into two novels?”

I went back to editing. I cut out tons of backstory and description. Refined the dance scenes, making them more visceral. I gave my characters more nails in the road and save the cat moments. I cut the ms down to 150k. I experimented with POV and tense. Originally the ms had two first-person present tense narratives. I took the first three chapters and rewrote them in third- person present tense and third-person past tense. I sent them out to beta readers, along with the original first-person present tense. The response was overwhelming: go with third-person past tense. I rewrote the entire novel and cut it down to 125k.

I started learning how to write good novels, devouring writing-craft books. Went to writing workshops and watched writing webinars. Queried again, received requests, received rejections. Edited again based on agent comments. I found a content and developmental editor. Executed her suggested edits, combined characters, reduced 40s slang, tightened up, got rid of a few superfluous steamy scenes, and  cut the novel down to 110K. Queried again. This time receiving several offers for representation for digital first publishing. Researched the indie path and decided it was for me.

Now I’m on book five and still going strong.

And she is. Tam is part of my critique group, and one of the founding members. For the last five years we’ve met every Thursday, unless life intervenes.Tam is a master at getting rid of all the “he said” “she said” dialog tags. 

Thank you, Tam, for answering my questions. Good luck with your upcoming books.

You can buy Tam’s books here  Paperback and Kindle 

Her blog post is here http://www.girlinthejitterbugdress.com

I write entertaining books. You can find them at                     http://barnesandnoble.com/c/gretchen-rix  and http://smashwords.com/books/view/620213  and https://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix