GUEST - New author - Kathryn Magendie

Debra here…Please help me welcome one of Bell Bridge Books’ newest Southern authors. I got my partner-in-crime, Deborah Smith to ask Kathryn Magendie some questions about her brand new book (see below) and how she feels about writing. While Kathryn had been published in print and online magazines as well as wearing the hat of co-editor of The Rose and Thorn Literary Ezine, TENDER GRACES is her first published novel.

(By the way, TENDER GRACES is a beautiful and unflinching look at how we find our way home. Gorgeous writing.)

How much of you is in your protagonists Virginia Kate? Or Virginia Kate in you?

I wish I were more like Virginia Kate. She has a quiet studied way about her. She isn’t as chaotic and jittery as I am; even when she thinks she’s being jittery she really isn’t when compared to me. Besides, she has really great hair and I have this blob of brown stuff sitting on my pea-head. Tender Graces is fiction, but anytime you write a family saga, how can you not have events or thoughts or feelings or shadows of your own life, even if they sneak in there subconsciously (as some things did!)? But, Virginia Kate is so much her own person—I wish I knew her in real life. I’d like her. And I would hope she’d like me.

When your reader turns the last page of Tender Graces, what do you want them to take away from the experience?

I first want them to sit back and go, “Ahhh….” and feel a moment of completion and peace. I want them to feel Virginia Kate’s releasing. Then, I want them to feel regret that the story is over and that they must put down the book. I want regret to gnaw at them so much, they’ll pick up the book and read it again, and then email me and ask, “When are you going to finish the second book? Hurry up!” Yes, all that would be nice.

How important is the writing life to your sense of well-being?

When I do not write, I become anxious and a bit depressed. The body never lies. The body knows what I need, and it knows I need to write. When I do not work, when I try to flit around and do other things, my body lets me know in no uncertain terms that I best get back to it or I’ll continue to feel “off” and uncomfortable. I am extremely lucky I live in a quiet cove at Killian Knob in Maggie Valley, smack in the Smoky Mountains, that allows me the serenity to do what I love most. This is my dream life.

Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?

No, I don’t think so. Well, my mom says I talked about it when I was young and that my teachers thought my creative writing and reading skills were above the average student. I won a first place award in junior high school for a short story, and in high school my creative writing teachers encouraged me to do what I suppose I did well in—creative writing. But, I don’t have a moment in my memory when I knew this was what I’d do and how it would be My Life, my wonderful life. It was always about The Book. Books and libraries were my sanctuary, my love, my joy. I can’t imagine a world without libraries and books. I shudder to think of it; don’t you?

What are you working on now?

I’m working on the second book in the Virginia Kate Sagas. Virginia Kate is a woman around my age, and in Tender Graces she looks back at her life from about six years old to about sixteen. In the second book, she is looking at her life from college age to probably in her thirties—we’ll see where that goes. I also have another novel set here in the Western North Carolina Mountains….that one will wait for its right time, because for now, Virginia Kate has the loudest voice in my head.

If you write, what do you want the reader to feel when they close the book you’re working on right now? Readers let us know which books broke your heart because the pages ran out and the book was over!

Debra - How do you buy books?

Okay, I know this isn't about my first sale. But I'll get to that later in the month. Promise.

Today I want to pick your brain. I want to know how you decide which books to buy and where to buy them. First let me give you some context...

There's a debate in the industry about something called "returns."

Returns are the unsold books that the bookseller sends back to the wholesaler. Yep, you heard me. The bookseller doesn't have to be responsible for their inventory. They can (at any time) send books back to the wholesaler. No sales are ever really final unless you make the books NON-returnable.

This is a dirty word in bookselling. Booksellers hate non-returnable books. They won't usually order them for store shelves unless the bookseller is pretty darned convinced that book will sell itself. This business model evolved because publishers tried to get booksellers to take a chance on new authors. Somehow returnable books for "new authors" became returnable books for "all authors."

There has always been grumbling in the industry, but lately some not-so-small publishers are experimenting with non-returnable books. Returns are horribly costly for publishers.
As you might expect, the books returned are in pitiful shape after being shipped around the country four (4) times (first to the wholesaler, then bookseller, back to the wholesaler, and finally back to the publisher). The publisher generally has to pay for shipping twice which is why paperbacks are rarely returned. The covers are stripped off and returned for credit.

Massive amounts of books are printed and never sold. They're pulped usually. I could go on about the ins and outs of returns, but that's not the point. I just wanted you to know what returns are and how NOT having returnable books would affect shelf-space. (i.e. a book would get darned little of it.)

SO...how important is it to you that the book is on the store shelves? Is that how you make your buying decisions, by browsing the shelves every so often?

Or do you do most of your shopping online these days and add books to your cart until you're ready to order?

Are you willing to track a book down once you've found out about it?

Are you willing to ask your bookseller to special order a book for you?

We all love a bookstore, me included. But I rarely go to a bookstore to purchase a particular book. All my planned purchases are online. I buy more "planned" books than "browsed" books.

How do you buy books?