Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do?
My name is May Lamar and I live in Alabama. I have been writing for a living for 30 years or so, starting with newspaper reporting and then on to advertising copywriting. My chicks are now out of the nest and off the payroll so for the past three years I have been able to write fiction. I still do a little magazine work. You know what they say about freelance writers, don’t you? “Freelance writers have the freedom to starve anywhere.”
What first inspired you to start writing?
I started writing poetry and songs when I was 11 or 12 (loved England’s Graham Nash by the way; loved Joni Mitchell, too, which is funny since Joni dumped poor Graham). I am a letter writer from childhood and still am. Wrote for the high school newspaper and then the college newspaper and then a real newspaper. I don’t know what inspired me to write. Likely it was other writers. I love to read and I love my favorite writers. Probably wanted to be like them.
And what attracts you to historical fiction?
I like to dig into stuff. I am a history freak. I like to hear old stories. If I had a time machine, I would go back rather than forward. Not sure where that came from.
If you could write anyone's biography, whose would it be?
I’m thinking Big Mama Thornton.
How do you get in the mood for writing?
I walk my dogs, feed the cats, play a little guitar, turn off my phone and sit down. This can take an hour or less.
What is your favourite song lyric?
“Took a drag of my 17th cigarette and watched my soul going down in the sunset.”
What advice would you give new and aspiring authors?
Persevere!
What are you working on at the moment?
I’m re-working a story about a folk singer that no one wanted a few years back. I still like the story but think it needs more juice than I gave it before.
Tell us about your latest work and how we can find out more.
My new novel is “Brother Sid, A Novel of Sidney Lanier.” He was a hard luck southern poet who never amounted to much until after his early demise, courtesy of a Civil War prison camp. He died happy because he, yes, persevered in spite of ill health, poverty and family pressuring him to be a lawyer. Amazon has a synopsis and some reviews.
Buy now from Amazon (US) | Buy now from Amazon (UK)
Thanks to May for sharing her thoughts with us, on Monday we welcome Stacy Bender to the hot seat.
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