Pump Up Your Book Chats with Historical Fiction Author Dot Ryan

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Editor’s Note: Dot will be right in this very spot live on Monday, Jan. 11 ‘10 from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., answering any questions you may have about her book. Leave a question or comment (along with your email address) and you may win a free copy!  One lucky reader has until 8 p.m.  eastern time on Jan. 11 for a chance to win a FREE autographed copy of Dot’s book, Corrigans’ Pool.  The lucky winner will be announced on Jan. 12.  Thank you and good luck!

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Dot Ryan and her husband, Sam, make their home in “The Sparkling City by the Sea,” Corpus Christi, Texas near their sons and daughters and grandchildren. She is busy writing the sequel to Corrigans’ Pool and is also drafting her third and fourth works of historical fiction.  Dot was born to an Irish father and a German mother, and raised in the small South Texas towns of Beeville and Skidmore, Texas by her cheerful, but no-nonsense mother and an army of maternal and paternal grandparents, aunts and uncles and, periodically during her formidable years between six and seventeen, Catholic school clergy.  In childhood, Dot was a pigtail haired tomboy with a passion for horses, swimming in the Aransas River, hanging by her heels from lofty oak tree branches, and running barefooted through the burning, Texas sands. Dot attributes her lifelong interest in history to the diverse cultures and personalities of her Irish and her German kin; most significantly, her two grandmothers, whose heavy German accent and thick Irish brogue are remembered now as music to eager ears.  Because of these two incredibly strong women and their mesmerizing stories of their ancestors’ arrivals in America, Dot’s dream of writing historical novels began early in her childhood, although it would not be until she had raised a family of her owner and finally completed her first novel, Corrigans’ Pool, that her dream of writing was validated.  You can visit Dot at www.dotryanbooks.com.

Thank you for this interview, Dot.  Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later?  Do you remember your first published piece?

Dot: Even before I had learned the ABC’S, I remember sitting on our rural front porch making up stories in my head about every thing I saw or heard—trains, stray dogs, horses, the old lady down the road who never waved back—then running into the house and telling them to my mother or anyone else who would listen.

Although I do not consider myself a poet, my first published piece was Ode to a Mean O’ Mare, a poem in which I used a horse as a metaphor for life’s troubles. The poem won third place in The Victoria Advocate’s (a newspaper in Victoria, Texas) Poetry contest a few years ago.

What do you consider as the most frustrating side of becoming a published author and what has been the most rewarding?

Dot: Getting the “powers that be” to read one’s manuscript. Your book could be the next best seller but if you can’t pin a great query letter, you might as well toss the manuscript in a drawer and forget it—unless, of course, you are stubborn enough and confident enough to take your chances and self-publish. The present slow economy has greatly impacted the publishing business, and writers are struggling harder than ever to get their books out there.

The most rewarding aspect is the actual writing. I get so involved in my scenes when writing that I block out all normal sounds and sights. It’s hard to explain, but it is very exhilarating to go to another world, time, and place.

Corrigans' Pool by Dot Ryan (click on cover to purchase)

Are you married or single and how do you combine the writing life with home life?  Do you have support?

Dot: Luck was smiling on me 27 years ago when I met the love of my life, Sam. This past August we celebrated twenty-five years of marriage. It was through my husband’s encouragement that my writing went to the front burner again and I finally continued the education that was interrupted years earlier when I married right out of high school.

Yes, the support I have is phenomenal.  Sam and I have six children between us, all of whom love the fact that I write. They even read what I write!

What do you like to do for fun when you’re not writing?  Where do you like to vacation?  Can you tell us briefly about this?

Dot: For fun, when not writing, I strum my old guitar and write Country songs, always with some famous country star in mind (like George Strait), but never send them to him. I stash my musical creations away with their counterparts in a battered old box in a closet.  Once, a fantastic Texas singer, Joel Nava, made demos of a few of the songs because my husband asked him to do so. We play them every now and then just to listen to Joel’s beautiful voice and reminisce about the days when we bought a Texas Dance Hall for investment property and wound up having to run it ourselves for seven years when we couldn’t find a manager! But that’s another book … a memoir.

For vacationing, I like the ocean. Fortunately, living in Corpus Christi, we don’t have to go far to enjoy a mini-vacation anytime we wish. When I need a break, Sam and I go down to the T-heads and feed the seagulls. There is nothing like a clean salt-sea breeze to relax the body and float the fog of writer’s block from the brain.

If you could be anywhere in the world for one hour right now, where would that place be and why?

Dot: You know, try as I may, I can’t think of a single place I’d rather be than where I am right now—unless I could go back in time and say “I love you” and “Thank you” to the mother and grandparents who were the definitive influences in my life and in my attitude about my fellow human beings. I may not have achieved anything especially great in my life, but now that I’m older, I look back on my family’s subtle lessons in humanity with a gratitude that I wish had been in place back then. Their absolute belief in the equality of all men and the way they handed down those beliefs through subtle example was—then and now—the most important lessons of my life.  I look at the world today and I wish my grandparents could have worked their magic on everybody of my generation and beyond; there would have been no cross-burning hate groups or rabid politicians ripping at each others throats to get the upper hand. There would be a loving circle of friendly human beings around a huge old dining room table, conversing amiably and working together to figure out what was best for everyone, rather than individuals or influential interest groups.  What an hour those family dinners were!

Who is your biggest fan?

Dot: Corrigans’ Pool recently received high praise from a Book Club group of ladies in Moon Township, Pa. I was thrilled! Pennsylvania is a long way from Texas and yet one of their members had read the book and suggested it to her group, and they loved it! You can’t ask for bigger fans than those who love your work!  When this also happened locally among my readers, I was giddy with delight. Nearly every reader wanted to know when the sequel would be out, and some went so far as to tell me who they wanted to appear in the sequel. I am listening to their every word.

Aside from the fans mentioned above, my husband brags on me far too much.

Where’s your favorite place to write at home?

Dot: I stay tucked away in my cramped little office (which was once our formal dining room) most of the time, but every now and then I take my laptop to the screened patio, breakfast area, living room, or a big, soft, floral chair in the corner of our bedroom.

What’s your favorite library and why?

Dot: When we lived in Victoria, Texas, I did a lot of research at Victoria’s University of Houston Library.  I also like the Victoria County Library and the Nueces County Library here in Corpus Christi where we now live. We moved her last year to be near our children and grandchildren.

What’s your favorite bookstore and why?

Dot: In Victoria, it was Hastings. Always helpful. Always friendly. Always smiling! Here in Corpus Christi, I am getting acquainted with our Barnes & Noble Store and Half Price Books. Both are great places, and I always look forward to visiting them.

I admit, though, that I love the convenience of ordering my books from the many online bookstores.  I stick with those who are selling my own book, Corrigans’ Pool, which is just about every online bookstore one can find. I’ve heard that online bookstore sales are surpassing brick and mortar stores, or soon will. The world is changing—we might as well hop aboard and enjoy the ride.

Do you have any pets?

Dot: Seventeen years ago, Sam and I adopted two tiny kittens from a large cage of wildly scrambling balls-of-fur at a Veterinary Hospital where we had taken our puppy, Dolly, for her shots.  Dolly died of old age fifteen years later. Our two cats (seventeen in June of this year) and still are with us and own the house. In animal years, that makes them 119 years old. Guess they have seniority.

What are you reading right now?

Dot: I recently finished reading Elisabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, and loved it. I suspect there is a little bit of Olive in all us gals past 40.

Although I lean toward writing Historical novels, I enjoy reading all types of genre, fiction and non-fiction.  This past summer, I re-read Oprah’s Book Cub 2005 Summer Selection of William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury and Light in August. I love Faulkner, although I once had an editor tell me that Faulkner would have a hard time getting published today. Who doesn’t?

Tell us a secret no one else knows.

Dot:  I fell madly in love with John Wayne’s Hondo character when I was a little girl.  I still think of him as my first love.

What’s the first thing you notice when you meet someone?

Dot: Their eyes. I can tell if they are nervous, shy, or indifferent. I try to put them at ease by not being any of those things.

Have you ever won anything?

Dot: LOL.  When I was ten years-old, I won $2.00 in an amateur contest singing Hank William’s Love Sick Blues. I could do that little yodel in my throat and it brought the house (tent) down with yelps and applause. My sister came in second and a friend came in third.  I wasn’t a better singer than they; I suppose the skinny, tom-boy-looking girl with pigtails to her waist and scabs on here knees appealed to the rural audience. That she had the nerve to try and sound like Hank Williams was also a vote getter … especially when she substituted “sweet da-a-da-a-dad-dee” with “sweet ma-a-ma-a-mom-ma…. ”

What’s on your to do list today?

Dot: Answering my e-mail, a fast trip to the grocery store, then cook the meals in between working on the sequel to Corrigans’ Pool.

I understand that you are touring with Pump Up Your Book Promotion in December and January via a virtual book tour.  Can you tell us all why you chose a virtual book tour to promote your book online?

Dot: Two easy answers: A lack of both time and knowledge to tackle the promotion on my own. After researching promotion sites, I was impressed by Dorothy Thompson’s experience and her thorough explanation and understanding of what it takes to promote a book these days. Because I have faith in my novel, Corrigans’ Pool, I wanted to give it the best possible chance to get noticed.  It would have never occurred to me to do what Dorothy does to promote her clients, nor can I afford to take months, possibly years to learn how. This way, I can spend my time doing what I love—writing!

Thank you for this interview, Dot. Good luck on your virtual book tour!

Dot: Thank you for inviting me!  Thanks to everyone who has read or will read Corrigans’ Pool. I hope you visit my website, dotryanbooks.com and leave your comments. My blog is on Wordpress, corrigansPool.wordpress.com.

You will also find me on Twitter, FaceBook, and others.

You can visit Dot’s tour page here to find out where she’ll be touring in December and January!