Pump Up Chats with Jeanne C. Davis – Author of Sheetrock Angel

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Jeanne C. Davis grew up in southern California then traveled the world as a Pan Am purser until she landed a job writing for the television series, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. She wrote, produced and directed the independent feature, The Uniform Motion of Folly. She is currently at work on her second novel which explores her life with Pan Am, and another feature film, Lip Service, along with a documentary about her family’s four generations in the carousel business. Visit www.sheetrockangel.homestead.com or SheetrockAngel on Facebook. You also can visit Jeanne’s website at www.bricolage-arts.com.

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

A: I kept a diary intermittently as a child, but began the practice in earnest when I joined Pan Am years ago. I wrote a radio comedy program while I was still working for the airline, then transitioned to television. My first produced piece of writing was an episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

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

A: By far the most frustrating thing is getting a wide audience. If I had Ashton Kutcher’s audience, I’d simply tweet, “Please buy Sheetrock Angel” and I’d be set. But fame is a double-edged sword. A dear friend is the former Chrystie Jenner who was mis-identified in a New York Times Style Magazine piece on the Kardashians. They used a picture of a stranger who looked nothing like Chrystie. When I got indignant about what I considered visual slander, she said she was quite happy that they didn’t use her picture and even happier that they didn’t use the name that she has used for thirty years. When you’re famous your life is no longer your own. I touch on that in the novel just from the minimal reflected limelight I’ve experienced. All this to say, I’d love to figure out how I can develop a wide readership while still being able to have my private life.

The most rewarding part has been the feedback from readers, particularly from strangers. My friends are very loyal so I don’t quite trust their praise.

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

A: I’m married and am lucky enough to have an understanding husband. We keep our expenses low so that I am able to devote a good deal of my time to my writing. I’m a decent – if plebeian – cook, so we rarely eat out, which helps the budget. I also consult which brings in enough to let me feel I’m carrying my own weight.

Can you tell us about your latest book and why you wrote it?

A: I’ve always been interested in how people navigate the world: what makes some people resilient while others crumble. My mother was prone to depression so it was always in the back of my mind that I might succumb one day. When I went through a depression after my divorce, I worried that it would become a habit. I upped the stakes and gave my character’s mother schizophrenia, threw in the pain from the divorce then braided a mystery utilizing those elements.

Sheetrock Angel is about Audrey James who struggles with divorce, the renovation of a rundown house, and the worry that she may be engulfed by mental illness. Having grown up with a mother who often conversed with people who weren’t actually there, Audrey does her best to deny that it could be happening to her. Are the current men in her life—the drywall taper, her ex-husband and his best friend—who they represent themselves to be? Audrey ponders all of these notions when she is presented with murder, kidnapping and a situation where any or all of her closest friends and colleagues could be involved. How can you know whom to trust when you can’t trust yourself? Her voyage of self-discovery coincides with her wade through the lies and half-truths woven for self-protection or in self-interest by her friends and acquaintances. When she begins to see that guilt and innocence are not always sharply delineated, she must finally make a conscious decision to trust. That decision allows her to be at peace with the result of both the mystery and her question of her own mental competence.

Can you share an excerpt?

A: It was nineteen-seventy and clothes designers were flirting with the outrageous, but Audrey’s mother clung to the Jackie Kennedy look for dressy daytime wear. She often wore a navy Courreges dress that had broad white boarders around the neck and sleeves and the same fabric in a strip down the front. Her mom’s taste around the house ran to costumes with a gypsy flavor, but when she would “go to town” she would don her Jackie tribute dress and wear the small, gold cylinder earrings which concealed cotton soaked in perfume. That perfume wafting through the house meant “town” to Audrey. It meant dress up, clean behind your ears and act like a lady. It meant a trip to the dentist and then lunch with her father afterward. Audrey searched her closet for the new skirt and blouse because she felt she was getting too old for kid’s clothes. Missing school was exciting, but tinged with a vague guilt. She had learned by example from her father to follow the rules.

Audrey ate the bowl of cereal with bananas that her mom left on the breakfast room table. Glancing out the front window she saw her mother talking to someone, though she couldn’t see whom. She picked up the pocketbook she had been delighted to find in her stocking last Christmas and positioned it carefully on her arm, as she had seen her mother do with hers. She walked painstakingly so that the purse wouldn’t move from its perfect position on her arm between wrist and elbow, and she was careful to pull the front door shut until she heard the click that she had been taught to listen for.

When she approached her mother, Audrey looked around but saw no one else.

“And furthermore, I see no point in arguing with you about this. You know I will prevail, I always do.” Her mother took a long drag on her ever-present cigarette. “I will do as I like whatever your feelings are on the matter.” Her mother was speaking in the dramatic tone she usually reserved for their play-acting. Audrey narrowed her eyes, trying to discern the person her mom clearly saw. Gingerly she circled her mother and the other entity, attempting to determine just where her mother’s eyes were focused. She speculated that this experience was like her current study of words in Miss Carol’s first grade class, where letters which she could identify singularly, suddenly took on a meaning when strung together, like: C‑A‑N‑D‑Y. Her mother obviously saw one of those grown-up secrets like the letters turning into words. Audrey accepted that she simply didn’t have the tools yet to decipher the experience.

Well, she had them now.

Where’s your favorite place to write at home?

A: Since we live in a one bedroom apartment, I’ve turned the dining room into an office. As I said, I have an understanding husband.

What is one thing about your book that makes it different from other books on the market?

A: It’s a hybrid genre, both a character story and a mystery story. My main character, Audrey, has to solve problems with her “self” while attempting to solve a murder. Throughout, she also contemplates bigger picture questions like the nature of angels vs. the nature of psychoses.

Tables are turned…what is one thing you’d like to say to your audience who might buy your book one day?

A: I hope it helps a reader to think about resolving any past issues, to live as fully in the present as possible and to believe in his/her own resilience. My advice if you’re a writer: Love your work. Keep your eyes off the prize and on the process. It may not be the formula for financial success, but it is for daily happiness.

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

A: Thank you. I’m very excited about it.

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Question of the Day

How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

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