Thursday April 12th
Thanks for joining us and please welcome a wonderful author and a really great person,
Judy AlterHi Judy, so glad to have you here today, can you tell us a little about yourself?
Although I wrote about Texas and the
American West for years, I am not a native Texan. I was born in Chicago. Came to
Texas in 1965, got a Ph.D. in English at TCU, and worked at TCU Press, the book
publishing division of the university, for almost 30 years, over 20 of them as
director. I was the single parent of four for much of that time and wrote
fiction at night. A longtime member of Western Writers of America, I wrote what
are now considered western historical romances—Libbie, about Elizabeth Bacon Custer, Jessie, about Jessie Benton Frémont, and Sundance, Butch, and Me, about Etta
Place and the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. I retired from TCU in 2009 but didn’t
really retire—I just changed jobs. Now I write full time and am busier than
ever. But I’ve switched to cozy mysteries.
What
or who initially inspired you to become a writer?
I think I always wanted to write. I wrote my
first short stories at ten, submitted to Seventeen Magazine in high school
(promptly rejected), and have done public relation and publishing ever since
which is, to me, a form of writing. I kept going to graduate school and majoring
in English because I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I read all
the usual things—Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, Frances Parkinson Keyes, but I can’t
say there was any one inspiration. Reading and writing have been my life, and I
wouldn’t know what to do with myself now if I weren’t writing.
What
kind of research do you do for a novel and how extensive do you get?
For
western historical I did a lot of research because I wanted to get the history
straight. I read all of Libbie Custer’s memoirs and
lots of book about George Armstrong Custer; for Etta Place, I read a lot of
books but no one knows the true story and I ended up interpreting history my own
way.
For
my current mysteries, I don’t do much research—they’re set in the neighborhood
adjacent to mine that I know well—including the restaurants, schools, etc.,, and
they’re not police procedurals where I have to get things down right. The most
research I’ve done is on Craftsman houses, because my heroine, Kelly, is a real
estate agent specializing in renovating older homes and her neighborhood has
lots of Craftsman. That kind of research can be mostly done on the
Web.
Do
you have a special place you like to do your writing? Such as an office, a spare
room, the dining room table, your couch?
I have a wonderful office, made from a small
bedroom off my living room. It’s where I spend my life—if I’m eating alone, I
eat there; when I read late at night, I do so at my desk. I have book shelves
all over the house, but keep the books I refer to most often in my office. It
has French doors that open up to the living room and wonderful windows, so it’s
a cheery space.
As a
reader, what types of works do you like to read and do you think they influence
the genre/genres you write in?
I’ve read cozy mysteries all my life, and I’m sure
that influenced my writing today. I thought if others can write these, so can I.
I like Diane Mott Davidson’s culinary mysteries. Julie Hyzy’s White House Chef and curator of an old mansion books
(because cooking and old houses are two of my passions), along with some more
complex mysteries like Deborah Crombie’s Duncan
Kincaid/Gemma James books and the work of Julia
Spencer-Fleming. But I’m always delighted to find a new cozy author whose work I
enjoy.
What
is your favorite method of writing...as in laptop, desktop, Ipad or the old fashioned pencil and paper?? And do you plot
out your story or go with the flow of your muse?
I write on a laptop at my desk—but it has a remote
monitor and wireless remote keyboard and mouse. I’m spoiled. I don’t do well
with the laptop keyboard—really slows me down. I am definitely a pantser—I start with a rough idea of what’s going to happen,
get that first sentence, and go from there, though the first sentence changes
often during the process. When I wrote young-adult westerns, I used to sort of
plot—I’d number from one to ten and roughly figure out what was going to happen
in each of ten chapters. But as I neared the end of a current mystery, I still
had no idea who done it or why. Then inspiration struck. Of course I had to go
back and rewrite to stick in parts that made it plausible.
When
you need a break or some time off from the trials of being a writer, what can
you be found doing?
Taking care of a kindergarten
grandchild (every afternoon after school), eating out with friends or
entertaining at home, cooking and reading, plus caring for my two dogs. I
have a full and active life and don’t devote nearly as much time as I’d like to
writing.
Is
there anything about yourself nobody knows that you would like to share with our
readers??
My mother once said to me, “Do you have to tell
everything you know?” I’m afraid I’m an open book, and there’s not much people
don’t know about me, especially if they read my blog. I’m the besotted
grandmother of seven, but I drive a VW bug convertible because I didn’t want to
be a stodgy grandmother—and because I love VWs; I sort of always wanted to be a
chef, but now my feet and back wouldn’t take all that standing. I’m addicted to
Redstone’s milk chocolate with jalapenos and crushed peanuts, and I’m perpetually trying to
shed 15 lbs. I’m a vocal liberal in politics and an active member of my
church.
Where
can our readers find you??
Pinterest and Facebook - I spend way too much time on those sites, but I learn a lot and enjoy them.
Is
there an upcoming or current release you would like to share with us today and
where can we find it?
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Yes, definitely. My newest Kelly O’Connell
Mystery, No Neighborhood for Old Women,
http://www.amazon.com/Neighborhood-Women-OConnell-Mystery-ebook/dp/B007SH90OA/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334089214&sr=1-2
went up on Kindle and Nook on Monday, April 9. It will be in print by May 1 and
on other e-readers soon.
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In addition I’ve just put my 1990s novels, Libbie http://www.amazon.com/Libbie-Historical-Western-Romance-ebook/dp/B007Q3EJ74/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1334089097&sr=1-2)
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and Butch, Sundance, and Me http://www.amazon.com/Sundance-Historical-Western-Romance-ebook/dp/B007Q3LUGM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1334089155&sr=1-1
with ePublishing Works, so they’re available on
Kindle, Nook, and other platforms. Pretty exciting times for
me.
It's been wonderful having you here with us today. Before we let you leave, do you have a favorite
recipe you'd like to share? I like to cook and am always looking for new recipes
to try and share with others.
When
I had a signing luncheon at TCU, they served this dish.
One of my family’s favorites is
Doris ’ Casserole. A friend served this years
and years ago. I think it came from a Mrs. America contest winner and was simply
called Beef Casserole, but since the hostess was Doris, we call it Doris ’ Casserole to this day. Doris was the wife of a radiology resident who was in
training while my ex-husband was in surgical residency—we were all poor, and our
entertaining featured frugal recipes. I almost never see Doris these days but once when I did I told her how
important her recipe was in our family, and she barely remembered the dish. I
also found out that another friend at that party still serves it to her family
and calls it American lasagna.
First layer:
1 lb. ground beef
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic, crushed in garlic press
2 tsp each sugar and salt (I cut back on those but sugar is
important in tomato-based sauces—my mom taught me years ago it sort of rounds it
off.)
Pepper to taste
Brown ground beef in skillet. Drain grease and return to
skillet. Add tomatoes and tomato sauce, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper. Simmer
20 minutes, until it thickens a little, while you fix the noodle layer.
Noodle layer:
5 oz. (approximately—they don’t come in this size pkg.) egg
noodles
3 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 c. sour cream
6 green onions chopped, with some of the tops included
Cook egg noodles and drain. While the noodles are hot, stir
in cream cheese, sour cream, and green onions.
Layer meat mixture in a 9x13 pan.
Spread noodles over meat mixture.
Topping:
2 c. grated cheddar
Sprinkle cheddar over casserole, bake 35 minutes at 350 or
until bubbly and cheese is slightly browned.
Supposed to serve 8, but you’ll be lucky if you can feed six
with it. Freezes
well.
I have a
recipe for something called Hill Country Casserole, which is basically the same
thing, using ground venison. Haven’t tried it, but I bet it would be good. I
sometimes use ground bison in this and nobody can tell the difference—but it’s
cheaper and much better for you.
From Cooking My Way Through Life with Books and Kids
By Judy Alter
Readers, make sure not to miss these great books by Judy Alter!
Happy reading,
Krista
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