What Writers Inspired Me

Hi all!  Welcome Shannon Baker to Killer Hobbies today as part of the Sisters in Crime Blog Hop! Shannon is the author of the awesome Nora Abbot mystery series.  Check it out, or even better, buy it!

I credit Helen Hooven Santmyer for inspiring me to write novels. Way back in the early 80’s I read her sweeping novel, And Ladies of the Club.  I loved that book.

At the time, I just had my first baby and lived on a cattle ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills. I felt lonely and completely out of my element. Despite having business career aspirations and sporting a shiny new college degree, I’d married a rancher and moved to rural isolation. In my youthful optimism, I figured I’d find some sort of business in which I’d excel. I hadn’t accounted for the absolute ruralness and my natural tendency toward laziness.

Still, I felt stunted intellectually and creatively (motherhood can have that affect) and toyed with the idea of writing books. I certainly read a lot. When I fell in love with And Ladies of the Club, I thought, “I’d love to write a book like that someday.” Then I read Santmyer published the book at age 88 and that it took her 50 years to write it. If it was going to take 50 years for me to write a book, I decided I’d better start right away.

I began with baby steps. I wrote articles, essays, short stories. I even covered sports for a local newspaper. I started selling a few things and gaining more confidence. I eventually wrote a super-bad novel. Then another one. Those led me to Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, a group dedicated to helping writers publish in commercial fiction. That group is the most amazing collection of writers in the universe. Through the yearly conference I learned the basics, then the business and after all the required hours and words written, I finally published a thriller in 2010 and then the Nora Abbott mystery series with Midnight Ink. (Tainted Mountain 2013, Broken Trust 2014, and Tattered Legacy 2015).

Along the way, I’ve gained inspiration from others, specifically Mari Sandoz. Sandoz grew up in the Nebraska Sandhills, in the early part of the 20^th century, when survival was a full-time job. Her abusive father thought writers were less than worthless. Yet Sandoz prevailed. She suffered more rejections than would stymie almost anyone else. At one point, she piled all of her manuscripts in her backyard in Lincoln, Nebraska and burned them. But she went on to become a bestseller, an award winner, and an icon. And she started out in the same harsh bit of the country where I’d placed myself.

Other writers come to mind when I think of inspiration. In A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley wrote about rural America. Barbara Kingsolver is a goddess. Any time I feel lost or like throwing in the towel, I reread Stephen King’s On Writing, and I’m back at the keyboard.

I probably will never write an epic like And Ladies of the Club. And I’ve read so many amazing books since then that make me wish I could write them. But Santmeyer’s long journey made me realize I had to start and set me on the road to creating my own stories. I don’t know whether to thank or curse her!

What stories have inspired your life?

 

Shannon Baker

 

 

Shannon Baker writes the Nora Abbott Mystery Series, a fast-paced mix of murder, environmental issues and Hopi Indians published by Midnight Ink. Tainted Mountain, the first in the series is set in Flagstaff, AZ and is a New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards finalist. Broken Trust, book two of the series, takes place in Boulder, CO and was released in March. She is 2014 RMFW Writer of the Year. She is a member of SinC and MWA. Visit Shannon at www.Shannon-Baker.com.

 

 

 

Don’t Worry, Be Hopi: Guest Post by Author Shannon Baker!

 

Hi all!  Please welcome my friend and fellow Midnight Inker Shannon Baker to Killer Hobbies today.  Take it away, Shannon!

I’ve been lucky to have lived in some pretty terrific places in the last ten years counting the Rocky Mountains and the Grand Canyon as my backyards. I am looking forward to setting down some deeper roots in 348 days when we plan to move to Tucson. But in the interim, we’ve taken up temporary residence in rural Nebraska. While I thought I’d escaped from here long ago, I have to admit to one thing that’s made the stay bearable.

I haven’t been able to plant a garden for several years, either because I lived in a townhouse without a yard or because I lived in Flagstaff where the growing season is five days and volcanic rock for soil. I’m particularly excited this year because after researching and writing about the Hopi tribe in Northern Arizona, I have a whole new appreciation for gardening.

Traditional Hopi culture is ancient and intricate. When Hopi emerged from the Third World to the Fourth, where we live now, they were given instructions from their Spiritual Guide (I won’t use his name here because a traditional Hopi friend asked me not to put it in print). Among other things, he told the people to live simply, practice self-denial and self-sufficiency. Along with telling them how to live, he gave each of about 30 clans a strict calendar of ceremonies and rituals and encouraged them to blend with the land and celebrate life.

The Guide gave Hopi responsibility to balance the entire world by maintaining the ceremonies and living according to His instructions. Hopiland is a microcosm of the world so what happens there will be intensified in the world. As it happens, young Hopi are leaving the reservation, decimating some clans, causing others to take up the slack. Climate change, severe weather disturbances, increased social conflict and cosmic dangers are the result of this lack, according to some Hopi traditionalists. This imbalance is telling us the Fourth World is nearing its end and with it, most of us will die.

But we don’t need to panic. Because the Guide predicted this state of affairs and He also gave the People a way to forestall or even halt disaster. There is a whole list of instructions that deal with living simply, being kind to each other and respecting Mother Earth. Of course, there’s more to it than what I’ve said but that’s for another day.

This summer, I’m interested in one particular instruction. He told us--all of us--not just Hopi, to:

PLANT THINGS

 

According to Hopi, the subsistence cycle contains four phases: planting, cultivating, harvesting and thanksgiving. This is the ceremonial cycle. For Hopi, farming is not just a chore, it’s sacred. Through the cycle, you grow ever closer to Mother Earth and the rest of creation.

We’re told to plant in good humor and to sing to the seeds, and later seedlings and plants and to harvest in thanksgiving. If we do all of this, the bounty of the garden is not counted in pounds of vegetables but in health and healing of the planet and mankind.

Those are pretty lofty ideals for my little backyard vegetable garden. I won’t admit to singing to my plants. I might just hum or whistle and sing a ditty under my breath, you know, as I do most of the time anyway. I don’t talk to them, either. Not any more than I talk to myself regularly.

Mostly, I’m excited to see them grow noticeably from early morning to evening. I’m trying not to be too alarmed by the summer squash, zucchini, and acorn squash who are overtaking everything and soon will start banging on my back door. So far we’ve enjoyed carrots, beans, beets, squash, peppers, more radishes than is prudent. The tomatoes are turning red ever so slowly but are so close!  

 

If I’m doing my part to save mankind, that’s a nice side effect.

Do you have any “instructions” on living for a more spiritual or environmental or happier existence?

Shannon

Shannon Baker writes the Nora Abbott Mystery Series, a fast-paced mix of murder, environmental issues and Hopi Indians published by Midnight Ink. A lover of western landscapes, Baker can often be found backpacking, skiing, kayaking, cycling, or just playing lizard in the desert.  Tainted Mountain, the first in the series is set in Flagstaff, AZ and is a New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards finalist. She serves on the board of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and is a member of SinC and MWA. Visit Shannon at www.Shannon-Baker.com.

About Broken Trust

Nora moves to Boulder and  lands a job as an accountant at an environmental non-profit. But the trust is rife with deceit and corruption. Nearly half a million dollars is missing and one person has already been killed for knowing too much. Complicating matters are Nora's uninvited visitors: her mother, Cole Huntsman, and a Hopi kachina that technically doesn't exist. As the body count climbs, Nora races to stop a deadly plot to decimate one of the planet's greatest natural resources.