SUNDAY CHAT WITH VERA JANE COOK

 Today, I am in conversation with Vera Jane Cook, the author of Marybeth, Hollister and Jane. She's a writer of the Award Winning Southern and Women’s Fiction. Some of her other works include Dancing Backward in Paradise, The Story of Sassy Sweetwater, Where the Wildflowers Grow, Pleasant Day and Lies a River Deep. She also writes as Olivia Hardy Ray.

I recently read the author's brilliant latest 'Marybeth, Hollister and Jane' (review coming up) and I had had to know how she came up with its idea, and share it with you guys!

So TADA!

Welcome to the blog, Vera Jane Cook!

 

• When did you first start writing?

I believe I started writing young, surely in my teens. I started with diaries, which I kept for years and then I moved on to poetry. I did not write my first novel until middle age. I wish I had started younger, but I guess I was on the wrong course.

 

 

• What was your inspiration to write Marybeth, Hollister and Jane?

I remember the theft of the Eagle Diamond. It was big news at the time because of the unusual thieves themselves, not exactly professionals. The only thing not recovered from that heist at the Museum of Natural History was the Eagle Diamond. It seems three beach boys climbed the stone wall and broke in through an open window. It was most unusual but true. I once had a country house in the small upstate New York town of Callicoon, a likely inspiration. I am inspired as well by the idea of a secret society of Art Thieves. I get it.

 

 

• On average what was the writing process like on the journey of this novel?

I began Marybeth, Hollister & Jane while renting, and then eventually owning a country house in Callicoon, New York. The novel was published by a small press, but the editor hacked it to death, and I was disappointed by the edit. That small press went out of business and so I self-published the book, changing it back to the way I had originally written it. I was happy to have my novel back with all its missing parts. The book has been a ten-year process.

 

• Which books have greatly influenced your life?

There have been many. The very first novel I remember reading was a paperback called Hot Shot. I was ten years old and fell in love with books. That followed a real plunge into literature and my early loves  were The Picture of Dorian Grey, Wuthering Heights, Atlas Shrugged, 79 Park Avenue and A Stone for Danny Fisher. The influence was in the telling of the story and the use of descriptive language. Reading for me has always been a soothing drug.

 

• Which Authors Do You Mainly Read?

The authors I mainly read are Natalie Barelli, Lianne Moriarity, Gil Paul, Karen White, Beatriz Williams, Marius Gabriel, Anne River Siddons, Gillian Flynn, Wally Lamb and so many others……..

 

• Who are your top five favorite authors?

Sue Monk Kidd, Anita Shreve, Khaled Hosseini, Jodi Picoult, Nelson DeMille

 

• If you had the chance to invite any one character from Marybeth, Hollister and Jane, who would it be, and why?

Well, I don’t think I could invite Marybeth without inviting Hollister but because I appreciate their humor. I would love to spend an afternoon with them, a little wine, a little gossip and a trip to an antique store.

 

• What motivates you to write?

The sanity of my soul beckons, memory calls to me and my imagination pleads with me never to remain dormant.

 

• What's the best piece of advice you ever received as an author?

Don’t read negative reviews and never give up writing.

 

• What's the best piece of advice you want to share with other writers?

 Keep at it.

 

• Please describe one of the novels you've written as Olivia Hardy Ray.

Olivia Hardy Ray is my alter ego. She has gotten three published books out of me and two as yet unpublished. One is the sequel to Pharaoh’s Star, that’s s novel about the unknown, memory and how little we know about the universe. Are there aliens? Is this it? The first novel, Pharaoh’s Star reveals only the possibility that there might be. The sequel will go beyond possibility and reveal that there are.

 

• How did you come up with the idea for this book?

A fascination for the mystery around us, connection, God, karma and most of all the mystery of Time.

 

• What's in store next, for us, your readers?

My women’s fiction title Faith Among Friends will be published this winter. A story of friendship, connections and mistakes but also the bonds … the unbreakable ones.

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Check out the author's latest book (believe me, you should), Marybeth, Hollister and Jane here : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FXS3BFY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

Visit Vera Jane Cook : 

Amazon : https://www.amazon.com/Vera-Jane-Cook/e/B002BLWB2G%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1299520.Vera_Jane_Cook 

Website: https://verajanecook.com/

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