Sometimes it’s hard to write about a writer.
Especially one like Cindy Johnson, aka CL Johnson – the novelist – who was once an owner of a small-town grocery store and tavern in West Liberty where a moshed culture mixes with country darkness and the hissing of the gas and oil industry 10 months every year.
The stories she could tell, right?
Plus, Johnson is a mother and a widow who’s living an alone-life never expected. But now her daydreams and nightmares are colliding on her keyboard every time she sits to pen a new tale she’s telling.
This mission of hers – “Hiding, Hunting, Healing” – is a trilogy in form, one that begins in a Mountain State hallow in the first book before traveling swerves and curves to larger-than-life fiction in the second volume which is scheduled for release by the end of the month. Johnson tells the story of a girl named “Cami Sue,” a child born in the silence of West Virginia’s federally mandatory quiet zone in Pocahontas County who, once orphaned, leaves Appalachia for a journey to the commotion of creation.
“The character of ‘Cami Sue’ isn’t based on me, but people in the fiction business say it’s natural for writers to give their characters some of themselves. So, there are some similarities, but she’s really someone I’ve thought about for years. She’s just a woman I created,” Johnson explained. “The more the story goes, the more you earn about Cami Sue and about the life she created.”
When a writer writes about another writer, there are comparisons made involving preparation and process. How do they record ideas? Is there an outline, set writing hours, and a schedule for rewrites?
With Johnson, though, it’s all been unrehearsed.
“I’m very lucky when it comes to my writing because I’m retired and I can make my schedule whatever I want it to be,” Johnson said. “I also live by myself so, when something hits me, I usually can stop what I’m doing and write it down or pick up where I left off whenever I want to. I know other writers go about it differently, and maybe I’ll get to where I am setting certain hours, but I’m not there yet.
“It starts from the broad story I have in my head, and I go from there during the writing process. I get a lot of the story down on paper, and then I start writing from those notes. Once I get it all out of my head, I sit back, look at it over and over again, and I usually rewrite it three or four times before my editor sees anything. Some authors edit as they write, but that’s not me.”
Another positive change Johnson made for her second and third books was hiring the editor.
“It’s been a learning curve, and writing a book is a totally different animal than any other writing I’ve ever done in my lifetime. The mistakes I made in “Hiding” didn’t hurt the actual story, so that’s OK, and I feel like my writing now is smoother than it’s ever been,” Johnson explained. “I believe a writer improves more and more with the more they write, but I’ve learned how important it is to have an editor.
“At least that’s been my experience. And now, writing seems as if it comes easier.”
Fiction Back to Reality
Fiction writers are reviewed. Fiction writers are compared and criticized and chided and fiction writers are advised, and they’re offered story angles, too.
Johnson has encountered all of the above.
“As the author, I get a lot of rave reviews, but I think part of that is that no one is going to tell the author their work is a piece of junk,” Johnson said with a giggle. “I think the people who don’t like my stories just don’t say anything. All kidding aside, I have had good friends offer me their thoughts on my first book, and I’ve taken all of it into consideration because that’s what constructive criticism is all about
“I have had friends call me with ideas for twists in the story, and I think it’s really a neat thing that people get so involved with the story I’m telling that they can make those kind of suggestions,” she continued. “How cool is that? I jot all of those ideas down to consider when I get to that part of the story because that’s all part of the process now.”
Most importantly, writers write, and the more they write, the better the writer they become.
“When I started this idea of a trilogy, I was doing it for myself. It was a goal because I had always talked about it while I was doing all of the other things,” Johnson explained. “When the first one came out, my community circled the wagons and told me to hold on because they were going to take me for a ride. And they sure did.
“Once I get it all together after the re-writes, that’s when it goes to the editor, so that takes another couple of months,” she said. “And thank goodness my editor is very patient with me because she goes beyond the usual editing duties and discusses the story with me, too. It is a process, for sure, but it’s all parts of making this dream of mine come true.”
Johnson will welcome readers to her “Beverages, Bites, and Books” launch party at Belmont Brewerks on Tuesday, July 30 beginning at 5 p.m. Admission to the event is only $10 and it includes one drink, a selection of appetizers, and the discussion with the author. Johnson also will have copies of the new book, “Hunting”, for sale at the launch.
“I have to express so much appreciation to Rick and Heather Veon at Belmont Brewerks because they’ve invited me to do a second book launch at their restaurant again, and that just means so much to me,” Johnson said. “As soon my first book published, they reached out to me to do an event, and they’ve done just that again, and I can’t wait. Since it was announced, more than 20 people have confirmed they’ll be there.
“The gathering will just be a group of people talking about the new book (“Hunting”), how it ties into the first book (“Hiding”), and where’s the story going for the third (“Healing”),” the author added. “It’s a trilogy, and I have the story for the third book in my head and I’m working on it now.”
