Gale Martin, Author of "Grace Unexpected", Is Exactly How I Expected Her to Be!

One week ago today, I took some time off from work, picked up my friend Paula who happens to live in my small hometown of Canterbury, Connecticut, and pointed the car north to make the drive to the small town of Canterbury, New Hampshire. We weren't heading that way simply to see another small town named Canterbury - nope, we were on a mission.  A mission to at long last meet a woman whom I first got to know through this very blog way back in the Golden Glory Days of Blogging when memes were all the rage and there were awards for just about anything you could think of!

I can't pinpoint the exact time that I made Gale Martin's acquaintance but I'm guessing it was sometime in early 2007 when this blog was still in its infant stages. At that time Gale wrote a blog titled "Gem-osophy" - for which she won the Post of the Day Award from The Rising Blogger back in April of 2007 - and one of the things that she spoke of was the writing she was doing on a novel that had the working title "Savage Grace".

It was easy to tell that Gale had the chops to be a real bona fide novelist and if the finished product turned out to be anywhere near as witty and snarky and fun as the writing on her blog was, it was sure to be a bestseller.  However, trying to write both a blog and a novel was proving to be a little difficult - something that I have no trouble believing at all as I have problems just writing multiple blogs never mind trying to write a real book!

When Gale got bogged down in her writing, another blogger by the name of Frank (of Foxxfyrre's Honk'n'Holl'r) became the Chief Yell Leader and rallied a group of bloggers to become the Gale Martin Unofficial Cheering Squad  so that we could encourage Gale to keep working on her novel. That encouragement came in the form of a Gem Rocks! visual aid, encouraging posts from the UCS members, and even a "Dark and Stormy Meme" project designed to showcase some truly horrible writing that would hopefully provide Gale with a laugh or two while she showed us how the real writers did it.

Then the dust kinda settled and people sorta lost touch and though Gale continued to work on "Savage Grace", nothing really came of it for awhile. I don't believe that we necessarily stopped cheering for Gale but we did it separately rather than as a group.  I know I always hoped that "Grace" would eventually see the light of day in book form but I figured I was just going to have to be patient. Not one of my strong suits but I can pull it off occasionally!

In the meantime, while I was being patient, Gale had started another novel which turned out to be just as witty and snarky and fun as Grace was going to be except that this one was titled "Don Juan in Hankey, PA" and this one was accepted by a publisher who had the good sense to see what the rest of us already did when it came to Gale - she's a writer who brings her characters to life, who tells a story that you totally enjoy, and who writes dialog like (as my old Gram B would say) nobody's business!

Not only was "Don Juan in Hankey, PA" published but it was named a Finalist in the 2012 National Indie Excellence Awards for New Fiction which I've got to think is pretty darned good for a first novel and the reviews on Amazon.com have been nothing but glowing ...

"Like a fabulous production, DON JUAN IN HANKEY, PA seethes with wild jealousies, convoluted mysteries, wry comic turns, resident ghosts, mysterious assailants, bold intrigues, longing, love, lust, and - of course - plenty of opera. Gale Martin's novel is 'meraviglioso!'" - Lenore Hart, author of BECKY

"Hold onto your libretti! Gale Martin takes opera, and mayhem, to new heights in her laugh-out-loud, rollicking, confection of a novel. One part romance, one part mystery, DON JUAN IN HANKEY, PA will sweep you off your feet. You won't want to put it down!" - Nina Solomon, author of THE SINGLE WIFE

"A lively romp about a dysfunctional, small-town opera guild. Martin writes about the Pennsylvania Dutch and opera fanatics with the same verve that Garrison Keillor writes about Minnesota Lutherans and public radio." - Richard Fellinger, author of THEY HOVER OVER US

Gale had arrived and I couldn't have been happier for her if I tried! I absolutely loved "Don Juan in Hankey, PA" but I had to wonder ... what had happened to "Savage Grace"?  Well, I didn't have to wonder for very long at all for after the success of her first book, it wasn't long before it was decided that "Savage Grace" was finally going to be published only she wasn't savage anymore, she was unexpected.

"Grace Unexpected" - which had started out as an idea after Gale had visited one of the few remaining Shaker Villages in New England with her daughter - the very book that we members of the Unofficial Cheering Squad had chanted "Go Gale Go!" for - was now a reality!  Once again, I couldn't have been happier for Gale if I tried.  To know that all of that hard work and dedication and creativity hadn't gone for naught but had become the book that we always thought it would be just tickled me pink and then some as it validated that which I always knew to be true - that Gale Martin is a woman who can write and write well and make people laugh and take them out of their own worlds and into one that she has created for awhile with that writing.  And isn't that the true hallmark of a good writer? Someone who can tell a story so well that when you look up from the book you think, "Dang ... I've been reading for hours and never even noticed!"

So, anyway ... I have obviously digressed and lost track of my own story!  The reason that my friend Paula and I made the 2-1/2 hour journey from Connecticut to New Hampshire was because I was at long last going to have the opportunity to meet the woman that I had cheered on and admired and I was going to meet her in the very place where Grace had started - at the Canterbury Shaker Village in Canterbury, New Hampshire.

Even though the forecasts had been threatening rain, it turned out to be a beautiful day (though slightly warm at times) but I think the real beauty of the day was in meeting Gale and finding her to be exactly who I always thought she was - a woman with a great sense of humor, a terrific smile, a sharp wit, and just a lot of fun to be around.  The added bonus was that her husband Bill is the perfect partner for her and I could easily see why "Grace Unexpected" is dedicated to him "... with all of her love."  If we were cheering her on ourselves - and we were, we were! - I've got no doubt that Bill has always been Gale's biggest and bestest cheerleader and always will be.  They are the type of couple that when you meet them you think, "Yep, this is what a loving relationship is all about."  And then you go in the corner and cry because you don't have one yourself!  Well, no, not really ... I couldn't find a private corner ... and I didn't have any tissues ...

After introductions and chatting for awhile, Gale, Bill, Paula, and I took the guided tour of the Shaker Village and had a chance to go into the Meetinghouse where Grace has her epiphany (if you can call it that) along with a few of the other buildings that you can only see via guided tour.  Following that, we looked around a little bit and found the very spot that appears on the cover of "Grace Unexpected" - minus the daisies!

Oh wait - wrong book! That sneaky Don Juan just had to get in on the act! 

There we go!  Gale doing her best imitation of Grace - though I made her face forward so that you could see her big smile rather than stand with her back to the camera!  

Bill was nice enough to take a photo of Gale and I (which considering we were squinting into the sun didn't come out too badly!) so someday when Hollywood gets around to making movies of her two books - and they'd better if they know what's good for them! - I have photographic proof that I met Gale and "knew her when"!  Maybe a copy of the photo will get me into the opening night premiere! 

I have to say that over the years, I have been very, very fortunate to have met a lot of people in real life whom I first got to know via blogging and it is always a true pleasure and honor to do so. Gale was certainly no exception to that and I would have happily driven twice the distance to meet her and her wonderful husband but there was certainly something even more special about meeting Gale in the place that inspired Grace. And I'm not just saying that because I am mentioned in the Acknowledgements and there's even a character in the book named after me. Srsly. But I'm not saying anymore about that so you'll just have to get the book and read it to find out who and what my character is! Other than wicked awesome of course!

Thank you, Gale (and Bill!), for driving over from Vermont and getting lost and locking both sets of keys in your car and having to wait for the AAA guy to get there so that you could meet me in Canterbury!  Thank you for writing such a funny, witty, and fantastic book - two of them as a matter of fact!  And thank you not being unexpected at all but exactly the person that I expected you to be - and more!

You are my idol.

Q&A With Gale Martin, Author of "Don Juan in Hankey, PA" and "Grace Unexpected"

Just a few days over five years ago, I wrote a blog post wherein I called for others to help cheer on my blogging friend Gale Martin by joining the The Unofficial Gale Martin Novel Writing Cheering Squad  which was headed up by Frank of Foxxfyree's Honk'n'Holl'r. In order to inspire herself to spend less time blogging and more time diligently working on her novels, Gale told us ""For me blogging is like candy. It's a treat, like the one or two Swedish fish I have when I want to treat myself. In order to make myself finish my book, I'm only posting a blog entry if I've written three pages toward completing one of my two unfinished novels."

Wanting very much to see Gale's novel see the light of a publisher's office, we cheered her on in her endeavours with chants of "Go Gale! Go Gale! Go Gale!" but then it seemed that life got in the way and in spite of our very enthusiastic encouragement and cheering, things slowed down. BUT - and here's the important part - things didn't stop and last year I was overjoyed to learn that Gale's novel "Don Juan in Hankey, PA" was being released.  Granted, we had been cheering on a different novel with a working title of "Savage Grace" but that didn't matter one iota as DJ in HPA (as I've come to call it) was a wonderful read full of characters that came to life, humor, romance, and opera - something I didn't know much about but definitely learned during the course of reading about a small-town opera guild and their efforts to keep their heads above water by staging a production of "Don Giovanni".  DJ in HPA was one of those books that I just hated to see come to an end as I wanted to read more about the characters' adventures and lives and as I closed the book I thought "that couldn't possibly be it, could it??"

Fortunately for me, Gale is now working on a companion book to DJ in HPA but in the meantime, that novel that we were cheering on long ago is finally being published by Booktrope under the title "Grace Unexpected" and I couldn't be happier or more excited if I tried.  Yes, part of it is because there's a very small character in the book named after me (woohoo!) and part of it is because I am listed in the acknowledgments (what a treat!) along with Frank and other members of the unofficial cheering squad but mostly because Grace Savage has been waiting patiently to come to life full of snark and humor and sarcasm (a gal truly after my own heart!) for way too long and I am thrilled to see her finally make her debut.

I am also very, very happy for Gale who I knew was a fantastic writer long before other folks in the publishing world finally figured it out!  I'm so glad that the light finally went on for them and I hope that as more and more people read Gale's novels, they too will see that she was a talent who was undiscovered for way too long!

In the meantime, as part of this week's book launch for "Grace Unexpected", it was my pleasure to ask Gale a few questions about herself and her new novel as well as one about "Don Juan in Hankey, PA".  I hope you'll take the time to read the Q&A but more importantly, I hope you'll take the time to read one of Gale's books.  Afterward feel free to come back and tell me, "You were right, I loved the books and I want more!"

So Gale, let's get to it, shall we?

Which came first? The Shaker Plan or the main character?

The character Grace Savage preceded the Shaker Plan. It’s her essential nature - fun-loving and earthy (okay, too fun-loving) - that drives the conflict, that ramps up the stakes of the story. If there had been no need for Grace to reform - to change her ways - the Shaker Plan would’ve have been unnecessary.

How much like Grace Savage are you?

That’s a fair question. I think there’s a bit of yourself in every character and even more of you when you have a single protagonist through which you filter a tale. In some ways, Grace is my wish fulfillment. I always wanted to travel broadly, so I made Grace a great traveler though I myself am not well traveled. Same thing goes for boobs. Grace has great ones, and I . . . well . . . *author mumbles incoherently into her shirt sleeve.*

Besides grade-A tatas, you also can endow your characters with qualities you wish you exhibited more often. For instance, Grace is braver than me - I never would’ve abandoned someone like Lacy in the Nutshell. Grace is also more quick witted. Let me rephrase. I may think witty things, but I am not often inclined to share them for a myriad of reasons - job, family, decorum, hang-ups. By the way, I’m very funny when I do puppetry, too. Speaking through another persona in literature or through the medium of a hand puppet is liberating for me. These conventions allow me to let my hair down, so to speak.

Compared to most people, I believe I had an unusual reaction when I visited Shaker Village at Canterbury. While I was inspired by the order and the ingenuity of the Shakers, I thought it was a shame that generations of women bought into the myth that they couldn’t be the equal of men without sacrificing intimacy with them. Take that reaction and torque it up a few degrees for someone in her thirties who is in the prime of her mating and baby-making years, and you have a Grace Savage-scale response to the Canterbury settlement tour.

In terms of Grace’s libidinous character, well, I’ve been married for at least two decades—to the same person. So, I was relying on anecdotal information about the sex and mating habits of unattached young people. I am always surprised when women presenters at writing conferences say things like, “Oh, I’m just so glad I didn’t have to put any *looks around nervously* s-e-x in my book for it to be published,” like sex is evil or degrades fiction automatically with its inclusion. Why sex makes for such objectionable content in fiction written by women, other than in bodice rippers, is beyond me. It’s an important part of life. And if I were young and attractive and also unattached like Grace, it would be an important part of my life, too.

Did you know a lot about anthropology before you wrote the book?

Nada. Ah, and this is one of the things I love about writing fiction. I knew nothing about anthropology. Never even took a course in college. Only ever watched Indiana Jones movies. However, I have lots more interest in things like anthropology as I get older than I did when I was younger. Believe it or not, even for writing contemporary fiction, you have to do research. I have two big fat three-ring binders full of articles I used to do research for GRACE U. I even researched hot air ballooning and romantic hot air balloon getaways to write the book. Also things like weirdo freaky car shut downs on highways, and, of course, more Shakespeare. Even English majors can study more Shakespeare.

I probably couldn't write good dialogue if my life depended upon it so how did you get so good at writing dialogue?

Thank you for noticing that. I had a contest judge tell me my dialogue was the best of any entrant’s which was nice to hear since I didn’t win the contest. My first novel had no virtually no dialogue in it - that’s the truth. It was autobiographical fiction, and I was afraid to let my characters talk -- that I wouldn’t reproduce the conversations with enough authenticity. (And now they won’t keep quiet.) Actually, I read Gloria Kempton’s book on how to write dialogue called Dialogue  (from the Writer’s Digest Write Great Fiction series), did all the exercises, and rewrote that first book. Gloria’s handbook made all the difference for me. Then I took a class from her (online) and showed her everything I learned. Now, I like dialogue so much, I think I should write plays or something. I also LISTEN to how people really talk wherever I go. I’m a huge eavesdropper, just trying to catch the authentic flavor of casual conversation.

I also learned to write other stories besides things that have actually happened to me because fictionalizing your own life can be very limiting. Often, you can’t let go of such a limiting perspective in trying (too faithfully) to record what really happened and what was said. I honestly think my best dialogue and my best stories are yet to come.

What was the hardest part about writing your new book?

I wanted Grace to be a sympathetic character but I didn’t want her to be pathetic. Or too perfect. I honestly hate too-perfect women - like all the heroines in Mary Higgins Clark’s books. (Yes, I read them because she has an effortless writing style that I admire. Yes, I hated her protagonists.) Yet, you can’t give a character too hard of an edge or your reader might not like her. Striking that balance is difficult.

While it’s easy to make a 24-year-old guy appealing, how do you make your reader believe that Grace might be attracted to a 60-something man, who is more than 20 years her senior? There is a prototype for True from real-life. When I was 34, I did a benefit with a man in his sixties. Developed a total crush on him. Yes, I was married. It was one of those crushes-from-afar type attractions. But he was so talented and suave and confident that (unbeknownst to him) he became a character in a book I wrote fifteen years later. I attempted to tap into some of the feelings I experienced upon meeting and befriending this older gentleman all those years ago. Some people you never forget.

If you could take one character from “Don Juan in Hankey, PA” and one character from “Savage Grace” and combine the two as subjects for your next novel, which ones would it be and why?

Now there’s a doozy of a question. I think I would have Arnaud meet Goody. Perhaps Arnaud would hire Goody to run the balloon store since he’s so busy with his volunteer work with the guild. It would also be tempting to put Leandro Vasquez together with Lacy McBride. The man might meet his match in that vixen. Surely such a pairing would make for steamy scenes (except that I’m not a great steamy scene writer—more like funny and steamy - with the promise of sex fizzling out by the end of the scene for one reason or another.)

Gale Martin’s humorous backstage novel Don Juan in Hankey, PA was published by Booktrope Editions in 2011. She has a master of arts in creative writing from Wilkes University. She has worked in higher education marketing for ten years and lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a rich source of inspiration for her writing. Her blog “Scrivengale” can be found on her website at http://galemartin.me.

An online book launch for GRACE UNEXPECTED continues through July 20 at Gale Martin’s website: http://galemartin.squarespace.com/grace-unexpected/. Win one of 30 different ebooks from dozens of authors, copies of GRACE UNEXPECTED, or the grand prize - a big bag of paperback books by stopping in during that week and signing the guestbook.

In addition, there are a limited number of print review copies available and numerous ebooks for early readers on a first-come, first-served basis. Simply email galemartin (dot) writer (at) gmail (dot) com to request one.

You can find Gale at:
Website: http://galemartin.me
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Gale_Martin (@Gale_Martin)
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/GaleMartinAuthor
Email: galemartin (dot) writer (at) gmail (dot) com