Category: Carla Stewart

July 25, 2011 / Carla Stewart / 19 Comments »

Monday chat with Carla Stewart

Today at Edgewise I am happy to have as my guest a good friend and fellow writer, Carla Stewart. Her second book, Broken Wings has just hit the streets to great reviews. Carla’s debut novel, Chasing Lilacs, was stunning. Truly. When I read it I knew she was on her way to a great career in fiction. I encourage you to read them both! You won’t be disappointed.  And I encourage you to read to the end of this blog post. 
Because you don’t be disappointed there, either.



Broken Wings centers around two women. Mitzi Steiner is the second half of a singing duo that captured America’s heart for more than two decades. But now Mitzi’s beloved husband is disappearing into the nether world of Alzheimers, leaving Mitzi alone and pondering. On the other side of Tulsa, Brooke Woodson has met the outwardly perfect man — a handsome lawyer with sights on becoming Tulsa’s next District Attorney. But his drive for success comes   with a nasty side effect. He channels all his anger over his own disappointments onto Brooke. Onto her heart and onto her body. An accident lands Brooke in the hospital where Mitzi volunteers, and the two women develop an unlikely friendship. With Mitzi’s kindness and insights, Brooke learns how to pick up the broken pieces of her life.
So let’s get right to the heart of Broken Wings.

Edgewise: Where did this story spring from? 

Carla: It began with a short story I wrote a number of years ago based on my own family’s tales about the Great Depression and Black Sunday in particular. In “Sand Plum Summer,” three orphans were taken in by a farm family when their mother perished in the worst dust storm in history.

I loved this story and thought of the characters from time to time. It was almost like they were waiting backstage for their cue to make an entrance. It kept coming back to me that the oldest of those three orphans surely had a story to tell. Then one day I read a newspaper article about the possible renovation of Tulsa’s Big Ten Ballroom, a jazz hall in the forties and fifties. I knew at once my little orphan had grown up to become a jazz singer. She would be quite elderly now, of course, but perhaps she needed to tell her story. Once I had a starting place and Mitzi in mind, the plotting and story took off from there.

Edgewise: Who are you most like in the story, Mitzi or Brooke? Carla: Definitely Mitzi who made mistakes, sometimes foolish ones, but kept pushing forward. Being rooted in faith from an early age gave Mitzi a compass for her life, and I’ve had the same. Even when I veer from the path, God is always on the shoulder of the road guiding me back.

I do have a bit of Brooke in me—striving to please people and afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing.

Edgewise: What did you learn about yourself in writing Broken Wings?
Carla: That I’m not always the kind of friend I would like to be. I know there are those who might have welcomed a meal when I was wrapped up in edits or marketing. I have a neighbor who I used to have coffee with regularly, and now that writing demands more of my time, we go out only once in a while. I’ve been examining some of the restraints that writing has put on my relationships and resetting priorities. Words shouldn’t take precedence over people.

Edgewise: Did you learn anything new about God?
Carla: I came to this story with only a glimpse of how I could make the scenes from the past intersect with the contemporary ones. And even as I wrote each new section, I felt the hand of God guiding my fingers, giving me just the right words and characters to tell this story, not only of friendship, but also grace. His grace became new to me all over again, and I was reminded that He is sufficient in all things.

Edgewise: What was it like doing research for this one?
Carla: I visited the Jazz Depot in Tulsa which is home to the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. I attended concerts there and read articles and books about the rich jazz culture that is part of Tulsa’s heritage. Very fun! I already had a folder of material on Alzheimer’s so I reviewed it, researched current articles, and relied on my past experience as a nurse to bring the character to life. The Alzheimer’s research became very personal when my mother-in-law was diagnosed with mid-stage Alzheimer’s less than a month after Broken Wings was contracted. She’s a beautiful lady, and it’s been sad to see her spiral deeper into the tangles of this dreadful disease.

But the most challenging part of the research was learning about abuse which, thankfully, didn’t come from such a personal connection. I studied the personality types of victims and abusers and read a lot of personal stories and case studies. I also found the DSM-III (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) helpful in understanding the personality of an abuser.

Edgewise: I struggle to understand women who stay in abusive relationships because I just would not do it! Did you have to work through any preconceived notions of your own in the writing?
Carla: That’s a tough question because I came to the writing knowing it would be a struggle, but I also knew that, for me, abuse is intolerable. What I didn’t expect, though, was how angry it made me toward abusers, and I had a bit of anger, too, at the victim (Brooke in the story) for being so naive and willing to deny that the abuse was going on. While I knew that abuse is often passed down or learned, every individual can choose the behaviors they exhibit. Abusers are frequently respected and get along in many areas of life and choose those who they can intimidate. They can also choose to seek professional help. Sadly, many don’t.

It was not a comfortable story to write, but I don’t know that I’m excused from writing about hard things just because they make me squirm.

Edgewise: What do people need to know about domestic abuse that you discovered while writing this book?
Carla: It is much more common than I ever imagined, but there are usually warning signs that begin before actual abuse takes center stage—irrational behavior, disdain for authorities, getting hot tempered over trivial things, blaming others for their behavior, wanting to be in control of the relationship. The most alarming statistic that I read was that 40% of teens age 14-17 had either been abused or knew someone who had while in a dating relationship. If anything, I hope Broken Wings gives courage to women who are in abusive relationships, that they will realize that it’s not their fault nor their responsibility to stay with an abuser because he “needs” her. Victims, too, have a choice. Help is available, and I included resources at the end of the book as a place to start.

Edgewise: What’s next on the horizon for you?
 Carla: Stardust (FaithWords) will be out early next summer. It’s lighter in tone, but still has some knotty issues. I’ve returned to a nostalgic time and found some real characters in the bayou country of East Texas. The year is 1952 at the height of the polio epidemic. Here’s a thumbnail sketch:

The Stardust Tourist Court beckons an East Texas widow to a new life, but when her dead husband’s mistress arrives and polio strikes, Georgia Peyton’s dreams are crippled.

Thanks for having me at the Edge, Susan!

Susan here. It’s been a pleasure to have Carla here! And now for a giveaway!! Post a comment here on the blog or on the Facebook post where this link appears and your name will be in the mix for a copy of Broken Wings! A random winner will be drawn at 9 a.m. Pacific on Friday, July 29!

 Have a great week, everyone!

June 25, 2010 / Carla Stewart, Chasing Lilacs / 3 Comments »

Every now and then I will read a book for endorsement by a new author that really knocks my socks off. Today on the Edge it is my pleasure to welcome Carla Stewart, a novelist whose debut book, Chasing Lilacs, sent me searching for toe coverage. If you had Superman vision, you would see that my endorsement of this lyrically written book is floating in the clouds on the front cover – high in the sky where there are no socks. I wasn’t the only who loved this book. Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review.

Here is the storyline in a nutshell: Elvis is on the radio and summer is in the air. Life in the small Texas community of Graham Camp should be simple and carefree. But not for Sammie Tucker. Sammie has plenty of questions about her mother’s “nerve” problems. About shock treatments. About whether her mother loves her. As her life careens out of control, Sammie has to choose who to trust with her deepest fears: Her best friend who has an opinion about everything, the mysterious boy from California whose own troubles plague him, or her round-faced neighbor with gentle advice and strong shoulders to cry on. Then there’s the elderly widower who seems nice but has his own dark past. Trusting is one thing, but accepting the truth may be the hardest thing Sammie has ever done.

Edgewise: Where did the idea for Chasing Lilacs come from?

Carla: It sprang from childhood curiosity—the occasional whisper about someone who’d had a nervous breakdown or shock treatments. The term “nerve problems” frequently cropped up with no explanation of what that meant. Not only were these taboo topics for conversation in the 1950s, I later learned that the ailments themselves were often misunderstood and not always treated properly. As a writer, I wanted to explore what it might have been like for an adolescent girl from that era to have a mother with these problems.

I also wanted to write about the place I grew up—a close-knit petroleum camp in Texas—so I used that as the setting and changed it up. Remembering the carefree days of summer and the spirit of community that we had was such a joy and I wanted to share that with readers.



Edgewise: Is there significance for you personally for the lilacs motif? Could the story just have easily been Chasing Peonies?

Carla: I didn’t start out with the lilac motif. I actually called the story A Dandelion Day, but when the mom kept taking lilac baths and loved the scent of lilacs, it became a metaphor for her, which the very smart people at FaithWords picked up on. I wish I could take the credit. Once we went with Chasing Lilacs, I only had to make a couple of tweaks to bring the theme out a little more. There is something about lilacs, though, that is reminiscent and lovely. Peonies, I’m sure, have their admirers, but they just don’t carry the same wistful feel, do they?



Edgewise: What did you learn about grief and loss while writing this book that you didn’t know before?

Carla: I thought at the outset that I would have clearly delineated phases of grief like you learn about in the books (and which mistakenly I thought I knew all about). I didn’t want it to be clinical, though. As the story unfolded, I struggled with Rita (the mom), trying to determine if she would choose to endure a lifetime of unresolved grief or choose to take her own life. I felt she was, in fact, a victim of circumstance, but I also wanted to show God’s grace and power in being able to stop the cycle by sending people to comfort and guide young Sammie so she didn’t fall victim herself. Putting myself in their skin was uncomfortable, but taught me to be true to the story.



Edgewise: Did any of the characters end up surprising you? The story evolve in ways you did not expect?

Carla: Slim Wallace ended up being a bigger character than I first intended. He had the seasoned wisdom and ability to see the heart of these young kids, and I loved writing his scenes. He became my favorite character.

The garage took on a much larger role than I had originally intended, but a very wise editor who read an early draft suggested I had missed a great opportunity for Sammie to have a fear of the garage. When I began to build that thread, the story took a sharp right turn. All the elements were there; I just had to make the most of them.



Edgewise: Some reviewers have said your book has a Young Adult feel to it but I think that designation sells it a bit short. Were you writing to a YA audience? Am I the naïve one here? Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible has scads of its pages written by young protagonists and I don’t think of it as a YA novel. What are your thoughts?

Carla: Funny that you would mention The Poisonwood Bible because I read that about the time I started writing this manuscript and knew that children in stories definitely had a place for adult audiences. I was the naïve one, though, and listened to people who said it must be a YA story if the protagonist was a child. I followed that vein for a while, but in the end, I wrote it to an adult audience, thinking that Baby Boomers would be the primary readers. I still think that, although high school libraries are buying it and a number of young readers have loved it even though they know nothing of the era. I hope the universal themes of depression and dealing with difficult people does span both audiences.

I am always tickled, though, when people tell me they enjoyed the nostalgic parts for that is where my heart truly is as an author.

Edgewise: Chasing Lilacs got a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Describe the moment you learned of it. How do you feel about that moment now?

Carla: A couple of reviews came out before the Publishers Weekly one, and it fascinated my husband, so every morning when he got to his office, he did a Google search. He was the one who found it and called me. He knew before my publisher or publicist! I could barely talk for shaking, and bless his heart, Max offered to come home if I needed him. I told him I would live, but it was a thrill then and still is. However, I’m worried about setting the bar too high. What if they pan the next book? Will I crawl under the sofa and never write again? I’m trying to brace myself for that. One review does not a writer make.

Edgewise: What’s next on the horizon for you?

Carla: I have a second book coming out in 2011, probably in the summer. Broken Wings is set in current day Tulsa. There’s a strong nostalgic thread about the jazz history of Tulsa, but the contemporary part of the story is about two women who become unlikely friends and go through painful transitions together. There are weighty subjects in this book as well, but once again, I’ve loved weaving a nostalgic timeline into the story. I’m very excited about this book and can hardly wait to share it with the world.

Thank you, Susan, for having me and being such an encouragement to me. When I grow up, I want to write books like yours. You’re the best!

Edgewise: Nice to have you here of course. And hey, thanks for the affirmation. I may not deserve it, but it sure feels good.

On Monday, Edglings, my thoughts on The Swan Thieves. . .