Feature Author Joanne Markey

What a joy it is to introduce you to fellow contemporary author Joanne Markey. I hope you will enjoy getting to know her as much as I have. Don’t forget to follow the link at the end of the post for a chance to win an ebook copy of her book Off on a Whim.

Welcome, Joanne. I always like to ask other authors what inspired them to write since this was an interesting journey of mine.

The short answer is a lack of reading material. The longer answer takes us all the way back to 2007. My Mum (in Australia) had bought me (in the US) all the Grace Livingston Hill books she could find in online used bookstores. By 2007 I’d read them all so many times I had them memorized. I wanted something new to read and tried my hand at writing my own stories. I have a few short stories from those attempts but ended up going back to reading books I had on hand.

I didn’t stop thinking about writing though, and over the next ten years I practiced writing in my head. My first attempts had very little dialog, so that was one area I focused on.

And then after ten years and a south to north cross-country move, I realized that my Mum was now in the same position I’d been in all those years ago. Unlike me though, she was away out in the middle of the Australian outback with no access to bookstores.

I had an idea, so I sat down and started writing. I completely rewrote that first story at least three times before it was done. I still had areas to work on, but my confidence grew enough to let another trusted reader see my work. She gave a few pointers that helped a lot, and I moved on to the next project. And the next.

I suppose the next logical question would be how many books you have written, and which is your favorite?

Counting all the books that are in the works along with those that have been published… 11.

Breaking that down… four books and two novellas have been published. At the time of writing this, we’re two weeks away from the publication of my next book, Persuade Me, my first published by CelebrateLit. After that, I have two more indie books in the works and two more coming through CelebrateLit in 2023.

My favorite would typically be whatever I’m working on at the moment. Persuade Me is the first book I’ve been able to read back over and enjoy after I’ve written it though. It holds a special place for me because much of the story was drawn from my own experiences of living in the bush. 

Your living experiences are unique from most authors I know personally. That must translate well in your stories. Tell us about the first published book. What was the journey like?

Dreaming of More came out in 2019. It was another book I wrote for my Mum, using an idea that came from a dream she had. I thought it might be okay to let people read, but publishing hadn’t really seemed like a real possibility until I spoke to another author. She read the first three chapters and thought it was worth publishing. From there she introduced me to her editor and after that I was sort of drawn into a whirlwind vortex that had my first book out within months of her seeing those first chapters.

What is your newest novel? Can you share a snippet that isn’t in the blurb or excerpt?

Persuade Me is my newest release. As of the time of writing, the excerpt is not available to view, so I’m not sure if this would be shown or not. It’s one of my favorite scenes though, and along with almost every scene where Fred shows up, I smile whenever I read it.

“That would be great!” Sophy’s voice on the other end became muffled, probably while she relayed the news to Adam, and then she came back on the line. “I have a room all ready for you. It’s out on the verandah by itself—I thought you might like the privacy. There’s a set of French doors leading from the lounge room onto the back verandah—it’s all closed in, and you can come and go when you please without worrying about whether you’re bothering us.” Adam’s voice echoed in the distance, clearer this time as he bellowed for Sophy to come quick, and before Fred had time to voice his approval—or disapproval as was the case—of the sleeping situation, Sophy muttered a hasty, “See you tomorrow,” and hung up.

So much for putting anything behind him. Sophy just had to go and put him in her old room. That lying, deceiving, twisted—

The stapler on the end of the desk hit the doorjamb and ricocheted onto the floor with a clatter just as Dale’s face appeared.

“Well, yeah, g’day to you too,” Dale muttered as he ducked through the opening. He picked the stapler up on his way in, depositing it on the end of the desk with a long look at Fred. “What’s got your knickers in a knot? Someone set your pants on fire or something? What’m I missing?”

Fred slumped back in the chair, tilting his head to stare up at the ceiling. “Sophy. Anne. Kellynch.”

“Hmmm… sounds intriguing in a mysteriously twisted kind of way.” The front legs of Dale’s chair lifted off the floor and he grinned over at Fred. “You’re not making any sense though. Last I heard, that name was never going to cross your lips. As in, ever again. Now you’re throwing it in with Sophy and Kellynch?” His eyes narrowed. “Isn’t that the Elliot place? I thought that was taboo, too? What mixed up madness are we getting ourselves into this time?”

Love the guy, or hate his guts, there was no way Fred could haul Dale at the door like he had the stapler, so he plopped his boots on the desk and threw an arm over his eyes. “Told you Sophy and Adam found a place to lease. I just found out what station it is.” He lifted his arm high enough so one eye could focus on Dale. “Kellynch. I’m going there tomorrow. Sophy—” His hand clenched at the thought of the depths of his sister’s—innocent—treachery, and his throat closed over, forcing him to try again. “Sophy picked out a room for me. Nice little out of the way corner of the house.”

“Uh huh. Sounds like a sisterly thing to do.” Dale was enjoying this far too much, and for a moment, throwing him out the door sounded like a good plan. “I’m still not seeing the problem here. Sounds like Sophy’s just looking out for her little brother.”

But there was the whole size thing—Dale had a good five kilos on Fred, not to mention two or three inches as well. “What Sophy has done,” he ground out between clenched teeth, “is stick me in Anne’s old room. There’s only one corner bedroom in that house. So, not only am I going to be mustering all the Elliot cattle for them, I’m going to be sleeping in the same room my former fiancé spent the last who-knows-how-many-years in.”

“Oh.” Dale stared at him in total silence for all of three point six seconds and then roared with laughter.

What was the inspiration for the story?

 When CelebrateLit announced their mashup competition, the first classic author that came to mind was Jane Austen. Of her books, Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion are my favorites. I couldn’t see either as being a possibility though because I couldn’t think of anything to mash them with. I’m familiar with quite a few classical authors, but I don’t know their works well enough to think myself capable of trying to mash another book with any of Jane Austen’s books.

But then it occurred to me that it didn’t have to be a mashing of two books. It could be a mixture of different elements. The question then was how to make it different enough to be interesting?

And that is when my own past came into play. I’m an Aussie. I grew up in the Australian bush. I lived on cattle stations throughout most of my childhood and young adulthood. All I had to do then was switch to a contemporary storyline and that setting might be interesting enough to make the book a contender.

However, I really wanted Jane Austen’s Persuasion to be recognizable in Persuade Me. Which meant I didn’t want to change the story very much. But how to reconcile someone as class-conscious as Mr. Elliot with a people who don’t care about class or social status? Again, my past came into play.

As a child, a classmate impressed upon me the truth that I wasn’t as Australian as her because my family hadn’t been in the country for as many generations as hers. She could count six generations while I only knew for sure about five.

It had also been pointed out to me as a child that our family descended from free settlers. I don’t know if that was said with the sense of pride my childish mind interpreted it to be, but it certainly impressed itself on my young brain. And while most Australians don’t care about such things, all I had to do was combine those two things and there was the family pride I was looking for. The rest of the story seemed to follow of its own accord.

(Side note: I have since learned that we go all the way back to sometime between 1800 and 1809, which would be 8 or 9 generations. Also, there are at least three convicts, possibly more. Ancestry wasn’t a thing 30+ years ago.)

How fascinating. What a different childhood you’ve had from most everyone else I know. What is the key theme or message in Persuade Me.

I was going to leave this question out because I don’t go into my books with a message in mind. At the same time, each book seems to develop its own theme whether I’m trying to put it there or not.

In this case, Jane Austen’s Anne Elliot is known for listening to the advice of others. I wanted my Anne to do the same thing, but from a Christian point of view.

So, like the original Anne who lived a quiet life serving others, in order to witness to non-believing family and minister to those who do believe, my Anne lives out Proverbs 3:27 “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.

My Anne also learns the truth of Ecclesiastes 3, that there is a time for every matter under heaven. A truth that could also be applied to areas other than those listed in the chapter. Things like listening to the advice of others or throwing caution to the wind. There is a time…

I love how the Lord will infuse His message in our words even when we aren’t consciously including it. Are you working on anything at the present time you’d like to share?

I’m not writing anything at this very moment, but I do have a couple of ideas warring to be pushed to the front of the line as soon as I have time to start writing again.

The first would follow Gaines, the brother of the heroine in Dreaming of More, and the second is another romcom that would follow the sister of a minor character mentioned in Confusing Cassie.

Both ideas appeal to me in different ways, but at the moment Gaines’ story seems to have the (slight) lead. Mostly because I can’t think of a way to make the other idea fresh and new.

We’re also in the process of redoing the cover of my first romcom, Confusing Cassie. Once that’s done, we’ll be able to get the cover of the next romcom finished. And when the cover is done, I’ll be able to publish the second book in that series, Accepting Andi.

The new covers are going to be super cute, so hopefully they will make the wait worthwhile to my readers as well!

If you want to connect with Joanne, you can find her at her website, Instagram, and Facebook. Be sure to click here to purchase her newest release, Persuade Me.

And don’t forget to enter for a chance to win the ebook version of her book Off on a Whim.

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