Carolyn:  Too funny.  I wrote a whole book (This is the Place), to explain what it was like and I needed every single word of the book to do it.  Ha!

You were raised in the south, Kristie.  I was raised in Utah.  Literally thousands of books have portrayed life in the south so people have a pretty good idea – generally - of what “southerners” are like even if they’ve never lived there or even visited any of the southern states. There are very few books written with Utah as a setting and most of those were written by people who did only a little research and have only surface knowledge of  “The Place.”

Many people that I talk to about my book admit they know very little about the culture there and, especially since the Olympics, are starved to know more.  Many others have a very skewed view of Mormons, the religion and the culture.  Much of that is due to “reliable” reports from “respected” media like US News and World Report that recently ran an Olympics story that was so biased I wanted to cry.   They are often totally inaccurate in small details and off the mark in bigger ways as well.
 

Kristie:   Why did you decide to leave Utah?

Carolyn:   I didn’t want to go.  My husband was accepted by Columbia for a master’s degree.  In those days, women didn’t balk.  They tended to do what was right for their husband’s careers.  I must say, though, that if I hadn’t gone with him, I would be an entirely different person than I am today - for better or for worse.
 

Kristie:   Is your husband from Utah or did you meet him later on in your life?

Carolyn:  The scene in This is the Place where reporter meets ski stud is pretty close to my true story.  He was very handsome and intriguing with a broken ski over one shoulder.
 

Kristie:  You grew up with parents where one was Mormon and the other was not. Then you married a man who was Mormon and you were not.  It seems as if history were repeating itself. Did growing up in a ‘mixed home’ help you and your husband in facing your lives together in a similar situation?

Carolyn:  I think being raised in a mixed home helped me be a much better journalist and novelist because I learned to observe everything in detail and then question it.  Those same qualities made it much more difficult for me to be an “easy” person to live with.  Partners who don’t think much, are a bit submissive - generally speaking, now - are easier for the other one to live with.  I haven’t been “easy,” but neither has he.  Still we’ve made it through more than four decades!  Ha!
 

Kristie:  You lived in New York City where you were the editorial assistant for Good Housekeeping Magazine. What made you choose to move to New York? It must have been quite an adjustment from life in Utah to life in New York City. Can you tell me more about this and the difficulties that you faced?

Carolyn:  Ooops.  Sort of answered that one in an earlier question, right? New York, the home of Columbia University.

You can imagine New York for a girl who had hardly ever been out of the state of her birth and never out of the west.  That experience is described in This is the Place too.  New Yorkers and I practically spoke a different language!  My husband and I arrived during hurricane Donna in 1960 and the whole city was quiet for 24 hours.  I thought it would be easy to handle.  Then all holy what-for broke loose when the storm subsided.  I love New York.  I think of it as a lady and as my strictest teacher.
 

Kristie: You now live in Los Angeles on the opposite coast from New York City. There must be a story behind your move from one coast to the other. I have read in other interviews that you have done that your husband ‘has started a second career as an actor’. Did your move from New York City to Los Angeles have to do with furthering your husband’s career as an actor?

Carolyn:  Actually, we came to Los Angeles because of husband’s career but his original career, not acting. This was kind of a repeat of our reason for going to New York.  Then we both decided we wanted autonomy so we opened retail shops that grew into a small chain.  I pretty much lost sight of writing for a few decades.  He lost sight of his dream to act, something he had never even studied.  When we both reached our 50s, something happened.  We both realized that life is too short not to follow your star.  He took up acting and I started writing the novel I said I wanted to write when I was in high school.  We’ve had an absolute ball and we’ve both been reasonably successful at doing what we love.
 

Kristie:  In addition to your writing, you also do book reviews for several different online sites. Does reading and reviewing other authors’ books help you improve your own writing skills?

Carolyn:  Yes, one the columns I do is for www.aspiringauthors.net. It is called “Reviews for Writers.”  I recommend writers’ reference and help books and dissect well-known novels for kernels of wisdom that will make writers into even better writers.  I also do a regular column for Authors Almanac called “Affecting Words” that is a bit like a dictionary of terms with helpful writing and promo ideas thrown into the definitions.  Writers can sign up for the almanac by sending an e-mail to: authors_almanac@sendfree.com or writing a note to the editor, Leslie King, at bookleslieworm@aol.com.
 

Kristie: Carolyn, you are what I call ‘an independent author’. By that I mean that your novel, This is the Place, is not published by a traditional publishing house. You are one of the ‘new breed of authors’ who go their own way in the publishing world instead of taking the ‘road well traveled’. I admire this in you, as I am also ‘one of the new breed of authors’.  Can you tell me some of the problems that you have had to overcome by choosing to publish with the Print-on-Demand publishing method?

Carolyn: I’m glad that you view me as one of the new breed.  I am pleased to be thought of in that way.  However, my publisher, AmErica House, Baltimore, has more in common with traditional publishing than not.  They jury books before they are accepted, pay a small advance, don’t charge the author anything, handle all the contacts with distributors, and more.  They only fit into your definition by virtue of the printing process they use.  I got a dose of the ridiculous bias aimed at POD authors because of that and decided to join ranks with them. I joined e-groups and organizations where I can help support the efforts of authors regardless of how the ink is applied to the pages of their books.

You see I believe a book should be judged by what is between the covers, not by how it is printed.  That discrimination against POD-printed books that exists in some quarters (some bookstores, as an example) comes dangerously close to censorship.

This kind of censorship is not specific, where people and business exercise their right to choose what they like or not to choose what they don’t.  The “I-won’t-carry-this book-because-it-is-unsuitable-for,” or the “because-it-is-poorly-written” kind of selection process.  What I don’t like is that it discriminates against a whole class because of how it’s printed.  That’s like saying, “we won’t carry any books with a blue cover.”  It is philosophically related to the kind of thing that contributes to racism.

I am so incensed by this “book bigotry” that I’m thinking of publishing my next book as a truly “independent author” in protest, even though I will have to pay to have it published in order to do it and I don’t really see how it would help, anyway.  After all, I’m not John Grisham.  Also, I’m kind of a skinflint.  I prefer not to spend money unnecessarily so you can see what a sacrifice this may be for me!  LOL.
 

Kristie:  As an independent author myself, I find one of the most difficult things that I face is the marketing my books. You have a background in retail shops and in marketing. Has this experience helped you in marketing your novel?

Carolyn:  I once wrote publicity releases for the likes of Rudi Gernreich (did you ever hear about his topless bathing suits in the 60s?).  That experience helps me be a better retailer and it has definitely helped me promote This is the Place.  However, there is a lot to promoting books that is different from other kinds of publicity.  There was still a HUGE learning curve for me to conquer.  One of the best things I did to learn more about promoting books specifically was to join SPAN (Small Publishers of North America at http://www.spannet.org.)
 

Kristie:  I have been told that I am ‘not a real writer’ because my novels are not published by one of the big traditional publishing houses. Have you ever been told this? If so, what answer do you give to this remark?

Carolyn:  No one would dare.  I can be a spitfire when confronted with stupidity.  Do “real” writers write only with a pen?  Do “real” writers write only poetry?   I’d be ticked if I heard them say that about you, too.  Send those guys, to me, Kristie.  LOL

Actually, I have to say that there is no way you or I are going to cure a fool of his own disease.  He’ll have to learn to recognize how frail his own thinking is on his own.
 

Kristie:  Carolyn, I understand that you just returned from a trip to Egypt. I am an international traveler myself but I never had the opportunity to make it to Egypt. Can you tell me briefly about your trip and your impressions of Egypt?

Carolyn: Watch for a report or two on the web.  Maybe you can post where the articles will be on your MyShelf page.  I plan to write something on my experience there in relation to 9/11 and one from the viewpoint of a writer with many lessons to learn from a very ancient civilization.
 

Kristie: Thank you so much, Carolyn, for taking the time to talk with me. I wish you the best in your writing career. Is there anything that you would like to add?

Carolyn:  I would like to congratulate you on your new post with MyShelf.  It couldn’t have been awarded to a more deserving writer.  And, of course, I wish you luck with your new book, Emails from the Edge.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson tells it like it 'was' in her novel, THIS IS THE PLACE. The setting for this novel is the Utah of the early fifties. Carolyn Howard-Johnson gives the reader a rare insider’s glimpse into Mormon society as few outsiders ever have the chance to view it.

Carolyn has a fascinating way with words. An example of this is illustrated in the following passage from This Is The Place.

"Brock and Marion wore the garments that a wedding in the L.D.S. Temple entitled them to wear under their clothes, whether work clothes or best, in summer and winter, awake or asleep. Garments were one piece with both sleeves and legs that insisted on a modest cut of outer clothing to cover them. They had little embroidered openings to mark the navel and nipples and were sometimes edged with a tiny faux crochet trim. They would be a symbolic and perpetual reminder that binds two together and those two to their spiritual heritage. He was the figurative God of the household who would some day hold that place in the highest degree of heaven. She was the strength of the family to be by his side in this life and the next.

The clay that brought their union together and made it right for them was passion so their garments were sometimes folded and arranged in a soft, white pile while they stroked each other into ecstasy. This was difficult for them for they felt it was a violation of their commitment to each other and to their vows, the times they chose to let their garments stay on. Their desire was too intense to take the time to remove the unwieldy underwear worn next to the skin like long johns so they worked around the constriction of a full body suit as best they could."

Carolyn Howard-Johnson had dreamed of writing ‘that great American novel’ since her early years. She has accomplished her dreams with the publication of THIS IS THE PLACE. Another great American novel, GONE WITH THE WIND, depicted the people and the times of the mysterious land of the antebellum South. Carolyn Howard-Johnson's great American novel, THIS IS THE PLACE, depicts the people and the times of the mysterious land of Utah in the fifties. Watch out for Carolyn Howard-Johnson – she is going to be one of ‘the greats’ in literature.
 

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Kristie Leigh Maguire is the author of Emails from the Edge (The Life of an Expatriate Wife) and Desert Triangle Co-author (with Mark Haeuser) of No Lady and Her Tramp Contributor to Calliope’s Mousepad: Women Writers Online.