•Name: Marilyn Johnston. I write non-fiction under that name and fiction under the name of “cj petterson” — no capitals, no periods, no spaces in cj. I know. It’s a pain. I wanted something different, and now I have to explain it all the time.
•Place of birth/hometown: Brady, Texas
•MWG member for how many years: Since its inception almost. I was a charter member, maybe the first charter member after founders Mahala Church and Tracy Hurley. I was also the first treasurer.
•Website/blog/fan pages: I don’t do a lot of social media yet. My excuse is that it takes a lot of time away from writing. In reality, I’m not that up on it. However, I am on Facebook and Goodreads, and have a bit of a Facebook author presence—I’ll let you know when I fully develop that page so everyone can “like” it. I also have a shared blog-site at http://www.lyricalpens.com
•Books/articles/poems published: Short Stories, fiction and non-fiction, in anthologies: Christmas is a Season 2008, Christmas Through a Child’s Eyes, Cup of Comfort for Divorced Women, Christmas is a Season 2009, University of South Alabama’s literary magazine, Oracle, and Tributaries 2012. Poems: Two poems ePublished by The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. Book: Deadly Star (2013) eBook available from the publisher Crimson Romance, Amazon.com, BN.com, iTunes, and Sony. The paperback is due out around June 2013.
•What was your first writing-related gig? I spent a few years working in corporate communications as a journalist and associate editor of the company newspaper. The article that got raves was one I wrote when I was assigned to participate in a Jeep Jamboree on the Rubicon Trail in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Exciting stuff … I watched a Jeep roll wheels-up in a rock-strewn sluice and a helicopter fly in a grand piano for the night’s entertainment. I turned the article into a personal short story for Cup of Comfort for Divorced Women (“Don’t Ride The Clutch”).
•Who are your top five favorite authors right now? Robert B. Parker, Robert Ludlum, Tony Hillerman, Jacqueline Winspear, and the poetry of Robert Frost and Billy Collins. Okay, I cheated. That was six.
•Where is your favorite place to write? I take notes everywhere on little pieces of paper that often get lost, but I have to be in front of a keyboard to truly write. I don’t think my brain works unless my fingers are typing. Some kind of linkage thing, I guess.
•What books inspired you as a child? I didn’t read much as a child, and have to admit I still don’t (sorry). The one book I remember is Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. Action, romance, sorrow, fictionalized history. Loved it. I spent many winter evenings crunching through the snow to Detroit’s Gothic-style Mark Twain Library to find a corner and read it, over and over again.
•Is there a genre or style of writing that you are afraid to attempt? I have a fantasy YA work-in-progress. I like the premise; it shows promise (ha!). I completed three or four chapters a couple of years ago. Though the research is ongoing, I haven’t gone back to the writing because I’m afraid I can’t properly capture the voice of the teenaged boy I want as the protagonist.
