Jacqueline T. Moore and her book, The Canary, stop by Penny's Tales

Interview with Jacqueline T. Moore

Author of THE CANARY

*Where are you from?

I live in Murrells Inlet, SC. I have family in Ohio and enjoy the winters there.

*Tell us your latest news?

I am thrilled to announce the release of my debut novel, THE CANARY.

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*When and why did you begin writing?

I won an essay contest in grade school, but the teachers said it was too good and my mother must have written it. I became feature editor of the high school paper. (Take that, grade school teachers!) Fast forward through a career, family, and too many pets, the stories started bubbling. I won my first writing award in the mid 1990’s in spite of semi-controlled chaos. Eventually my husband’s struggle against early onset Alzheimer’s disease and my position as his care giver temporarily stopped my creativity.

   

*When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I attended a workshop in 2013. After class, I bought the instructor’s book. She inscribed it with ‘To a fellow writer.’ Tracing the words with my finger, I knew it was real.

*What inspired you to write your first book?

THE CANARY is about a yellow diamond that I inherited along with its whispered origin.

*Do you have a specific writing style?

I seem to automatically pick up the rhythm and nuances of my characters’ speech.

*How did you come up with the title?

The diamond’s color speaks for itself.

*Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

At what length would you go to reinvent yourself?

*How much of the book is realistic?

THE CANARY is a well-researched historical novel with locations, language, and customs firmly grounded in fact.

*Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

Family rumors about the source of Myra’s ring are the basis. All the rest of the story is fiction.

*What books have most influenced your life?

Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series hooked me on historical novels. Her precise research methods taught me the importance of accuracy.

*What are your current projects?

THE CANARY’s sequel, THE CHECKERBOARD, is in the works.

*Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.

I have a very good friend who was my colloquialism coach. He guided me down that fine path of country talk.

*Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)?

I belong to writers groups in South Carolina and Ohio. I love to travel.

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*Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Don’t let anyone or anything stop you from writing.

THE CANARY by Jacqueline T. Moore

RECIPE FOR ADVENTURE

1 spunky widow

1 hateful church lady

2 sailors & 1 checkerboard

5 little darlin’s + I smarty stinker

Add 1 apron pocket full of jewels

Mix well and bake in the 1890’s Galveston heat

Myra Gallaway, a young widow with five children, supports her family by walking the wharves of Galveston selling homemade sweets. She never imagined she’d be joining forces with husband-hating church society queen, Julia Jameson. Myra’s apron pockets are soon filling up with the unspendables man smuggling sailor friends Sure Foot and Black Jack need to move. The Klondike gold fields are calling hapless dreamers and the boys are all about obliging them, yet everybody knows that a sailor cannot spend what he does not earn. My goodness, those unspendables are one serious problem!

THE CANARY

Chapter 1 MYRA

Myra almost made it to ‘I do.’ Almost.

“Sorry Jesus,” she gagged. There was an offering basket close by that saved the pastor’s robe from wearing her breakfast. Her mama held her hair, her papa held her shoulders, and her man held his breath.

“My God, that girl got in the family way fast,” whispered Everett to himself as he stood on one side of his bride, while Myra’s father stood on the other, facing the Methodist minister. Mr. Everett Gallaway was ten years Myra’s senior, and had gone to school. He was so very handsome with his jet hair greased back. Myra thought that if she had to settle, he’d do. Besides, you couldn’t argue with a swelling belly. Not at her tender age of just turned 13.

“I do.”

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N34SRVO

http://solsticepublishing.com/the-canary

Publisher: Solstice Publishing

Price: $15.99

ISBN 9781625261175

Length 209 pages (including book club guide and recipes)

Author Bio

Some people call Jacqueline T. Moore a snowbird because she spends so much time writing in South Carolina. Not so. She loves the Ohio winters with all the ice and snow. She says, “Traveling south in the summer makes me a sunflower…and a beach bum!” As a writer and educator, Jacqueline surrounds herself with words. She savors the sounds and sense of letters put together to create a lasting memory. Her debut novel, THE CANARY, is inspired by a most beautiful yellow diamond that rests on her finger and the whispered family secrets about how it got there.

Please visit her at www.jacqueline-t-moore.com and on Facebook at Jacqueline T. Moore for conversations and updates on her next book, THE CHECKERBOARD.