I’m happy to welcome author Helen Gillespie. Today, Helen shares her creative journey and debut novel, The Goodbyes.

Interview

What was your inspiration for this book?

The short answer is, the town of Marshfield, Missouri inspired me. I lived there for a very time. I must have picked up a ghost while there because almost immediately I wanted to write something about the town. It took a personal traumatic event and a job where I was underutilized while having access to a computer to begin writing the story. When I was activated to go to Iraq as part of the U.S. Army Reserves, the story lay barren during my deployment and many years afterward. It took another personal trauma to get myself back to a computer and listen to the ghost that had been with me all those years. The ghost was quick to reveal everything but the ending. After some struggle, the ending was revealed.

Describe your writing space.

I have a cluttered desk. Or it could be described as a “desk with plenty of inspiration.” I’m very fortunate to have a secluded office with a sliding door leading to a beautifully treed backyard with a spinner and a birdhouse that has never been occupied. I do wish three things would change about my writing environment: trees are overgrown, and the dogs keep wanting to go in and out my door.

What is your favorite quote?

A seventh-grade science teacher constantly said, “Things aren’t as they seem to be.” I use that as a guide in my writing. I loved that class!

Besides writing and reading, what are some of your hobbies?

I love wind band and old time (1930s/1940s) music. For many years I loved playing tuba and upright bass. Now I just let my fingers make music on my computer keyboard. I don’t listen to music while I write because I’m too analytical and it sends me off into a daydream. In this way I’m very much like my character, Dianne.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Yes. Write. Read. Do both because you enjoy doing each, not because you plan on becoming the next great writer. There’s too much pressure in that.

What are you working on next?

I’m working on a sequel, of course! I previously mentioned “Things are as they seem to be.” The sequel will reveal this very thing. Oh, something else the science teacher often said, “Pay attention.”

Blurb

Struggling with becoming an adult in a small mid-western town, Dianne has to confront family secrets, deception, and discovery during her last year of college. As she cares for her ailing mother, her world begins to unravel and she is challenged to navigate through lies, friendships, love…and murder. Meeting the wrong person makes it possible for her to recognize the right ones and to find the strength she needs to survive. Suddenly realizing that she is responsible for her own destiny, she learns that to say hello to a new life, she must first say goodbye.

This is a family drama that follows a woman’s struggles with her mother’s death, a murder and how she deals with all of this and learns how to say goodbye to all that she has known in her life.

Excerpt

All living creatures hold secrets for basic survival. Humans keep secrets to preserve their image, hide their misjudgments, or protect those they care about. Only in the safest conditions, absolute trust or vulnerability, can humans feel safe divulging their secrets, laying bare their hidden selves.

Katrina England and her husband did not keep secrets from Dianne or indulge in the usual childhood fantasies of princesses or fairy godmothers with her daughter. Even Santa Claus was introduced from a historical perspective rather than as a magical elf. The Englands were doting parents who disciplined their daughter when necessary and answered her questions honestly, only withholding information that surpassed Dianne’s maturity. Yet, despite this philosophy, Katrina did hold a few secrets, one very close.

As Dianne approached adulthood, Katrina began to share these secrets. By then, Dianne’s father had died, leaving the two women to navigate life together as a family with no other relatives living close by. Katrina often grappled with the lifelong weight of a childhood secret and her secret of late, a terminal cancer diagnosis. Both became weightier as her cancer took hold. When Dianne began dating the MegaMart store manager, Katrina’s concern of her daughter’s future turned to worry.

Dianne, nearing graduation while dealing with her mother’s illness, found herself facing unexpected challenges. When Michael D. Glossen entered her life, her challenges became problems. Oddly, she met “Michael D” when a cream rinse emergency arose.

Author Bio and Links

Throughout grammar school and college, Helen Gillespie loved developing story sketches or full stories but kept them hidden within herself. That creative spark proved valuable in unexpected places, first on assignment as a musician in the US Army, and after leaving the Army, when she earned a degree in elementary education. After reentering the Army in 1981, she put pen to paper, or rather, “fingers to an Olivetti.” She officially learned the art of journalism to serve the Army, but it quickly became a personal passion. Interviewing fellow soldiers, exploring their jobs and personalities, and publishing useful information for the military community formed the basis of her skill and enjoyment. Those years of thought, training, education, and experience laid the foundation for crafting her first novel, The Goodbyes.

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Giveaway

Helen Gillespie will be awarding a $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

Follow Helen on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.