MEET THE AUTHOR! A Conversation with Linda Weber – Author of “Finding Utopia”

Finding Utopia

Linda Weber
Bookbaby Publishing (2023)
ISBN: 978-1667896946

Linda Weber is an author of historical fiction and an award winning essayist. She is a graduate of the University of Oregon with degrees in Speech: Rhetoric and Public Address and Journalism and completed her Master of Public Administration work at Portland State University.

Her debut novel “FINDING UTOPIA” was inspired by true events in the lives of her paternal grandparents, Maizelle (Maidee) Clark and William (Will) Jones.

Linda has owned a retail Custom Clothing business, a Bed and Breakfast Inn, and a Direct Sales and Marketing business, for which she also served as a corporate trainer.

She was named Advocate of the Year for Women in Business by the Portland Oregon office of the Small Business Administration and chaired a regional “Women In Business” Conference, attended by over 1,000 women and men from the Western Region of the SBA.

She is an accomplished public speaker and community activist who has run for state-wide political office and been active in promoting causes for women’s equality and advancement in business.

Linda served as President of The Henderson Writers Group, Las Vegas, and facilitates Sisters Writes, a read and critique group in Sisters, OR. She is a member of the Historical Novel Writers Society of North America, Women Writing the West, Sin City Writers Group and Sisters Writes.

Linda has two children, one stepchild, six grandchildren, two step grandchildren and two great grandchildren. She lives in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Sisters, Oregon with her husband, Dennis, his comfort animal, Jilly the dog, and Houdini the cat.

She loves to travel and has visited over thirty countries.

 Hi Linda! Welcome to Reader Views. Tell us about your writing journey. When did you take that leap into the literary world? Was there a particular event, book, or author that sparked your interest in writing?

I’ve always loved writing and was active on the student newspaper from 8^th grade through my first year in college. I minored in Journalism and thought I was a pretty good writer. In my professional life, I wrote grants successfully and raised a lot of money for non-profits. I wrote advertising copy, training manuals, and the like for my business. I discovered that the craft of novel writing is entirely different.

I always thought someday I’d write a novel, but the motivation to write this novel came like a bolt out of the blue. All my life, I’d wondered why I didn’t have two grandmothers. I had two grandfathers until I was three and a half, but only one grandmother. When I asked, my mother said, “Daddy’s mother died when he was a little boy.” End of story.

Much later, I learned that she hadn’t just died; she was murdered. But when I asked why no one had an answer that made sense. I was told by a relative of her husband shot her over a fence line dispute or something to do with livestock. I was also told that my father’s mother had eloped when she was fifteen and that the man who killed her “set fire to the school and burned down the whole town.” There were no details.

One evening driving home from work, I was struck by a bolt out of the blue. I blurted out, “I know how it happened!”

My alarmed husband said, “How what happened?”

I said, “I know how my grandmother eloped. I just saw it happen as clear as day.”

When we arrived home, I bolted from the car, turned on my Sanyo Computer (it was 1993), and began typing what I had visualized. That was the night the muse visited me with a story. The story unfolded in a place I’d never been, in a town I’d never seen, among people I didn’t know. I had no explanation for my writing except that I couldn’t stop putting what the muse was telling me onto paper.

Fast forward two years to 1995. I was five long chapters into the book but stymied as to where it was going and how I would take it there. My father was well along in his dementia by then and in his late 70s. I took him and my mother to Texas, where we met his sister, with whom he had almost no contact over his life, and went to Utopia, TX, to see if we could find the old homestead where they were born.

That visit launched a series of freakish coincidences that propelled me on a thirty-year journey of research and discovery that led to this novel, Finding Utopia. For many years I thought it would be a journalistic telling of my grandmother’s life and untimely demise, but I soon discovered that a long-buried secret wants to remain buried. The more I dug— the more rocks I turned over—the more myths dispelled and questions unearthed. More years, more coincidental happenings and experiences, and more mystery piled up until I realized I could not write a “true” story. It would have to be a fictionalized account inspired by actual incidents, and by 2015 I had settled into that reality and began writing the book in earnest.

As for authors who have inspired me or sparked my interest in writing, there are far too many to name them all. Most notably, I took inspiration from Daphne du Maurier, John Steinbeck, and Ken Follett. Current writers I love and follow are Amanda Skenandore, Donna Everhart, and Kristina McMorris, all of whom write about problematic cultural norms and challenges.

_{Utopia, TX Book Signing}

What is Finding Utopia about?

Finding Utopia is a story of love, devotion, the rendering of family ties and its effects, how a misguided love can wreak devastation, how depression affects not only the depressed person but all those around them, how mental illness manifests in the healthy and the unhealthy, how good intentions don’t always protect us from sorrow and disappointment, how resilience and unwavering love can overcome the worst situations, and how our best efforts to forgive and forget often fail. It is the imagined story of my paternal grandparents’ lives, part fiction, part fact, and always the truth as the muse delivered it.

What inspired you to set Finding Utopia between the years 1917-1926? How did the historical context influence the narrative?

My grandparents, the characters Will Jones and Maizelle Clark, eloped in 1917. They had five children together and were married until she died in 1926 at age twenty-four.

The historical context of the Great War loomed large over this narrative. Will was a member of the ROTC at Texas A&M College, a military land grant educational institution. As an author, I couldn’t figure out how a healthy, twenty-four-year-old man with his educational background avoided conscription into the Army. Thousands of young men in his age range were drafted. There were almost no exceptions. The percentage of young graduates from Texas A&M serving by 1917 was nearing 50%. The only plausible explanation I could come up with was a scheme on his part to avoid serving. Since he had been in the ROTC, it seemed unlikely he opposed service on any moral or ethical grounds. There had to be another reason, and I surmised it was Maizelle Clark. I have Will’s registration for the draft from 1941, when he attempted to join the Army to serve in WWII. When he tested positive for tuberculosis, the Army declined his application.

We heard that you had an intriguing experience holding the book launch in the story’s setting of Utopia, Texas. Could you share more about that experience?

Growing up, I always heard about Utopia, TX, my father’s “hometown,” the place he was from. It had almost mythical proportions, and my visit to Utopia in 1997 confirmed everything I imagined I knew about the place. I suspect that in 1997 it looked almost exactly as it looked in 1926 and today. The population has burgeoned from 206 in 1926 to 211 today. I always knew if I ever finished the book and got it published, I would do my official book launch in Utopia.

_{Crowd waiting to purchase book and get it autographed. Sabinal Canyon Museum. June 11, 2023}

When the time came, I contacted a lovely woman, Diane Causey, who owns Main Street Utopia, an excellent store of antiques, gifts, eclectic what-nots, and books, and is president of the Sabinal Canyon Museum Board, whom I met on a visit to Utopia in 2018. I told her my book was ready for publication and I wanted to do a book signing in Utopia. She gently discouraged me by telling me, “Utopia is a small town. People don’t really turn out for book launches here very well.”

I knew she had held a book launch for News of The World author Paulette Giles and I was hoping she’d offer the same for me. I went to bed that night thinking, “You live in a small town. You’ve lived in a very small town. What do people in small towns turn out for?” It came to me during the night that people show up for things that offer them some personal benefit. I called Diane the next morning and said, “Is there a group or organization in Utopia trying to raise money for something? I’d like to do my book launch as a benefit.”

Diane’s discouraging attitude did a 180, and she said, “Yes! The Museum Foundation is trying to raise money for a Veteran’s Memorial monument in our Town Square.”

And we were off. I got the name of a local person to do the catering. Diane assured me the museum would be large enough to host this event and immediately gave permission. I hired a person in the local community to make T-Shirts and tote bags with a unique logo and had my graphic artist design an invitation and a poster for the event. I had Diane send me the names and physical addresses of ten people in the local area who might influence others to attend. She sent me fifteen and the names and contact information for newspapers in neighboring towns. (Utopia doesn’t have a newspaper.)

_{Amanda Skenandore, Linda Weber, Valerie J. Anderson selling and signing at Utopia, TX launch event for FINDING UTOPIA}

I sent personal invitations to these influencers (old school, I know) and asked them to spread the word and help this benefit event put the fundraising for the Veteran’s Memorial over the top. I volunteered to donate 100% of the proceeds from the sale of books and SWAG to the effort.

I also invited two other authors to join me in the book signing, best-selling author Amanda Skenandore, Between Earth and Sky, a love story set in an Indian Boarding School at the turn of the century, and Valerie J. Anderson, Military Writers of America gold medal-winning author of Pearl Harbors Final Warning, the Message That Arrived Too Late. Each was attending/presenting at the Historical Novel Writers of North America Conference in San Antonio immediately before my event. Both accepted, and both sold out of the books they brought.

I was very nervous as the big day loomed. I had competition from two large family reunions on the same day. I had managed to round up three first cousins and two of their spouses who lived near enough to come to Utopia. One of the women in my Sisters Writes Read and Critique group was in Texas for a family reunion and would come, along with her boyfriend, and my brother and my husband would be there to support me. There wasn’t much more I could do but hope.

_{Watching and listening to author’s presentationWatching and listening to author’s presentation}

We opened the doors to the museum an hour before the 2 PM start time. The caterer set up the food and drink and quickly escaped. A couple of older women came from the Museum Foundation Board to see how they could help. We were set up and ready on the dot. We had advertised “admission by donation,” and people poured in the doors. My brother sold raffle tickets for a generous door prize. We offered complimentary Utopia-labeled wine by the glass or by the bottle to purchase. My fellow authors and I set up in the back room and were instantly flooded with people wanting to buy a copy of our books. The event lasted two hours. I gave a 15-minute presentation called “History as Fiction: A Night of Terror” at 1:15 and 2:15 to different crowds of attendees. I signed books until my arms ached. I sent my husband back to the car for another box twice.

The other authors did not donate 100% of their proceeds but had agreed to contribute to the Veteran’s Memorial fund. When all was said and done, I donated $1,220 to the Foundation. It was $220 more than they needed to finish purchasing the monument, and the memorial was installed and dedicated on July 4, 2023, in the Utopia Town Square. They used the excess money to bring a high school band from a neighboring town for the dedication ceremony.

_{T-shirt with Have You Found Utopia Yet on the back. Photo is main street Utopia 1926}

All the money for SWAG, catering, and the sale of books stayed in the local community. We estimate around forty people attended the event. Luckily, I am at a stage where I don’t need to make money on my book. I wrote the event off as a marketing expense and got a tax donation receipt for $1,220 from the Museum Foundation. Best of all, 60 copies of Finding Utopia went to homes in the area or will be gifted at Christmas to family members.

I feel like I made retribution for the tragedy that had befallen the town of Utopia because of my grandmother’s death. She rests in peace in the Jones Family Cemetery, surrounded by her husband, Will, her son Charles, her son W.E., and her daughter, Masie.

Maidee’s relationship with her father is strained from the outset due to her choice in marriage. Can you discuss the societal norms that might have informed Doc Clarke’s opposition?

It was very difficult to get a sense of this opposition. Fifteen was the legal age to marry without parental permission (it still is), and Dr. Clark and his first wife, Mamie Reeves Clark, were married when she was only sixteen. But exploration and research made me understand that Dr. Clark had an elevated opinion of his importance. His children and their accomplishments were a part of his esteemed position in the community. His daughter, Julia, followed his admonitions to get an education and moved to the city to better her prospects for a husband. I think his disappointment over Maizelle’s marriage was more the fact that, although college educated, Will was a mechanic. Dr. Clark hoped she would marry a “professional” person. The societal norms of that time were undoubtedly accepting of girls Maizelle’s age marrying and starting a family. There was nothing untoward in the relationship that I could find. Her first child was born at full gestation, nine months after marriage.

The dual perspectives of Maidee and Will provide readers with a multifaceted view of their relationship. What made you choose to alternate between their perspectives throughout the story?

It took two complete rewrites of the novel before I settled on the alternating point-of-view narration. The earliest version was an omniscient point of view but came off as too “telly.” The second rewrite was entirely Maizelle’s first-person narration but felt much too singular to satisfy the nature of her relationship with Will. I kept asking myself what he was thinking, doing, feeling, and realizing she couldn’t tell me. This version was arrived at after many years of “who’s telling this story?” and “whose story is this?” conversations with my critique partners and beta readers and the conundrum of the Jimmy thread woven through the narrative. Who but Jimmy would know his thoughts and feelings? It is unusual to offer a dual perspective, two equally significant protagonists and one antagonist, but it felt right.

How did you develop the character of Will’s mother and her role as a mentor to Maidee, especially given Maidee’s strained relationship with her own family?

Purely from my imagination. I knew little about Will’s mother other than that she bore ten children. Maizelle came into her life at the end of her childbearing years, and I imagined that she would welcome this child bride as a daughter of her heart, one she didn’t have to raise but who could provide her with some much-needed help in her aging years. I knew Dr. Clark had disowned Maizelle, and I needed a pragmatic and sympathetic female character to accept her and help her grow into a strong, competent woman. Will’s highly experienced mother was a natural choice. Will’s sister, Eula Brown, lived too far away, and Maizelle’s stepmother was out of the question.

Maidee’s descent into depression and trauma is central to the story. How did you approach the topic of PTSD, especially given the time period of the book, and what research did you undertake to ensure its accurate portrayal?

I’ve been alive a very long time. I have a daughter and a former husband who suffer from clinical depression, and I worked in the human services field for several years. I have had training on PTSD and how it manifests in different people and with different triggers. I served clients who had suffered from early childhood trauma, rape victims, victims of domestic violence, and Vietnam Veterans who suffered from PTSD. One client was kidnapped at knifepoint and raped repeatedly over several days before escaping to safety. Her experiences, reactions, feelings, and internal determination to survive and thrive were my blueprint for much of what I used in the book.

In Finding Utopia, the characters often grapple with the challenge of shielding loved ones from painful realities. What drew you to explore this theme and what insights do you hope readers gain from it?

I knew my grandfather descended into alcoholism after his wife’s death, struggled with unanswered questions about why she was murdered, and constantly berated himself for being unable to protect her. Growing up with a father shielded from knowing about the circumstances of his mother’s death gave me a unique insight into the unintended consequences of concealing information. He always seemed to treat it as a humiliation rather than a tragedy. My father’s sister didn’t find out her mother was murdered until she was in her late teens. She didn’t know her real last name was Jones because the people who raised her, although relatives, thought it was “best you didn’t know.”

I also grew up in an era when whether to tell a child they were adopted wasn’t even an option. Again, in my work in human services, I saw with my own eyes the struggle these children go through in adolescence and adulthood when they discover that they aren’t who they thought they were. I knew the extremely high rate of alcoholism and drug addiction for adults who have experienced some form of abandonment in early childhood, of which the loss of a parent through death or divorce, and adoption, are some of the earliest imprints.

I know this story has a sad outcome and is an emotional ride for most readers. I hope they will accept that transparency in relationships is critical to healing and that if people were more forthcoming, some stories would end differently.

As we await the next installment in the ‘Tales From the Sabinal Canyon’ series, can you give us a hint about its direction? Will we continue to journey alongside familiar faces, or are there new narratives and characters awaiting discovery?

Surviving Utopia picks up where Finding Utopia leaves off and follows Will and the children on their journey through grief, an interrupted childhood, and ultimately their emigration to Oregon during the Great Depression. Of course, there are new events, new circumstances and challenges, and a few new characters as they travel on the odyssey of survival toward adulthood.

When the Bough Breaks, a third book in the Tales from the Sabinal Canyon, has cameo appearances by Will and Maizelle and features all new characters in the early to mid-1920s. The setting expanded to include the towns of Sabinal and Uvalde, also in the hill country.

Linda, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing a bit about you and your work!

Thank you for interviewing me. And thank you for identifying the themes of trauma, depression, Autism, deep secrets, and PTSD in my book. Yes, it is a love story, but it is definitely not a romance!

CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR:

Website:  www.novelistlindaweber
Email:  novelistlindaweber@gmail.com
FaceBook: Linda Jones Weber
Instagram: novelistlindaweber
LinkedIn: Linda (Ladd, Jones, Harrington) Weber
https://store.bookbaby.com/finding-utopia