Broome Enigma Meryl Tobin Brown

Q: It would be wonderful to hear a little bit about your writing journey to publication.

A: I am an established writer and been published in various areas.  However, though I have been writing novels for years, it wasn’t until I discovered the Wild Rose Press that I found editors prepared to give me the guidance to get over the humps I needed to.  Thanks to Val Mathews and Ally Robertson’s patience and generosity and The Wild Rose Press’s philosophy of helping authors, I have now learned what is required. I shall now also revise my earlier novels and hopefully get them out there as well.

Q: I used to write around the paid job, I would get up before I went to work and write until I had to head out – this went on for years – until I retired. Most people don’t realise that this is common amongst authors. Is this true for you?

A:  Until I took a voluntary separation package from my ‘day job’, I wrote only relatively short pieces, usually at weekends.  Once I was at home all day with a day stretching ahead of me, I felt I could start the novel I wanted to write and immerse myself in it and did so. Once I got into a novel, I did find I could write in stops and starts. However, I still enjoy the luxury of having days with few other commitments and can immerse myself fully in my writing.

Q: What does your writing space look like (if you wanted to add a jpg image that would be great) if not don’t worry.

A:  I have a den, which used to be the bedroom of one of my sons before he left home.  I have a desk, computer and printer and lots of research material for when I need any of it. I also have a smaller earlier den which has filing cabinets, desks and bookshelves full of books and magazines containing my published work. A far cry from when I used to set up my typewriter on the kitchen table and have to clear away all my ‘stuff’ at dinnertime.

Q: When you are writing what might we hear? Do you like total peace and quiet when you write, or do you have special things you like organised before you start?

A: I like peace and quiet.  I could not write with music, the radio or TV going in the background or people talking.  I would hate to work in a newsroom.

Q: There was a question I was asked recently and wonder what your version of ‘success’ looks to you.

A: This is a tough one. Once it was getting all I wrote published and preferably paid for at a fair rate. Now I am older, I am content in myself that I am a writer with a solid block of published work behind me. Recently etting my first novel published was the icing on the cake. Now I want to get all my other novels published, as well as collections of my short stories, collections of my poems not already in collections and an educational puzzles cum info book published.

Over the last three years my environmental advocacy work has taken over much of my writing time. Sadly, the world is not in a good place from an environmental point of view or from a peace and harmony/social justice point of view. In the past I have written many social justice pieces, mainly poems and letters to the press. If I had the power to write something to stop the Ukraine/Russian War, stop the killing in Gaza and Israel and to bring peace and the recognition of human rights and land rights for all throughout the world, that would be my Utopian wish for success.

In their own way, I think ‘Broome Enigma’ and my other novels offer hope to readers. They are about ordinary people meeting and falling in love and overcoming obstacles in life and in the two attracted to each other getting together. Life’s all about choices, and, if you make the wrong one, you don’t have to keep making more and compounding the problems you have. It’s about respectful relationships and the valuing of them and living as happy a life as possible.