[Mary Davis] 5 Reasons I Shouldn’t Be an Author

Introducing one of Mountain Brook Ink’s newest authors, Mary Davis! Mary will be debuting her first series with Mountain Brook Ink, THE QUIILTING CIRCLE series with The Widow’s Plight, releasing July 1, 2018. 

I had this stereotype of what made up an author.

5 Attributes of an Author:

1. An author must have read veraciously when they were young: NOPE.
2. An author is a naturally good reader: NOPE.
3. An author has always loved words: NOPE.
4. An author was good in English and always received “A’s”: NOPE.
5. An author is an excellent speller: NOPE.

My score: 0/5.

1. I didn’t read much as a child. Not a good reader, at all. Physical torture. My head would hurt and my body tense.
2. I have always been a slow reader and still am. My comprehension, poor at best. So, why should I take the time to “read” something if I didn’t know what it was I read? A waste of time.
3. Words? Mine were generally cut down and made fun of.
4. English? Barely passed with “C’s”, and again, torture. Adjective? Adverb? Preposition? Why do they all have to have different names?
5. Spelling? Well, I couldn’t spell my way out of a wet paper bag to save my life.

I still can’t spell. I misspell the same words over and over and over and over. Any day now, I expect the Spell Checker on my computer to give up on me. “If you haven’t learned to spell that word by now, I’m not going to tell you again.” Some times I don’t even get close enough for Spell Checker to have a clue about what word I was trying for. “No Spelling Suggestions” When that happens, I look up a synonym (that I can spell) in my thesaurus, then there is the word I was trying to spell. Not even close.

The reason for all my difficulties is because I’m blessed with dyslexia. Yes, blessed. I don’t see my dyslexia as a learning disability— although it was when I was a child—but an ability. My dyslexia helps me see things in strange and offbeat ways sometimes.

I became a reader as an adult, and I love reading now. Love words. The right word can reveal so much about a character. I’ve gotten a little better at English too.

Now, what I believe makes an author is a love of story. I’ve always loved story and loved creative writing, even if I couldn’t spell the words correctly. I call that creative spelling. I’ve always had characters roaming around in my head.

A nonfiction writer once told of her first experience at a fiction writers conference. She’d sat at two or three meals before she realized her eating companions weren’t talking about real people but their characters. She said it was strange to hear people talk about the voices in their head like they were real people. “There’s medication for that.”

I like the voices in my head. Some times they have good ideas. I’m never alone and never get bored. But don’t tell them they aren’t real, or you’ll hurt their feelings. Besides, they’re real to me.

My new historical novella, Holly & Ivy releases January 1, 2018 in A BOUQUET OF BRIDES COLLECTION by Barbour.

Washington State, 1890

Holly Harrison can’t believe her foolhardy sister has agreed to be a Christmas mail-order bride. When Holly can’t talk her sister out of traveling across the country on this fool’s quest, she accompanies her impetuous younger sister and tries to talk her out of this ridiculous venture. Along the way, they meet Nick Andrews who is jaded by the idea of love and has yet to meet a trustworthy woman. Until now.

Pre-order your copy now.

Mary is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, is the past-president of a local ACFW chapter, and is active in critique groups. Mary ranked 5^th among the favorite authors in the 14^th Annual Heartsong Presents Awards

She enjoys walking, being with her family, playing board and card games, rain, and cats. She would enjoy gardening if she didn’t have a black thumb. Her hobbies are quilting, porcelain doll making, sewing, crafts, crocheting, and knitting. She enjoys going into schools and talking to kids about writing. She loves creativity in various forms.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-three years, has three adult children, an adorable granddaughter, and two cats. She asked Jesus into her heart at age twelve and strives to have her writing point to and glorify God. If she had one wish to make, she would wish Jesus for everyone because when you have Jesus, you have the most important relationship in the world.

Learn more about Mary: marydavisbooks.com