I am so happy to be bringing you an interview with Sheila Turner Johnston today, in celebration of her contemporary novel, Maker of Footprints. Before we meet her, let's find out a little more about the book:
Meeting him was
easy. It was knowing him that burned bone.
Paul Shepherd is
dangerous. He crashes into Jenna’s life like an asteroid into an ocean. Willful
and exhausting, he stirs feelings that make her confront all that has kept her
safe – and bored.
Relentless and
determined, he needs Jenna with a desperation she does not understand. Jenna
discovers that, although she can try to hide from Paul, there is nowhere to
hide from herself.
But he is married...
What do you do when
you discover you are not the person you thought you were?
Welcome to Books, Life and Everything, Sheila.
Would you like to
start by telling us a little about yourself and how you started as a writer?
Hi Pam! Lovely to talk to you and many thanks for being a
stop on the blog tour for Maker of Footprints.
I was born in west Cork in southern Ireland and grew up in a
manse, because my father was a clergyman – an experience I have drawn on in
Maker of Footprints. We moved about throughout Ireland wherever he was
stationed, but most of my life has been spent in Northern Ireland. I graduated
from Queen’s University in Belfast and moved to Omagh in Co Tyrone for a job
and met my future husband there. Marriage and two fabulous sons followed. I
live in County Down now.
I’m honestly not sure how I started as a writer. I’ve just
always been one! I used to write stories about my pets and loved the challenge
of a free writing task at school. There is an endless list of things I’m
hopeless at, but I always seemed to have an ear for language and I love the
rhythm and beat of words well put together, and how the sound and length of a
sentence can carry as much significance as the words in it. At school I
couldn’t run, sing, play a musical instrument or do anything that so many of my
schoolmates excelled at. So my creativity and desire for achievement was poured
into words on the page. I was also a bit of an introvert and didn’t make
friends easily and I suppose that drove me into living inside my own head a lot
of the time.
What was your
inspiration behind Maker of Footprints?
My novels are character driven. I got the characters of
Jenna and Paul first and they stayed in my mind for months. Slowly they
developed as people and I began to wonder how they would interact when
confronted with difficult situations and choices. I like to explore the grey
areas of life, to challenge stereotypical ways of looking at life and living
it, and this is how the story of these two individuals and everyone around them
unfolded, like a film, in my head.
I also find locations inspirational. This is particularly
true of Rossnowlagh Strand in Donegal. It’s a place I love and remember from
early childhood when my father was stationed close to it. When writing Maker of
Footprints, I mentally placed my characters there for some critical scenes. The
place was like another character, and the story flowed.
Can you tell us a
little about Maker of Footprints without giving the plot away?
Well, one of the lines on the back cover says: “A story of
irrevocable change, tragedy and indestructible love”! A Goodreads reviewer said
it was about “love, desire, relationships and passion”. At the heart of it is a
love story, but it is much more than that. Through the interrelationships of
four main characters and their desires and fears, the tension between want and
need, between selfishness and generosity and between anger and forgiveness,
plays out. But as I said, the heart of it is a love story.
I understand you
also write poetry. Do you prefer poetry or novel writing?
When I was a student, poetry was my main method of
expression. I don’t know what that says about those formative years! I still
write poetry occasionally but somehow it doesn’t come as easily as a creative
outlet now – although I did win an Association of Freelance Writers poetry
competition recently, to my great surprise! I moved on to really enjoying short
story writing, but now I love the space to breathe that a novel gives.
Do you find you
write on similar themes within your poetry and novels or are they quite
different?
Mostly the themes in my novels are different to those of my
earlier poetry. I think life experience adds depth to the well you draw from
when creating fiction. As a student I was more idealistic, wanting to change
the world. Creative expression reflects that psyche. Now I find that I’m more
fascinated by how characters deal with imperfection, both in themselves and in
the flawed world in which they must find their place. This is especially true
of the characters in Maker of Footprints. They are all flawed in some way, but
could anyone really judge them on the different paths they chose?
What are your
writing routines and where do you do most of your writing?
I wish I had a proper writing routine! I’m always promising
to take myself in hand and Get Organised! I’m very easily distracted and fight
to focus. But once I get started and am really in deep, I can write for hours
and not know the time going. Writing is the only thing that makes me forget to
eat – and that’s serious! Just as an example, I crawled into bed at five
o’clock in the morning after finishing chapter 14 of Maker of Footprints! I
didn’t feel the night passing but I got the scenes carved out. I’m still fond
of that chapter! My desk is in my sitting room, but quite often I write in an
armchair with my laptop on my knee. This foils the best efforts of my elderly
cat Fudge, who persists on sitting on the keyboard, purring into my face when I
am at my desk. She has even managed to highlight and delete a whole paragraph
by walking across the keys!
What do you like
to read when you are not writing?
Lots of stuff. I like the occasional tense drama like Harlan
Coben’s books. Nothing too violent or gory though! I have enjoyed and admired
the complex plotting of Robert Goddard and the stunning prose of Sebastian
Faulks, David Park and Sebastian Barry. Books by Amanda Prowse, Claire Allan,
Lisa Jewell are all on my kindle. My favourite genre is historical, especially
as far back as Greek and Roman times. At the moment I’m reading Imperium by
Robert Harris, about the Roman politician and orator Cicero. I’m a bit of a
reading gypsy really!
Finally, Do you have any writing projects on the go that
you can share with us?
I have another novel in the final stages of revision and I
hope it will be fit to be seen in the not too distant future. I have a working
title for it but it’s so awful I’m not going to mention it! It is set in
Belfast and follows the mental and emotional journey of two very different
people who form an unusual bond as they find a way to forgive and to be
forgiven for events in the past. And no, it has nothing to do with the
Troubles!
That sounds fascinations. Thanks so much for telling us a little about your writing life.
About the Author
Sheila Turner
Johnston was born in west Cork, Ireland and spent her childhood in different
counties the length and breadth of the country, as the family moved wherever
her father’s job took him. She attended Queen’s University, Belfast, and apart
from managing to graduate against all her expectations, one of her best
experiences was reading her poetry to an audience that included Seamus Heaney.
Sheila has won
prizes for both fiction and non-fiction, and has written many articles for both
local and national publications. She and her husband Norman founded the
publishing house Colourpoint Creative Ltd, which is now owned and managed by
their two sons.
Thanks to Sheila Turner Johnston and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for a place on the tour.
Check out the rest of the tour!
Thanks so much for the blog tour support Pam x
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