We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nancy Polk Hall a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nancy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

The summer I was thirteen, I was bored, and the weather was so hot and sultry, that choices of being outside were few. We are a family who love books, and so my mother gave me “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier to read. I just loved it and soon she was feeding me books of the same genre from Mary Stewart and many other writers. Those books were fundamental in my youth, and as I matured, I found myself wanting to write them as well. But the books also helped in my growth and understanding of the world around me. The settings were often in exotic lands that I had not seen before and were informative as well as well-crafted stories.

My book, “Call of the Blackbird” is suitable for youth as well as adults, I would like my legacy to be the idea of someone curled up on a sofa, enthralled with the mystery. I would like them to finish the book, loving the story, the characters and location. I want them to want to visit the places I describe and broaden their imaginations. Maybe there will be that young person who thinks, “I can write a story, too!” I can’t think of a better legacy.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born into a military family, and my father was in the United States Air Force. We traveled a great deal and lived in France and then England. It was an interesting time during our history. For instance, I saw President Kennedy four days before he was assassinated. When we moved to France, World War II had ended fewer than twenty years before and we were in the most war-torn part in the northeast. Bullet holes could easily be seen in houses still and undetonated bombs were still in the woods. My parents loved history and we spent a great deal of time visiting different countries with their castles, stately homes, cathedrals, battlefields, and cemeteries. I think that it set me apart from many other children in having this firsthand experience. I have returned to Europe many times over the years, and the love of these places fills my imagination with so much. My husband, Danny, lived in Europe a number of years and we both enjoy going back. I am very lucky in that he loves travel, and he is very supportive of my writing.

Because of this background, my chosen genre for now is historical/fiction/mystery. I have been most proud of the comments that I have had from my readers for “Call of the Blackbird.”. They love the location, the characters, and the story and many have asked me to write a sequel which I am considering. I am so gratified when they tell me they didn’t want the story to end.

I like to think out complex plots and situations and solve them. I have written things off and on all during my life. Many years ago, I wrote “Call of the Blackbird” and then put it in a drawer. Later, I took a class of how to tell life stories. The instructor was wonderful and very encouraging about my writing. I decided to take another look at my novel and its potential although it needed editing and some reworking. I was so proud that it was published and the feeling of holding the book in your hand is incredible! I currently have two other novels in the works. One, I have to put aside until I go to Germany later this year to see locations. The response I have received from my readers is so encouraging, that it makes it so much fun to keep writing.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson I had to unlearn is what other people thought who I was, or what my capabilities were. Life is full of people who can be discouraging, and at times I listened to them and took what they said seriously. Then I would prove that it wasn’t true, often unintentionally. For instance, I was told that I could never learn math or science, “It just wasn’t my thing.” In junior high, I took it to heart so much that in reading the science textbook, the page would literally blur before me. The science teacher took pity on me and let me clean the lab for a passing grade. Later in life, I worked for physicians and kept their financial books and helped with office surgeries. I had to understand many scientific things in my work and found it easy and fascinating. The physicians I worked for didn’t know that “I could never learn math or science.” They thought I was very competent, and their accountants were always complimentary on the state of my bookkeeping. It was a big lesson for me that gave me confidence.

When I started writing, I was told that it was impossible to get published unless you ran in the right circles, and that I probably wasn’t good enough because it “wasn’t my career.” But I was lucky in that I started to surround myself with more supportive people who saw other things in me and believed that I had talent and intelligence. I think that is key to success. I discovered also that it is easy to believe people who do not take you seriously or recognize your gifts.

I found that so much of people’s opinions are transferred to you by their own beliefs and limitations, and that they are seldom valid. What they are saying truly has nothing to do with you as a person. So, my advice is to follow your heart and don’t listen to the naysayers. Do what you want to, it is never too late, and relax and have fun doing it.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal has been a long standing one; that is to use my creative mind to tell stories that people learn from and enjoy reading. Throughout my life, I have traveled extensively and had so many experiences with people and their stories. I particularly love history and one aspect of history that I love is how normal people lived. While learning about royalty and aristocratic life is very interesting, what drives me is how average people thought and what their daily life experiences were.

It was fortunate that I got to know my great-grandmother who lived until her late eighties. She was born in 1883 and lived on a ranch in Texas. I would pound her with questions and make her tell me stories of riding horses (side-saddle) and in carriages. I would ask her about her long dresses and corsets, what her childhood was like when she was young, and how she perceived the world around her. She told me stories of her family and the ranch. I wept when she told the story of her brother being killed, dragged by a horse when he was twelve years old. I gasped at the story of when her sister died at fifteen of kidney disease and she exclaimed angels were at the foot of her bed as she took her last breath.

These true stories and hundreds of others inspire me to keep writing and keep creating stories. It fascinates me to understand what motivates people and how their story makes them feel as they do. I think that the richness of other peoples’ story is what drives me on.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nancypolkhall.com
• Instagram: nancypolkhall
• Facebook: Nancy Polk Hall, Author
• Twitter: @hallpolk1