We recently connected with Cynthia (C.L.) Tolbert and have shared our conversation below.
Cynthia (C.L.), thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your professional career?
Many years ago, when I was in law school, I had a job clerking for a local attorney. My general job description included the preparation of pre-trial motions, and occasionally interviewing witnesses for the cases I was assigned to. I’ll refer to my then boss as “Attorney X..”
Attorney X was a plaintiff’s attorney with a well-deserved reputation for being tough and smart. I wanted to work the defense side of cases when I graduated, but thought it would be wise to see how a reputable plaintiff’s attorney worked up cases. My instincts were correct.
I was given the task of responding to a motion for summary judgment in a case I thought lacked credibility. I wouldn’t have taken the case, which may have influenced my response. I prepared a rational, legally correct reply brief to the defendant’s motion. But it wasn’t strong. It wasn’t compelling. I tip-toed around the argument because I thought the entire case was weak.
After reviewing the brief, Attorney X shook his head.
“You’re afraid of your own argument,” he said. “When you think you’ve got a weak case you need to jump in with both feet and attack. Reach down to the depths of the matter and find your strength, not your weakness.”
He then proceeded to show me just how to do that.
I applied that lesson to the practice of law for the next thirty five years. And, I’ve applied it to my writing career. I’ve learned to recognize when I’m afraid, and instead of shrinking from the thing I fear, I jump in. It took me nine years to get my first book published, but I now have a six book contract.
Fear is good in some ways because it warns you of danger. But in many instances fear is only imaginary. It happens when you imagine the negative outcome of a project before it even begins.
Thanks to Attorney X for his lesson on tenacity and perseverance in the face of fear. It has served me well.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
In 2005, while recovering from cancer surgery, I decided to turn off the television and begin writing, something I’d wanted to do for years. I’d won a writing contest when I was young, and published a couple of professional law journal articles, but hadn’t written creatively for years. Although I’d spent a large percentage of my legal career writing briefs, that is not and should not be a creative process. Legal briefs are argumentative, and formulaic and are all about citing precedent for your position. But as a lawyer and a teacher I’d been exposed to the good and the bad of what humanity offers, and I’d been carrying around stories in my head for years.
I read somewhere that everyone should write their memoir, so I thought that was a good place to start. But my memoir was an abysmal failure. I found it embarrassing to expose personal vulnerability. But I knew, even then, that honesty is the foundation of good writing. I decided to take a stab at third-person fiction, and soon realized that it was easier for me to write about someone else’s emotions and problems. I could even tell a personal story, hidden by the guise of fiction.
When I was a third-year law student clerking for a local attorney I had the chance to work with a young deaf man who had been charged with a crime. He never learned sign language which made him profoundly isolated, both from his deaf peers and from the hearing population. I was stunned by the number of people who didn’t understand his struggles. This case inspired the short story Out From Silence. I wrote and re-wrote the piece, continuing to work on it on weekends after I returned to work.
In 2010, I won the Georgia State Bar Journal Fiction Writing Contest for this story. That success gave me the confidence to turn the short story into a full-length novel. In 2019, Out From Silence, the first book in the Thornton Mystery Series, was published by Level Best Books. It was one of the most exciting moments of my life. Since that time, I’ve written two additional books, The Redemption, and Sanctuary, both of which were also published by Level Best Books, in 2019 and 2022.
All of my books have been inspired by actual cases, although the facts and the plots have been changed. I am drawn to the more vulnerable members of society, and examine social justice issues in my books.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I am attracted to cases and stories with vulnerable suspects, regardless of age. I tell their stories to raise awareness, and to encourage a meaningful resolution.
Juveniles are especially at risk. Under most state laws, young people are recognized as adults at age eighteen. But science suggests that most people aren’t fully matured until the age of twenty-five. People under the age of twenty-five often lack mature judgment. They make bad choices.
Also, juveniles are more susceptible to being bullied by older family members or friends into participating in crimes. Sometimes they’re set up by these same people to take the responsibility for a crime they didn’t commit, as Louis Bishop was in The Redemption. When a juvenile is charged with a more serious crime, including murder, society places the same criminal responsibility on teenagers as older, fully mature adults.
Until 2005, a juvenile as young as sixteen could receive the death penalty. On February 28, 2005, seventy-one people were on death row for crimes committed while they were sixteen or seventeen years old.* The next day, in Roper v. Simmons, the Supreme Court held that the death penalty for juvenile offenders younger than eighteen violates the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. But today all states have transfer laws that allow or require young offenders to be prosecuted as adults for more serious offenses, regardless of their age.
The stories I tell are inspired from actual cases and events which have haunted me for years: a young deaf man whose handicap was misunderstood by his parents and his community; a sixteen-year-old boy who was set up by cousins to take the responsibility for a murder he did not commit; and an emotional young girl who ran away from home, only to join a suspicious cult.
Although the books I write end with hope and a comforting resolution, most true stories do not.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I enjoy writing. I believe my stories are important, and present an opportunity for readers to think through some of our societal problems. But even though I enjoy the process, it seems pointless to write a book a year unless someone actually reads them. To encourage readership, an author must participate in marketing.
Although I’m well-schooled, I’m not educated in book marketing or the promotion of sales. Several authors and I were recently asked if we wanted to exploit our books in various ways. I’d never heard that term applied to book sales, but my answer was, “yes – please exploit my books!”
My first book, OUT FROM SILENCE, came out one month before the pandemic hit. My second book, THE REDEMPTION, came out during the pandemic. There were no in-person author book signings during this time, and I learned very little about how to market.
I’m slowly learning, but have made many, many mistakes. I’ve spent too much money,, and haven’t seen tangible results from the efforts I’ve made. I have learned about virtual book tours, and have taken advantage of them. I anticipate a few more reviews from the tour, and that’s a good thing.
I wish I’d known about virtual tours for my first book. I also wish there was more time in the day or the week to devote to marketing. Writing is a full-time business, but the business of marketing cannot be ignored.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.cltolbert.com
- Instagram: www.instagram@cltolbertwrites
- Facebook: www.facebook@cltolbertwrites
- Linkedin: www.linkedin@cynthiatolbert
- Twitter: www.twitter@cltolbertwrites
Image Credits
Richie Arpino (author photo); Brian Swanner (book cover)