We were lucky to catch up with Margaret Coel recently and have shared our conversation below.

Margaret, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

It seems that sometimes success is a matter of luck. Being in the right place at the right time. You happen to know someone who knows someone who knows someone–you know how it goes. But I agree with Oscar Wilde who said: The harder I work, the luckier I get. What about working hard? Does that mean keeping your nose to the grindstone, working, working, working and waiting for success to knock down the door? Very important, all that work and trying all the time to get better at what we do. But I’ve found that working also means getting yourself out there. Meeting people, becoming part of your community, joining professional groups, going to conferences, listening to boring speeches–you might learn something. This is part of what, I believe, it takes to be successful. It was at writers’ conferences, author meetings, publisher get togethers and many other book-related events that I met people who helped me along the way. It’s where I met my first agent. My first editor. Authors who later gave me blurbs for my books. Yes, by getting out there, I met the people who knew the people who—you get the idea.

Margaret, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started with a single-minded idea of what I wanted to do and I never deviated. From the time I learned to read as a child I knew I wanted to be the one writing the stories.  Every choice I made –education, jobs–was directed toward that goal. I wrote constantly. I have file folders of my early endeavors. Stories and stories and more not-very-good stories. But they were a start, and most of us don’t start at the top of our game. I was learning how to do what I wanted to do. I got a degree in journalism, started as a newspaper reporter, then graduated to writing for magazines. By the time I started writing books, I had spent years honing my craft. My first book, Chief Left Hand, the biography of a 19th century Arapaho leader, became an award-winning national bestseller. But that didn’t just happen. I had spent five years researching Chief Left Hand’s life and times, visiting the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming where Arapahos live today and getting to know the people, which gave me a core of knowledge and experience. It gave me something to write about. And that made it possible to write twenty-two novels featuring Arapaho characters that became the New York Times bestselling Wind River series.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I believe that everybody has to deal with a certain amount of rejection as they go along in their careers. And creatives must deal with rejection constantly. How to keep going? How to keep trying when people  send the message: “You can’t do that.” I’ve had my share of rejections. Articles returned from magazine editors with little notes attached, “Sorry, not for us.” The manuscript of my book, Chief Left Hand, returned from a publisher with a letter saying, “We don’t think so.” But one of the toughest was the rejection from a New York agent who wrote that while he liked the idea of novels set among the Arapahos, he didn’t believe I could write them.  “Watch me,” I said. I had learned to say that to every rejection and just keep going. I had to believe I could do it, but at the same time, I tried to learn from each rejection. If an editor provided any hint as to why my article was rejected, I rewrote it and rewrote it again. I rewrote Chief Left Hand, and the next publisher snatched it up. I sent out rewritten articles to other editors and often they were published because they were better. Rejection, I learned, can be your friend, if you let it. It can help you improve your skills, whatever they are, and get better at what you do.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I want to be the best I can be at what I do. I begin every novel staring at the blank computer screen and telling myself, “Write the best story you have ever written. Make the characters come to life. Put your readers in the midst of the action. Transport them to another time and place. Don’t mess this up.” I feel a great responsibility to my readers (customers) to give them the best product (book) I can give them, to make them feel rewarded for the time and money they’ve spent.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.margaretcoel.com
• Facebook: Website: www.margaretcoel.com

Image Credits
Margaret with author Anne Hillerman Authors William Kent Krueger and Craig Johnson with Margaret and Barbara Peters of Poisoned Pen Bookstore, Scottsdale, Az.