We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mary Kendall a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Mary thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

Let’s face it….running a small business isn’t easy. I have dabbled with hiring others to take care of some social media tasks but, due to budgetary constraints, it really is down to me to carry out and manage my varying platforms.

What this means is a lot of trial and error in figuring out where my time and energy should be spent. Social media is a shifting sands landscape and it can be hard to keep up. The results are a mixed bag that do not necessarily have set metrics. But I have been able to develop a presence of sorts that I am comfortable with.

After three years or so, I have also reached the conclusion that social media needs to be fun. My lesson is this: if you are not enjoying what you are doing, don’t do it. Pick another platform or avenue instead and keep experimenting until you find your happy places. And you will.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Who am I? I am a fiction writer with a particular niche in the historic and a penchant for the gothic.

I am the author of two published novels, The Spinster’s Fortune, a historical mystery, and Campbell’s Boy, coming of age historical fiction. I also have published short stories in dark fiction anthologies. My third novel, Bottled Secrets of Rosewood, is a contemporary gothic thriller that will be out in summer 2024!

How did all this happen?

I grew up in historic old houses. They were haunted too. (Think things that went bump in the night and were rife with the unexplained.) My imagination didn’t stand a chance and caught on fire.

Later, I chose history as a career path with research as the job—which is really just solving mysteries. My fiction writing naturally extended from these beginnings and remains heavily influenced by the past. A bonus to the mix is the Celtic storytelling DNA coursing through my veins.

I am most proud of achieving this lifelong dream after the age of fifty as a second (maybe a third, fourth or fifth?) act. Finding my creative groove at this point in life makes it all the sweeter.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think every person has creativity—they just have to recognize where it is in their lives.

Here’s a story…and an inspiration that stayed with me for years until I finally tapped into it and used it in my writing.

One of my most memorable “non-creative” jobs was tracking down and documenting historic properties in rural areas. One time, it led me down a long dirt road in a mountainous area where I found a one story frame dwelling with smoke furling from a stone chimney. A little elderly woman came out on the porch to greet me wearing a longish dress, an apron and a cap. As we talked, I discovered she had to be close to a hundred years of age and had only three little nubs of teeth left in her mouth on the bottom half. The place had been an orchard run by her family and she was all that was left. It felt as though I had fallen into a magical black hole of time. I didn’t use this inspiration for a very long time….until I did.

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

The path to becoming a published author is not an easy one. Instead of a straight line, I call my particular path the zig-zag approach, paved with hundreds of rejections and a lot of writer’s tears. That is all okay, though, because I have learned so, so much along the way. This creative life is a constant and ongoing lesson in flexibility and keeping an open mind.

One part of the journey is negative book reviews which I feel are really an opportunity to practice resilience. It’s helpful to me to read all the reviews I get whether they be negative or positive. Both sides of the coin have the potential to make me a better writer. It’s important to know how readers connect or do not connect with what I have written. Each reader will have their own personal experience with my novels and I am not a part of that. But I am curious about how that experience goes for them nonetheless. In other words, I try to always find the lesson in the negatives as well as the positives.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.marykendallauthor.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mary.kendall.author/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mary.kendall.3152
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryLavin49
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@marykendallauthor8120
• Other: linktr.ee@marykendall