Novelist Kim McCollum joins me today to chat about her new women’s fiction, What Happens in Montana.
Kim is in the midst of a virtual book tour with Wow! Women on Writing! Full tour details are below this interview. I invite you to visit other tour stops.
Bio:
Kim McCollum graduated from Barnard College as a Japanese major and headed to work on Wall Street. Many miserable all-nighters and the birth of her first child led her to stay at home to raise her children. Eventually, she pursued her passion for writing. An excerpt from this novel appeared in The Copperfield Review Quarterly and her short stories have appeared in the Dillydoun Review, Beyond Solace, and Fiction on the Web. She lives in Bozeman, Montana with her husband, Brian, and their blended menagerie of five kids, three dogs, and seven spoiled chickens. What Happens in Montana is her first novel.
Welcome, Kim. Please tell us about your current release.
My debut novel, What Happens in Montana, is a murder mystery set at a haunted, holistic hot springs retreat in the middle of nowhere Montana. It is not a hard-core sleuthing kind of mystery, however, which is why it is included in the Women’s Fiction genre instead of Mystery. Someone dies at the beginning, but like Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, it is more about the relationship of a group of women who arrive at the retreat for a reunion than a true detective style mystery. This group of four women met at a Mommy and Me playgroup in Las Vegas and have been friends for nearly twenty years. They decided on this reunion because they wanted an adventurous way to celebrate their babies heading off to college. They find more adventure than they were bargaining for with a harrowing moose chase, being haunted by the resident ghost, and a fling with the handsome hiking guide. Maude Reeves, the nearly eighty-year-old chef at the retreat, who prefers the company of her dog and the ghost, is drawn to these women when one of them reminds her of her long deceased daughter. The ghost senses the connection between Maude and the ladies and gains strength by telling the story of her tragic life as a prostitute in 1920s Butte, Montana and her murder at the very place where they are all staying.
What inspired you to write this book?
I love stories of strong women and the wonderful bonds of female friendship. I am blessed to have amazing friends over many miles and years so I drew upon these friendships to create characters whose adventures force them into uncomfortable situations that test their bonds.
When a detour took my husband and I past the haunted hot springs featured in this book, I knew it was the perfect place for an adventurous reunion for my girlfriends. I stayed there alone for one night and while I’m still not entirely sure I believe in ghosts, if they were out there, this would be the place they would want to be. It is only partially fixed up, with most of the buildings boarded up and crumbling. It is strange, and creepy, to say the least.
I also learned that eighteen percent of Montana’s original homesteaders were single women, often with children in tow. I couldn’t imagine coming to the vast, cold tundra of Montana in the late 1800s as a single mother and attempting to build a life on the land. But many of them did, and their strength and determination was truly remarkable. I also learned that many women were moonshiners. Women weren’t prosecuted as harshly as men were, and women could brew hooch on the same stove as their meals, so it was an easy side income for many women. I find all this history fascinating, so it was wonderful to use it as the backstory for the ghost in my novel.
Excerpt from What Happens in Montana:
I glanced at the bird-like woman who sat across from him and wondered how she kissed him with that
facial hair. Didn’t it smell like whatever he ate? Or scratch her face? Didn’t errant hair ever tickle her
nose and make her sneeze? Maybe they had been together so long that they didn’t really kiss much
anymore. Just a peck hello and goodbye. I supposed I could handle facial hair if that was my only
interaction with it.
“Hello, I’m Maude, and I’ll be taking care of you tonight. Can I get you anything to drink besides water?”
“Water is fine for me. Dear, what would you like?”
“Oh, I’d like sparkling water. One of those flavored ones, if you have it. Not one that has calories or sugar or anything. Just the essence of lime or tangerine or whatever. Do you know what I mean?” She looked at me with big, pleading eyes. I saw such hunger in those eyes. Lord, this woman needed a huge steak and a baked potato with butter and sour cream. Then she needed a good bottle of wine to go with it and a German chocolate cake to finish it all. This woman didn’t look as though she had been properly nourished and decades. But what I saw most in her eyes was that she had not allowed herself to live. She imposed such restrictions on her life – what to eat, what to wear, what friends to have, what church to attend, what car to drive, what words to say – that she forgot what she wanted. She forgot how to live. She was just going through the motions. She might as well already be dead.
I wanted to tell her to forget calories, forget working out at least five days a week, forget always needing to be a size zero, forget what others think, forget keeping her house perfectly in order, for surely this woman’s house was always in order, and throw all caution to the wind. Eat an entire gallon of ice cream while binge watching Grace and Frankie. Stay in your pajamas till noon and dance to Uptown Funk with the volume so loud the neighbors will call the police. Hike to the top of Boulder peak at dawn to watch the sunrise regardless of the animals you might encounter. Tell your husband to shave that nasty dead rat on his face and kiss him like you did when you were a teen teenager. Just don’t live like life will last forever.
Instead, I said, “Sure. We have lime, grapefruit, and coconut sparkling water.”
What exciting project are you working on next?
My next novel is called, Harriet Hates Lemonade, and it is the story of a rigid, rule-following woman who is intent on keeping her Bozeman, Montana neighborhood perfectly manicured and its residents in line. When her neighbor’s twelve-year-old daughter comes to her for help when her mother is being abused by her father, Harriet breaks all her rules to come to this woman’s aide. While helping her neighbor, Harriet begins to recognize the insidious emotional abuse her husband subjected her to, and she learns to live life on her own terms.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
Gosh, that is a tough one. I completed about half of an MFA program to learn to become a writer, but what I learned is that there is no real manuscript for becoming a writer. One of my professors said I should call myself a writer since that was what I was doing, but without having anything published, I felt like a fraud. I published my first short story and immediately discounted it because it wasn’t a fancy enough publication. Imposter syndrome is real.
I suppose when I found my publisher and had a publication date for my first novel approximately eight months ago, I truly considered myself a writer. Then, holding a copy of my book in my hands confirmed that I was a writer.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I do not write full time. I probably should, but I just can’t keep my butt in the chair long enough. I write every day for at least a few hours, though. I still have the last of five children at home, and I know he doesn’t really need my help much anymore, but I insist on helping him, nonetheless. I have three dogs and a bunch of messy chickens who keep me busy, and my husband and I are lucky to travel about once per month, so we are on the go quite often.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
For my dialogue to feel real, I have to picture someone in my life. I put people I know in situations in my books and think about what they would say. I can usually hear them, which is very helpful. If I can’t think of a friend or someone from my life, I think of a celebrity. For example, Maude in What Happens in Montana is a combination of my grandmother and Betty White. When I got stuck writing, I would watch an episode of The Golden Girls to come up with ideas for Maude. It was a fun way to get my writing juices flowing!
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A neonatologist. Isn’t that funny? I think I just liked to see the surprised look on adults’ faces when I, at six or seven years old, said that big word. Many didn’t even know what it was, so I loved saying, “It’s a doctor for premature babies.” I gave up on that dream when I realized I couldn’t clean up vomit and fainted at the sight of blood. I’ve always set big goals for myself, and writing and publishing a novel was one of them. In fact, a fellow author recently said that passing the bar in California was easier than getting her first book published. That made me feel much better.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
My three girlfriends who I modeled the characters in this novel after flew in for my book launch party and it was absolutely magical. They loved when people asked them to sign my book too. I truly cherish friendships like theirs. As Tracy says towards the end of my novel, “To friends who make this life worth living.” I couldn’t agree more, Tracy.
Links:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon
Blog Tour Calendar
January 29th @ The Muffin
Join us as we celebrate author Kim McCollum and interview her about What Happens in Montana. You’ll also have the chance to win a copy of the book for yourself. https://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com
February 1st @ The Knotty Needle
Stop by to read Judy’s review of What Happens in Montana by Kim McCollum.http://knottyneedle.blogspot.com
February 2nd @ Pages & Paws
Read Kristine and Kimber’s review of What Happens in Montana. https://pagesandpaws.com/
February 4th @ Shoes, Seeds & Stories
Check out Linda’s review of What Happens in Montana by Kim McCollum. https://lschuelerca.wordpress.com/
February 5th @ What is That Book About?
Stop by Michelle’s blog to view a spotlight of What Happens in Montana.https://www.whatisthatbookabout.com/
February 6th @ A Storybook World
Visit Deirdra’s blog to read a spotlight of What Happens in Montana.https://www.astorybookworld.com/
February 8th @ The Faerie Review
Join Lily for a spotlight of What Happens in Montana by Kim McCollum. https://www.thefaeriereview.com
February 10th @ Reading is My Remedy
Visit Chelsie’s blog to read her review of What Happens in Montana.https://readingismyremedy.wordpress.com
February 12th @ Writer Advice
Stop by Lynn’s site to read a guest post from Kim McCollum about how she found her publisher. www.writeradvice.com
February 13th @ World of My Imagination
Visit Nicole’s blog to read her review of What Happens in Montana by Kim McCollum. https://worldofmyimagination.com
February 17th @ Reading is My Remedy
Return to Chelsie’s blog to read a guest post by Kim McCollum about weaving historical fiction with contemporary to tell a ghost story. https://readingismyremedy.wordpress.com
February 19th HERE!
February 22nd @ StoreyBook Reviews
Stop by Leslie’s blog to read a review of What Happens in Montana. https://www.storeybookreviews.com
February 24th @ Michelle Cornish’s Blog
Visit Michelle’s blog to read a guest post by Kim McCollum about the writing life with kids, dogs, and chickens!https://www.michellecornish.com/blog
February 25th @ The Forgotten Books
Join Heather for her review of What Happens in Montana by Kim McCollum. https://www.instagram.com/the_forgotten_books/
