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Interview with Sylvia Dickey Smith

Sylvia Dickey Smith was born and reared in exotic southeast Texas, the land of Cajuns, cowboys, pirates and Paleo-Indians. She came into this world feet-first, and spent the first half of her life making it up to her mother. After marriage, she lived on the Caribbean island of Trinidad for seven years before returning to Texas. At 41 she took her first freshman class and fought her way to a BA in Sociology and a Masters in Educational Psychology while raising four children. After that, she worked with non-profit and for-profit organizations within the human services field before embarking on a career as a novelist. The first three books in her debut mystery/suspense series, The Third Eye, have achieved winner status in writers’ contests.

Q. How long have you been writing fiction?

A. I have been writing fiction since 2003. When I started, I had no idea how to write it. I’d taken no classes, no coursework, or read any how-to books. A family member introduced me to Writers Village University and I soon gravitated to the new study group Persist & Publish, the same group mentioned in agent Ann Rittenberg and writer Laura Whitcomb’s book, Your First Novel. They say:

"Persist and Publish (www.freewebs.com/alabamaworley). A self-described 'study group of novelists who are committed to getting published,' this site offers a wealth of helpful information, such as articles on 'Etiquette in Contacting Agents' and 'The Steps in Finding an Agent,' as well as links to articles on writing cover letters and synopses. An excellent and frequently updated resource."

The members of this group virtually held my hand through the early stages of learning how to construct a work of fiction. I owe them a lot!

Q. What inspired you to begin writing?

A. Like many authors, I’ve wanted to write as long as I can remember. I had all these book ideas rumbling around in my head, fighting to take shape in a more tangible medium. Evidently my small brain survived on overload as long as it could, and it finally drove me to sit at my computer and download.

My dad was a story teller. I’d sit and listen to him recount his boyhood antics while the room full of people laughed so hard they had to hold their bellies. But then, one day, I noticed he laughed harder than us all. That’s when I realized he had as much fun telling the stories as we had listening to them. I believe the seed was planted in my soul that day.

But life, a lack of self-confidence, and a low self-esteem got in my way. For years I talked about writing a book, but never made a serious effort. After all, it’s difficult to write. It takes patience and perseverance, all those qualities I thought I lacked.

When I took early retirement, I ran out of excuses. Still I talked about it—ad nauseam, evidently—because finally a friend said, “Syl, you keep saying you want to write a book, why don’t you go put your seat (she actually used another noun) in the chair and do it.” I took that as a sort of ‘put up, or shut up.’ That’s when I went on line and found Writer’s Village University and joined my study group.

Q. What types of books do you enjoy reading?

A. It would probably be a shorter list if I told you the types I don’t read! I love mystery of course. Grew up on Nancy Drew, as did every other girl during that time period. I’ve gone through phases of reading romance, adventure, memoirs, classics, mainstream novels, biographies, historical. When I hit my mid-life crises I spent a number of years reading self-help books, books on varying religions, theology, psychology. Today, most of my reading is in the genre in which I write, but I find it harder to read mystery now that I’m writing it. I get too critical, analyzing why the author did this, and why they went that direction. And then, occasionally I’ll find one that grabs me and I start underlining things I want to save.

Q. What was the first thing you had published?

A. A short, flash-fiction piece on Apollo’s Lyre Ezine called “Day of the Iguana.”

Q. How did that first publication impact your writing career?

A. It confirmed to me that I was a storyteller, and gave me confidence to keep going.

Q. For those of us interested in reading your very first published work, where can we find it?

A. http://www.apollos-lyre.com/id331.html

Q. How many hours per day do you devote to writing?

A. As many as I can possibly squeeze in. A minimum of two or three, else I go into withdrawals. Either that or my brain crashes from all the ideas dashing around inside looking for a download.

Q. Do you have any marketing tips you’d like to share with aspiring writers?

A. Read PLUG YOUR BOOK, by Steve Weber. He has all kinds of ideas about online book marketing. Also, just get out there and let people know who you are and what you write. I have a T-shirt with my book cover printed on it. The other night I wore it to a baseball game, and a family in front of us asked about the shirt. That opened the door for me to tell them about my book. Now they are ordering a copy, and telling their friends. Word of mouth is the most effective way to market, I believe, but people can’t talk about your book if they don’t know about it. I love talking to strangers (despite what my mom taught me). I’m likely to strike up conversations any and everywhere. Sometimes I wonder if I embarrass my husband.

At a restaurant, pull out a bookmark and hand it to your server. Put magnetic signs on the sides of your vehicle, talk, talk, talk.

Q. Do you have a writing schedule?

A. This question made me laugh. Schedule? I just write! I grab every spare moment I can. I get up earlier than others, grab a cup of coffee and sneak to my computer. Later, I take a break and have breakfast, then back to the computer. Lunch, and back, stopping long enough to prepare dinner, (you get the picture) All of that is not actually drafting, you understand. There are rewrites, critique groups, and now marketing. Sometime I’m stuck on a scene or a plot point, and an idea will come to me while I’m sitting in church. I pull out a tablet and start jotting notes, then when I get home, I draft the notes into my manuscript.

Q. Do you work on one story at a time, or multiple?

A. I’ve got so many projects in process I feel like a one- handed juggler! I’m drafting the next book in the Third Eye mystery series, I’m editing a non-fiction book on the Atakapa Indians of Southeast Texas, I’m laying the ground work for an anthology with a working title of PREACHER’S WIVES (ANONYMOUS), I have a historical mystery in first draft that I need to rewrite, I have another mystery series started…

Q. What’s your personal favorite Sylvia Dickey Smith book?

A. Right now? The one that’s just been released—DANCE ON HIS GRAVE.

Q. What is it about that book that makes it your favorite?

A. One, it’s published! No, seriously, I always love the book I’m working on at the time. I just finished the second book in the same series called DEADLY SINS-DEADLY SECRETS, to be released Nov. 1, 2007, and I love that story. It breaks the mold on who the bad guy is, and why.

Q. Can you tell us about your latest book?

A. DANCE ON HIS GRAVE is the first book in The Third Eye series. Up front, the reader meets Sidra (Sid Smart) a fifty-year-old woman who has just divorced her preacher-husband, leaving behind her fish-bowl world. But before she can decide what to do with the rest of her life she inherits her brother’s private detective business which specializes in intuitive investigations, and appropriately called The Third Eye.

Sid has no idea what to do with the business and plans to sell it when a young woman comes in with a story that curls Sid’s toenails. Soon she’s hooked and sets off on a search for the truth—what really happened that day, thirty years earlier, when the young woman (then a mere child) ran into her father’s junk room and found a nude woman hanging from the rafters by her wrists.

Q. How does one go about ordering a copy of your book?

A. DANCE ON HIS GRAVE is available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Borders, or it can be ordered by any local bookstore. It is also available on Mobi-pocket and will soon be available in other digital formats. If all else fails, email me.