These are the burning five questions we must know about Cheryl Pierson. Are you ready?
What’s weird about your name?
I have two weird things about my name that I’ve had to explain all my life. My first name is not pronounced SHARE-yl, like 99% of the rest of the world with that name. My parents must have sat around for ages figuring how to pick a name that would be just enough “off” to require a double take every time I introduce myself. It’s CHAIR-yl, with a “hard” CH—like chicken, church, or CHAIR.
The second weird thing is my middle name. (Yes my parents were on a roll here!) It’s Kathlyn. I have met a total of two other people in my life with that name. This is why my daughter is named JESSICA.
What was the car you learned to drive in?
My parents bought a ’63 Impala that I shared with my sister who had moved back home after her divorce. It was white and one of those fantastic old cars that I wish I still had. Even though it was old when I got it, I loved that thing. (I was 16 in 1973.) The car I learned to drive stick shift on was a mid-year special edition Capri. Racing red and NO air conditioning. Still the “car of my heart.”
How many states have you lived in?
Only two. I was born in Oklahoma and lived here until I was 17. My dad worked for Baroid, an oil company, and was transferred to Charleston, West Virginia, the summer before I started my senior year of high school. I met my husband there, and Fate stepped in. He worked for the FAA, whose training facility is in Oklahoma City. So we moved back out here and have been in Oklahoma for the past 29 years.
Favorite food?
Fresh home grown tomatoes. With or without salt. They even beat chocolate out!
One book you couldn’t live without?
To Kill a Mockingbird. The great American novel has already been written.
Got a question you want to ask? A comment you want to make? Let's hear it! I'm giving away a pdf copy of my short story, "HIDDEN TRAILS" to one commenter today!
Contact Cheryl at prairierosepublications@yahoo.com
Cheryl's Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/cherylpierson
If you weren't a writer, what would you be?
ReplyDeleteHA! Good question, Barb. It sure wouldn't be an artist--my mom and daughter and son got those genes, but they skipped a generation in me. LOL
DeleteI would have had to have found some kind of creative outlet, though. So...maybe it would have been something artsy with sewing (I used to love to sew). Good question, Barb. Now I'll have to think about it. I always wanted to be a nurse, so maybe that's what I'd have done. Thanks for stopping by!
What was your first published novel or story?
ReplyDeleteI had written some feature articles for The Daily Oklahoman, our largest newspaper here in the state but was working on novels (of course!) at the time. Right about the time I sold the feature stories, I was teaching a class on creative writing, and one of my students brought in a call out for the 2nd in a series of anthologies, the ROCKING CHAIR READER. These were somewhat like Chicken Soup, but their stories were more "outcome based" rather than just theme based. The anthology I submitted to was called Memories From the Attic. The story had to be about something you had found recently that reminded you of something in your past. My story was about 2 pennies, pressed flat by a train--my cousin and I used to walk down to the train tracks nearby where our grandmother lived and "press pennies"--So my story was called PENNY MEMORIES, and that was my first published short story. I wrote several more stories for Rocking Chair Reader, and Adams Media Company, and also for Chicken Soup, and my first truly fictional short story was called To Make the Magic Last and was published by Victory Tales Press.
DeleteMy first published novel was Fire Eyes, published by The Wild Rose Press.
Thanks for stopping by, Livia!
Cheryl
How do yo come up with your hero's names? They are always sooooo,cool. Also...I bought and read HT and absolutely loved it, Cheryl, wrote a review too! Xoxox
ReplyDeleteHi Tanya! THANK YOU for that review! That just made my day! No, my WEEK! LOL I'm so glad you enjoyed Hidden Trails so much. I'd planned it for an anthology, but once I started writing, I just knew it was not going to be within the word count. LOL
DeleteHeroes names are really hard to come up with and have them be something that's not so terribly overused. I used Rafe in my novel TIME PLAINS DRIFTER, and had one lady even remark on it in the review, something like "I'm so sick of that name for a romance hero!"LOLLOL Well, you can't please everyone! There are certain names I steer clear of--I've always been a "name collector" ever since I was a little girl. Probably because my name is so weird. LOL
And of course, you have to come up with a first and last name that are going to work together well. I must confess, I have started stories without knowing the hero's name. Or the heroine's--but I always know one or the other when I start. And I usually do have an idea of both of them.
Thanks for stopping by today, Tanya!
Cheryl
Hi Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteI too love fresh tomatoes, esp. with a little oil and vinegar. My question--how do you manage your time with all your editing duties and your own writing as well?
Kristy, it's hard! And I'm really NOT a good manager of my time in some ways. Another thing is, I've noticed as I've gotten older I'm more easily distracted--like I have adult ADD or something. One thing that helps is my kids are grown and out of the house, so I don't have distractions like I used to have in years past. And I've found that in order to get everything done, sometimes it's GOOD to flit from one project to another, and at least get something done here and there, and then back to the first thing again. It works out for me, somehow. LOL My own writing has suffered, but my goals for 2015-2016 are to "get back into the saddle" as far as that goes, so I'm trying to be very careful with scheduling for other things.
DeleteThanks so much for coming by! Always glad to know another tomato lover! LOL
Cheryl
Thanks for sharing your schedule. I think you're right about getting a little bit done on many things each day. I've found this to work as well. Good luck with getting back to your own writing. That's so very important!!
DeleteThanks, Kristy! I love what I do--all aspects of it, and I'm so glad Livia and I are able to work together and help so many people--I learned from the best--Rebecca Vickery set the standard in being helpful and doing everything she can to be encouraging, as well.
DeleteHow did Livia and you meet up? Was there a specific event that made you decide to form PRP?
ReplyDeleteHi Alisa! Well, Livia and I had known each other for quite a while through Western Fictioneers, a professional western writers' group. And Livia had done a lot of publishing for that group and with her husband's company. One of the requirements to join the Western Fictioneers was that you have to have had a western published through a bona fide publisher that paid royalties. Livia and I knew a TON of wonderful authors who might never get a chance if they had to send their work to the "Big 6" traditional publishers. There was one person in particular...KATHLEEN RICE ADAMS...we wanted to see "get her stuff out" and we'd been tossing this idea around for six months when we finally both just said, LET'S DO IT. LOL So that's the story of how it all came about. I could not ask for a better publishing partner than Livia. She is GOLD. (besides being a dear friend and a heckuva nice person, too!)
DeleteThanks for stopping by today, Alisa!
Cheryl
Hi Cheryl. Nice to know how to pronounce your name. Like most people I suppose, I was doing it wrong all this time.
ReplyDeleteSo you love "To Kill a Mockingbird" too? Are you looking forward to Harper Lee's first novel finally being published this year?
LOL Gerald--I imagine if we all met in a big room in person, everyone would call me Sheryl and I would just answer to it. Now that I'm older I just shake my head and wonder "what were they thinking?" LOL
DeleteI absolutely LOVE To Kill a Mockingbird. No need for anyone to ever try to write "the great American novel" any longer. It's HERE. LOL So many wonderful things about that book, aren't there? I'm really looking forward to Harper Lee's book being published, but with reservations. I am trying to make myself understand that nothing is ever going to compare to To Kill a Mockingbird, so just don't expect that. Although, I'm sure it's going to be a fantastic read. How about you? Are you excited about it?
Thanks for stopping by, Gerald!
Cheryl
Yes, I'm excited as a fan and as a writer. I expect as a first attempt at a novel by a talented writer for it to have flaws, but generations of graduate students will be writing papers comparing and contrasting the two stories and finding the common elements in both.
DeleteOh, yes, I agree! I'm really excited about it...if for no other reason than to just have another darn good story to read.
DeleteWhat is it about Oklahoma that you love best? It seems that place has a lot to do with stories, so I'm hoping I'm correct in the assuming it inhabits your stories.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you know my adopted state plays be big part in mine. Doris
Doris, when I first started writing and submitting my stories to large publishers in NYC, I got rejections that flat stated that westerns were phasing out, and basically that no one was interested in westerns anymore. I got really down about that...then I remembered who I was talking to. Well OF COURSE no one in NYC cared a whit about westerns! Because in NYC, that's all there is--NYC! LOL So after I started realizing that the people I was asking to buy my stories were the ones who were the gatekeepers for the rest of the world and they didn't give a fig about anything outside of NYC, I knew that I was banging my head against a wall--it was going to be next to impossible to sell those stories to them unless they were "faddish"--(Amish, or squeaky clean, or inspirational)--and I don't mean "faddish" in a bad way, but these type of stories have a niche and a readership that are always there and easier to market to rather than just marketing a western romance that might or might not have too much or too little sex, or cussing or not cussing, etc.
DeleteMy first two novels took place in Oklahoma because I was born and raised here, and I can see the sunsets and sunrises in my mind's eye, and travel the shores of the lakes and the paths through some of the woods I've been in. I know what food we eat, and how the wind sounds just before the rain starts, and when the sky gets green--hail's on the way. I know the blistering heat of the summer sun, and the way the air smells before the snow begins--not that we get as much of that white stuff as you all do, but there's a definite bite to the air when it's coming. I guess I love everything about my state, and I couldn't understand why those people in NYC weren't willing to admit that there is something worthwhile out here in the southwest. So I set every story I write in Oklahoma or Texas--the place where I live now, and the place where some of my ancestors came here "by way of".
And now that Livia and I have our company, I don't have to worry what someone from NYC thinks about the southwest--or if they'll like me and my stories.
Cheryl
Amen to that. What a beautiful answer and I thank you. And I thank you and Livia for giving others the chance to share their voice. Doris
DeleteWe're glad to do it, Doris!
DeleteOK, y'all, I'm drawing a name out of my Stetson and it's...GERALD COSLOW! Gerald I will pm you on FB with the information you'll need to claim your prize! Congratulations! And thanks to everyone who stopped by with comments and questions for me!
ReplyDeleteSorry, Gerald for spelling your last name wrong--fingers got ahead of me--I know it's COSTLOW!
DeleteI'm afraid I'm late to the party, but I did want to come by and read your blog. Boy oh boy, I hope I don't forget how to pronounce your name if I ever talk to you in person. One nice thing about have weird names is there aren't a bunch of people out there that can get confused with you. That's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteKnowing how to drive a stick shift is essential. What if someone got ill and the only car you had to take them to the hospital was straight drive? It's a handy skill to have.
Congratulations to Gerald for winning a copy of Hidden Trails.
All the best to you, Cheryl...