A Visit with Sharon Ervin

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Former news reporter Sharon Ervin has a degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. Her work has appeared in Newsweek, The Harvard Review, Whispers From Heaven, Pray!, True Love, The PEO Record and Arabella magazines. She has also written a number of mystery novels, including Candlesticks.

Sharon, how has journalism helped your novel writing career?

Maybe it’s because I am a voyeur. I love nosing into other people’s lives, not necessarily to get involved, just to check them out. I love to ride through neighborhoods at dusk, after people turn on their lights and before they close their curtains. I like to see into their homes and see what they are doing. Not for any evil reason, I’m just curious. As a newspaper reporter, one gets to ask questions people might not like from other strangers, but behave as if you have a right, even a duty, to ask, and they answer.

Why do you write mainly for and about women?

Because I am a woman with two sisters and two daughters. I lived in a women’s dorm as a college freshman, then in a sorority house the next three years. And I paid attention. I like women now more than I did then. Mature women are tougher and more resilient than men.

Tell us about the Chick Lit for Foxy Hens.

Author/teacher Peggy Fielding wanted to do an anthology of five novellas, one from each of five different authors. She invited me to participate. She wanted a “Bridgette Jones Diary,” kind of thing, a chik-lit collection showing opportunities for romance are available, not just for girls, but for mature women as well. Because some of us got a little risque, one of us dropped out, after she had written her material. She had valid reasons. We had a wonderful time working together, got a couple of contract offers, enjoyed the result, and promoting together. Chik-Lit For Foxy Hens was a delightful experience.

How did your latest novel, Candlesticks, come about?

Characters from The Ribbon Murders and Murder Abroad and The Choctaw Gambler wanted new crimes to solve. Because I was familiar with the Mullendore Murder in Oklahoma in 1969, I borrowed from that case to create Candlesticks. It was released as a hardcover from Five Star/Cengage in June, 2010.

To what do you attribute your engaging dialogue?
I eavesdrop constantly, and I have a good ear.

Which three inanimate objects would you save first in the case of a fire?

Family pictures and my zip drive disks. There are more than three of each.

Are ebooks going to force print publishers and bookstore out of business?

I hope not, although I never would have foreseen the changes electronics have wrought in the last dozen years. Newspapers and magazines are shrinking and disappearing at alarming rates these days. My grandchildren run around with plugs in their ears. Only yesterday when I interrupted to ask, a thirteen-year-old granddaughter said she was listening to the last of the Harry Potter books again, before the last movie came out. These children are well-read, but much of their reading is done auditorially, if that’s a word.

What career would you have chosen, if not a writer?

I am good with children. I like them. Except for a penchant for paddling, I probably would have made a good teacher. I was a den mother for two years with each of our sons. Although I worried about getting a complaint for child abuse. I loved those boys and they liked me, but I didn’t put up with any more guff from them than from my own four children. Grown men now, they are still respectful and eye me cautiously as if they expect I might swat their legs if they don’t mind me. Even now, not one of them would run across my sofa in muddy shoes. They know better.

Which writer most influenced your own work?

Probably Dorothy Sayers. I love her humor, jabs that always catch me by surprise, and her brilliance.

Advice for fledgling writers? 

Don’t expect to make money writing. Marry well. If you flipped burgers for as many hours as you spend at the keyboard writing a book, you could earn more money than most authors.

Thanks, Sharon.

You can visit Sharon at her web page: http://sharonervin.com and
her blog site: http://sharonervin.wordpress.com