This week I am interviewing Martha Draper, long time member and Vice President of the Enid Writer’s Club. Martha has pieces in the club’s anthology, Prose Colored Glasses https://www.amazon.com/Prose-Colored-Glasses-Enid-Writers/dp/B0BD2BK1T9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=NBHSCUPC8MMN&keywords=prose+colored+glasses+book+enid+writers+club&qid=1668795198&sprefix=prose+colored%2Caps%2C329&sr=8-1.

You can check out her writing there.  But first let’s get to know her.

PC: What drives you to write?

MK: I was born a lover of words being read to by my sister, six years older, as well as my mother and her mother. I grew into writing early on in school and it grew from there. I love reading and incorporated children’s literature into my teaching career. I became obsessed with writing about my hometown and our family-owned-and-operated weekly newspaper business for fifty years. In more recent decades: it is my membership of the Enid Writers Club and Oklahoma Writer’s Federation, Inc. (O.W.F.I.)  AND my long-standing writing critique group that fuels the flames.

PC: Are you the kind of writer who needs total quiet to compose, or are you able to filter out the typical sounds of the day and use your tunnel vision?

MK:  I can write mornings in a crowded coffee shop. I learned about morning pages when I read the book, The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I also write in journals or diaries from the time since I was ten. BUT when it comes to drafting a story or working on a manuscript…I have to turn the music off, or be alone in my office, at my desk.

PC: Tell us one unusual thing about yourself—not related to writing!

MK:  I am currently going through decades of accumulation from storage which include coins, stamps, dolls, letters, t-shirts, clothes, diaries/journals, childhood toys, teaching materials, photos, etc. and find myself engulfed in their memories. Fodder for writing, yes, but this activity has swallowed up the energy I use for writing. I refuse to be labeled a hoarder, and I’m knee deep in parting with some things and weeding out and re-cycling to a degree. Another element of answering this question is that I am a movie and theatre buff. When I lived for five years in California, I grabbed every opportunity to see a play in a theatre presentation, or chase film crews all over the greater Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Santa Monica areas. I even found myself seated in the outdoor crowd at one of the Academy Awards, being in the audience for a taping of Bosom Buddies with Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari, and I had several visits in the audience of the Johnny Carson Show.

PC: What genre (s) do you read/write, and why?

MK:  I love mysteries and my all-time favorite author is Agatha Christie. I gobble up all the cozy murder mysteries written by Laura Childs, and re-read old favorites by Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney, Victoria Holt, Maeve Binchy, Patricia Cornwell, and Stuart Woods. Plus, I devour children’s literature and have an extensive collection from decades past to present day. I like to try my hand at different genres, but have found success with memoir, journalistic pieces, children’s stories, some poetry, humor, and a bit of mystery.

PC: What is your latest work in progress?

MK:  A story about being a professional clown and how it all came about over a span of forty plus years.

Thank you, Peggy for this fun adventure of being interviewed for your awesome blog!!!!!

Thank you, Martha for letting us into your personal life.

What are you reading/writing this week?