Sharon Maas celebrates the diversity of publishing today because she’s been one the writers who has challenged the old formula.  Her early 20th century Quint family series set in her homeland of Guyana and based on her own family story of a white woman marrying a black man was not seen as “commercial.’

Hi, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Sharon talks about how the decade of rejection she faced before she won through made her a better writer, and tells us about a magical day she spent with Muhammad Ali in Peru.

Six

things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

How Sharon got started in fictionHer extraordinary meeting Mudhammad AliWhy historical fiction gives her a thrillThe part meditation plays in her workOn re-writing a famous Indian mythHer advice for young writers: Follow your heart

Where to find Sharon Maas:

Website: https://www.sharonmaas.com/

Facebook: @sharonmaasauthor

 Twitter: @sharon_maas

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny: But now, here’s Sharon.  Hello there Sharon and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

Sharon: Good morning Jenny. Good to be with you.

Jenny: And I think you're speaking from Germany are you?

Sharon: No, no. I moved to Ireland a year ago. I'm in Ireland now.

Jenny: Oh sorry I am not up to date. Perhaps there maybe a bit out of date information on the web. I'm not sure.

Sharon: Oh yes, Ireland's been a wonderful place to live.

Jenny: Okay. that's lovely. How did you get started writing in fiction? Was there a 'Once Upon a Time' moment for you when you felt you needed to write fiction or you wouldn't have achieved your purpose in life, so to speak.

What got her started writing

Sharon Maas Historic fiction author

Sharon: [00:00:51] Well I've always been a voracious reader and I always had this idea that maybe I could write something one day, but I just thought it just too much. I just can't do it. You know  it's too hard to figure out a plan and I can't do it.  I didn't feel up to it. 

I was writing when I was about eight or nine. I used to write children's stories about children with horses and dogs and having adventures. Enid Blyton was my favorite writer as a child. So I had this idea at the back of my mind but I just didn't feel have the confidence to get into it and to actually start. And so I was late in my late forties when I began thinking 'Oh maybe I could do it. Maybe I can write something myself.' I've read a book called Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brand.

And she says the stories you want to tell are in us already. Deep down. They're made by the subconscious mind and we can access them if we make the effort. And that was like a 'light bulb' moment for me, because you know I meditate and I knew that there is something inside me which I can access. So that really kind of lifted me up and got me fired up. So I started when I was about 48.

Plotter or Pantser?

Jenny: And how did you choose what you were going to write. And I gather that you are more of a 'fly by the seat of your pants' writer?

Sharon: Oh absolutely.

Jenny: Did you approach it in that way with your first book, or how did you start off?

Sharon: I knew I wanted to write a book set in Gu...