About Beth Camp: When I was a kid, I prowled the
library to check out the thickest, heaviest books I could find. Two Years Before the Mast. The Wandering
Jew. Quo Vadis. Books I could fall into and pretend I lived in the past.
Places I dreamed of visiting some day. As a teen, I discovered my grandmother's
5-volume sets of Hemingway, the short stories of Poe and de Maupassant. I began
writing poetry and short stories then.
Sometimes
it seemed that my family moved every time the rent was due. I attended some 13
high schools on the West coast of the US and daydreamed of attending college. I
balanced working full time with taking classes; it took ten years to earn my
degree, with odd jobs and careers in international banking and corporate
consulting along the way before I became an English teacher at a community
college where I taught for 26 years. Today, I live in Spokane, in eastern
Washington, with my husband, and close to our daughter, her husband, and
granddaughter. Restless feet and writing projects keep us traveling. These
days, we’re planning a three-month stay in Spain. The writing travels with me!
What is your writing process?
I’m often asked when I find time to
write. Each morning, before coffee, I wake with half-remembered scenes or
conversations that my characters are somehow in the middle of. I sit at the
computer and reconstruct what they are telling me, images of who they are and
what they’re involved in coming to life before me. An outline emerges out of
that combination of history, setting, and then, scene upon scene, their lives
unfold.
As a writer,
I’m rather a sprinter, more intuitive than methodical, going ahead into story
with multiple revisions ahead. I want to discover how it felt to live in a
certain time, and how others have conquered their deepest fears to achieve
their goals.
My books
begin with a flash of an idea, a portrait spotted in a museum, a slice of history
that compels me to look more closely. For example, I visited the National Museum
of the Middle Ages in Paris to see the unicorn tapestries and later read Tracy
Chevalier’s wonderful story, The Lady and
the Unicorn. The real history of these tapestries is shrouded in mystery,
but I found a clue in Scotland that suggests a very different story. Fiction
allows us to play with alternate realities. I hope my readers come away with
greater compassion for how others struggle to create order, harmony, and beauty
in their lives.
Why did you decide to
jump into self-publishing?
As many writers discover, after “the book” is done, the round of
submissions begins. We are lucky to get an acknowledgement these days whether
we are subbing to a potential agent or to a publishing company. Routinely
websites suggest a turn-around time of 3-6 months, even for ‘exclusive’
submissions.
Standing Stones took second place in historical
fiction at the Pacific Northwest Writers Association literary contest in 2010,
but I spent the next several years subbing to potential agents and then
independent publishers before deciding that I really wanted readers to read my
stories.
I first
self-published The Mermaid Quilt &
Other Tales, a collection of short stories and poems about mermaids, to
learn how to format for Kindle and
CreateSpace.
With Standing Stones, I discovered fiverr, a
wonderful site that highlights freelancers. Angela Zambrano of pro_ebookcovers
created the cover for Standing Stones; I think her work is remarkable.
What is Standing Stones about?
Standing Stones is the first of two books that
begins when Lord Gordon comes to Foulksay Island. His uncle has died, and
inspired by the sweep of the Industrial Revolution, Lord Gordon wishes to make
his new estate profitable by replacing tenant farmers who have lived on the
island for generations with sheep.
Mac
McDonnell, a fisherman and head of household for his sister and three brothers,
leads protests against Lord Gordon’s changes, but Moira, his sister, falls in
love with Dylan, one of the men Lord Gordon has brought to the island. The
people of Foulksay Island have gathered to celebrate the end of summer. Dougal,
the second oldest brother, is playing the fiddle. Here is the moment that Moira
and Dylan meet:
Moira watched
Dougal’s fingers fly over the fiddle. She felt proud of him, and her feet
tapped the rhythm of the drum. The dancing grew frantic as more people pushed
into the hall. Moira closed her eyes and gave herself over to the dance, the
music keening in her head and heart. A strong arm held her at her waist and
twirled her around.
Moira’s eyes
flew open. “And who might you be?”
“I’m Dylan,
from across the water, ready to dance your feet off and steal your heart.” He
grinned and bowed.
Dylan was
much shorter than her brothers, wiry, and dark when they were fair, his hair
curly with sweat. His eyes, nearly black, sparkled. He smiled again, and Moira
felt her breath catch. “Dance with me?”
She gave him
her hand, and they danced one set after another, until they were both
breathless.
“Any others
like you at home?” he asked.
“No, not a
one. Just me,” Moira shouted over the music, turning away and then back as he
twirled her to the music.
“Ah, ‘tis
fortunate I am, for then I’ll only have me heart broken once.”
Moira
laughed. His hand caught and held hers, and his dark eyes dared her to let go.
“Wait until
you meet my brothers.”
“And how many
brothers do you have, all tiny men, as small as trolls, no doubt?”
“Four
brothers,” she replied on the next round. “Mac, Dougal, Colin and Jamie. All of
them are giants compared to you.” She glanced over at Dougal and waved.
“There’s Dougal.”
“He looks
ferocious,” said Dylan. “Does he have an evil temper?”
“None of my
brothers would harm a soul.”
“Then why is
he glaring at me like that?”
To Purchase:
Standing Stones is available on
Links:
Drop a note
to Beth at bluebethley@yahoo.com to find out about upcoming releases
with her occasional newsletter. She’d
love to hear from you!
