Who are you?
Anne Montgomery, an author living in Phoenix, Arizona.
What do you write?
Unlike many authors, I write novels in a variety of genres. The stories I tell dictate in which category they belong. I’ve written women’s fiction, young adult fiction, suspense/thriller, and historical fiction to date, books that are based on societal issues like child abuse, cults, domestic violence, environmental issues, mental illness, and archaeological looting.
I began writing when I became a sportscaster. I was tasked with writing numerous stories daily for the news. Later, I moved into print reporting, were my stories became longer, more in-depth. The move to novels seemed to be the logical next step, since it was just a longer form of storytelling.
I avoid no words or themes in my writing. One of my books, The Castle, is about a serial rapist. Another deals with the trauma inflicted on children by religious cults. And still another focuses on the horrors of domestic violence. Some people seem surprised that I don’t write about sports, since much of my working life was spent in the sports world, but I spent 20 years teaching in a Title I high school, where the vast majority of my students lived in poverty and dealt daily with the difficulties inherent in that world. I learned about their lives, and began writing about the struggles they faced.
I don’t see writing as work. I find joy in creating characters and settings and seeing where the story goes. I’m what you call a “pantser”. My stories are not planned out. I go along where the characters take me and am often surprised by the things they do.
Where do you write?
I have a home office. I’m dyslexic, which I didn’t discover until I was in my 40s and which explained a lot about some of my limitations. So I need to have no sound or visual distractions if I’m to concentrate. I use a computer, since my handwriting is rather miserable. However, when I’m out doing research—interviewing people and studying settings—I handwrite my notes, which often fill complete legal pads. I then immediately transcribe the notes into word documents, on the chance that I might not be able to read my own writing. I do record interviews, but they are also transcribed into documents before I begin writing.
When do you write?
I often write in the morning, but I have no time limit, word count, or specific deadline. I see each chapter as a movie scene—Remember, I began writing for television.—so I do my best to finish the scene in one sitting.
Why do you write?
I am a news junkie, which is a hangover from the years I spent working in newsrooms. I still read a traditional newspaper daily. Most of my books begin as stories that catch my attention in the news. My first published book, A Light in the Desert, was partly based on the mystery surrounding a trainwreck in Arizona in 1995. The Amtrak Sunset Limited was intentionally derailed in a remote desert area, a deadly crime that today remains unsolved. Another book, The Scent of Rain, details a strange religious cult in northern Arizona where men have dozens of wives, some young teens. They lived in a place without TV or phones or Internet or any meaningful connection to the outside world. I take these true stories and write novels around them.
How do you overcome writer's block?
I almost never have writer’s block. As a reporter, I was forced daily to produce stories on deadline, so I would have never survived in that world if I was plagued with that particular problem. On the rare occasion I find myself writing without enthusiasm or grasping for words, I get up and take a break. Then I get back to it, usually without any lingering problems.
Bonus: What do you enjoy doing when not writing?
I spent 40 years as an amateur sports official where I called football, baseball, ice hockey, soccer, and basketball games to varying degrees. I also spent 24 years as a high school football referee and crew chief. But I’m retired from that world today. Remember when they told us sports were good for us? They lied. I’ve had multiple surgeries and broken bones from my time on the field. I was also a lap swimmer, a skier, and an ice dancer, so I could decorate a wall with my X-rays, MRIs, and pictures of my scars. Still given the chance to go back in time, I’d probably do it all again.
Today, I am an avid rock collector, a lifelong addiction. There are about 400 specimens in my living room alone, and I love heading out to the wilds of the Sonoran Desert to go mining. I’m also a scuba diver, the last sport left to me. I have a home in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands where I get to look at the beautiful Caribbean right from my porch. And I like to sing and play the guitar.
My thanks to Anne Montgomery for today's interview.