Author Interview with Paulette Mahurin

Author Interview with Paulette Mahurin:
This is my very first interview with the wonderful Paulette Mahurin! Thank you so very very much for being my first author!
The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap

Bio: Paulette Mahurin is a Nurse Practitioner, specializing in women's health, in Ojai, California where she lives with her husband, Terry and their two rescue dogs Max and Bella (from a kill shelter). When she's not involved in writing she's doing another one of her passions, rescuing animals. The profits from her book are going to the first no-kill animal shelter in Ventura County, California.   


Where you can buy her book at:

Paperback:

Kindle:

Genre: Historical

Find Paulette Mahurin on Facebook:





With Charlotte Laws.


Book signing in Santa Paula, Ca.

Questions for the author:

1. What are three things that will not be found on the internet about you?
  • I love my job, being of service to the women of the community where I live.
  • I have a poor confront about going to kill shelters and seeing the animals behind bars.
  • I do not liking flying.  
2. What are three things that you need to get your morning going?
  • The sunrise. I do not like getting up when it's still dark out.
  • A cup of something with caffeine in it, whether it is coffee or green tea.
  • Cold water on my face 
3. Do you happen to have a favorite author?
    No there are too many. I love to read and there are so many great books, great authors out there,                 
    different genres, that captivate, that excite, that makes me want to pick up another book, to many good   
    stories, and talented writers writing about them.
4. Where did you get your inspiration to write your book?
     I was in writing class when the writing teacher brought in a stack of photos. We were suppose to pick one and write a ten minute mystery about it. I saw this photo of two women standing really close together long dresses that went from their neck to their ankles (circa turn of the twentieth century), they looked stiff and uncomfortable, like they were hiding something. I made them lesbians on the frontier afraid of being found out. That was the seed for the story. The actual inspiration came later, while doing research and I (actually my husband discovered) that Oscar Wilde had been imprisoned for having sex with another male in 1895. Britain had just changed their laws to make it illegal, a criminal offense, with a penalty of imprisonment of two years in a hard labor prison. Two years of laying on a wooden board, eating watery porridge, walking on a treat mill six hours a day, was torturous for me to conceive of. It keep me motivated and inspired to write this story, and keep the light on the injustice of Wilde's imprisonment, through the metaphor of the lesbian couple being persecuted.

5.  Tell us a bit about your book for those who have not read it yet.
      In the late 1800's Britain changed it's laws to make homosexual sex a criminal act. The story starts with this news going out over telegraph wires around the world. When the news hits a small Nevada ranching town it throws the town into chaos, and in particular a lesbian couple fearful that all the homophobia generated from the Wilde news would cause others to now be suspicious of them. This is a chronicle of hatred and prejudice with all its unintended consequences and how love and friendship heal. 

These next few questions are being asked by others. 

By: Terry M.-

1. What was the inspiration behind the story and how is it related to today's issues?
     The basic fundamental inspiration was my desire for tolerance, for people to be accepted for who they are and if their actions aren't hurting anyone then don't hurt them with intolerable words and/or actions. I tried to write to level the playing field of  bigotry, to hopefully help another, see a human being as just that, another human being, just like me, no different really except by our actions, but inside there are similar bundles of emotions, feelings, attitudes, that make up the human condition. I am no better or worse than anyone else except by the judgement that I am.

2.  What's with the cover photo and why did you choose it?
      The photo is my husband's grandfather, grandmother, grandaunt. It seemed to fit with the story line of the two women and a man that enters their life, plus it was from around that time period.

3.   The story is about a lesbian couple fearing that they will be found out, but what is the message you      
       wanted to get across?
     Lesbians are human, and deserve human rights. Can we view differences and agree to disagree without putting someone down? Can we really truly dig deep and inspect our own judgments and then ask ourselves what would we do, who would we be, in a similar situation. It is my hope that the reader takes away from this the true meaning  of there by the Grace... 

By: Wanda H.-

1. Will we see another book by you soon?
     I've got one in progress based on a true story of a couple that meets in an oncologists office and fall in love. They both have cancer.

By: Lynsee S.-

1.  Were any of your characters inspired by people in real life?
      I have a friend who is in the closet and chooses not to come out, not out of non-partial weighing of facts but because she was brutally molested and is fearful. I thought of her when I originally saw that photo of the two women. When I wrote, she was never far from my heart. She is still in the closet and I will honor that and be loyal to her no matter her decision. 

Thank you all for your wonderful questions! 

6.  What is the hardest part of being a writer?
      Some say the feedback along the way can be brutal, someone reads it and says it should never be written and it stops you dead in your tracks, you give too much weight to what others think, until it starts to take form, really shape up into something defensible, and then you start to get some good feedback that diffuses the response you felt about your writing baby not being good enough. You sit and write, and I spent six years in this process, and it feels like giving birth, its your creation, your child, you want it protected, not kicked in the teeth. After a while, it's all taken in stride, you take the good with the bad and start to objectify that it is just another opinion. 

7.  What is the easiest?
     Reading a good review, seeing that someone liked it, and that it made a difference, got someone thinking in a new say, stretched one's self perception of their value system. No question, that's by far the easiest thing of the whole process and the most rewarding, that writing touched someone. 

8.  What made you become a writer?
      As far back as I can remember, I've loved to write. When I was ten I wrote silly little short stories and I was in college a couple of these silly stories won awards. That encouraged me to write. I've started to finished a couple of murder mysteries, a love story, but never put them in book form. The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap was the first that I saw through because I got ill and that illness afforded me the time I needed to write, which is really what I've wanted to do since I've been 10 years old.  

9.   Have you thought about writing a different genre?
      This is the first time I've written historical Fiction so yes, in fact it's what I usually write. I really liked writing historical Fiction cause it made me stretch my brain, I learned a lot, and that aspect was fascinating. There is another famous historical story I'm also very interested in writing about and may revisit this genre then. 

Fun questions:

1. Three things that make you happy.
  • My dogs
  • A great conversation with my husband 
  • Sitting in nature when the world is still and peaceful. 
2. Three things that make you upset or mad.
  • Animal Abuse
  • Child Abuse
  • Human Abuse
3. If you were stranded on a desert island who would you want to be stranded with?
     Someone who can cook, turn me on, and get me out of there! He'd look like Brad Pitt.

4. What is your favorite show?
     No specific favorite, usually like a good movie if it's on but do not like commercials so I go with Netflix.

5. What is your favorite book that you could read over and over again?
     The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.

6. What is your favorite thing to do in your free time?
     Hang with family and friends and be spontaneous

7.  Favorite foods?
     Salads, good ones with salmon, fish, Greek cheese, and lots of different veggies.

8.  Favorite drink? Alcoholic or Non-alcoholic. 
     Coffee  

9.  If you could live anywhere, where would it be? 
     Hawaii because of the weather and beauty.

10.  The new cool thing now that we read about is vampires and werewolves, angels and demons. Which would you pick and why?
        Vampires and Werewolves: I've liked those reads more. Maybe because I love dogs so much and wolves....



From the author to me:  
" Great questions and it's been a lot of fun hanging with you and doing this. Hope this brings lots of new viewers to your blog." 




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