I struggled with the excavation of many painful memories. Painful, but essential in order to resolve my trauma.
Tracy Mayo – 30 March 2024
The Back Flap
1970, pre-Choice America. After their eighth move in her thirteen short years, the lonely only child of a high-ranking naval officer and a socially ambitious mother, Tracy Mayo longed for a normal adolescence – to have friends, to feel rooted. What she got was a pregnancy at fourteen and exile to a maternity home. There, she bore not only a child but also the weight of the culture’s shame. She was required to surrender her baby boy at birth and pretend it never happened. Twenty-two years later, her longing undiminished, Tracy set out to find him – and perhaps, through her search, to reclaim her self. Are we moving back to a world where women have no agency, stripped of control of their bodies and their futures? More than fifty years after one frightened, grief-stricken young mother was ordered to forget, Tracy’s story is even more important to remember.
About the book
What is the book about?
This book tells the story, over a span of 50 years, of my teenage pregnancy in a pre-Choice America. I was banished to a “Home for Unwed Mothers” and forced to give my baby son up for adoption. I was told to forget. 22 years later, my longing undiminished, I set out to find him – and perhaps, in so doing, to find myself.
When did you start writing the book?
In 2015.
How long did it take you to write it?
Seven years.
Where did you get the idea from?
From my own experience.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
I struggled with the excavation of many painful memories. Painful, but essential in order to resolve my trauma.
What came easily?
Incorporating landscape imagery to demonstrate how the natural world can aid in healing.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
All real individuals.
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
Lauren Groff, as a study in brilliant landscape imagery; Dani Shapiro, for bringing the craft of fiction to non-fiction works; Jeanette Walls, as a study in brilliant memoir.
Do you have a target reader?
Women of my generation who remember a pre-Roe America; young women whose reproductive rights are now threatened; any member of the adoption triad.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
I write from my loft where I can watch my lovely (and plentiful) birds at my feeders.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
I do not. I just go for it!
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
I edit relentlessly as I go along. Can’t seem to help it!
Did you hire a professional editor?
No.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
No, only the sounds of bird calls and songs.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
I submitted to one agent in NYC, through a mutual connection. She loved the manuscript but didn’t take it because I had not yet been published. While waiting in a 6-month queue for my mentor’s agent to read, I submitted to an Indie publisher who took it.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
See above, I just stumbled into it!
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
I did it in collaboration with a graphic artist in Belgrade, Serbia.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
I have hired Books Forward and my publicist is Simone Jung.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
To do research into the publishing industry to more fully understand what options exist. I pretty much fumbled my way through.
About You
Where did you grow up?
I grew up as a rootless nomad in a military family, and it’s definitely part of my story.
Where do you live now?
Boulder, CO
What would you like readers to know about you?
I am a birder, dog-lover, gardener and former snowboarder. I retired from a 30-year career in commercial construction management, as a trail-blazing woman in a man’s world.
What are you working on now?
I am contemplating learning the craft of poetry.
End of Interview:
Get your copy of Childless Mother from Amazon US or Amazon UK.
