Tracey Buchanan

Tracey Buchanan crashed into the literary world when she was six and won her first writing award. Fast forward through years as a journalist, mom, volunteer, freelance writer, editor, artist, small business owner, and circus performer (not really, but wouldn’t that be something?) and you find her happily planted in the world of fiction with her debut novel, Toward the Corner of Mercy and Peace.

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What’s the difference (at least for you!) between being a writer and an author? How do you shift gears between the two?

I’ve been a writer all my life, beginning with cards I made for my parents at holidays and a first-grade story contest (which I won…That sealed the deal. My future was set. I like winning.) I got a degree in journalism because it seemed more practical than getting a degree in creative writing, and I was trying to be a responsible adult. That’s a laugh because that aspiration is yet to be fulfilled! Anyway. I immediately went to work at a newspaper as a section editor/columnist. Here’s where I began to define the difference between writer and author. For me, I was a writer of factual articles about other people, places, or events; I was the author of my columns, which were loosely based on my life, strictly from my head, and intended for humor. After I left my job to rear our two sons, I continued flinging words about. The writer in me produced years’ worth of freelance articles. But I put my author hat on when I was commissioned to produce short plays. Based on fact = writer. Imagination = Author. And I don’t believe one is more talented, interesting, or valuable than the other.

What’s the oddest thing a reader has ever asked you?

Well, when I was running a small art business, I produced a book containing my sayings with illustrations I’d done. I had a reader ask me if she could have one of my characters tattooed on her. I said sure, but now I wish I’d asked where it was going to be!

Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing?

Yes. My go-to comfort food is sweet or savory. I will eat anything. If there’s a piece of homemade sourdough bread in the house, I’m compelled to toast it and slather it with butter. Same goes for my homemade chocolate chip cookies. I cannot lie—they bring out the glutton in me. However, if nothing homemade is calling my name, a piece of dark chocolate is always satisfying too. Have you had the Ghiradelli salted caramel-filled dark chocolate square?? Or, on the savory side—Dot’s Pretzels. Oh. My. Word. Food plays into my novel as well. My protagonist, Mrs. Minerva Place, prefers her neighbor’s Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake and her market’s homemade pimiento cheese. But she loves fried chicken livers too, so you can’t really go by her tastes.

Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing? Do you sew? Paint? Draw? Knit? Dance?

I love to paint and create collages and assemblages. As I mentioned, I had a small business for a few years painting watercolor illustrations. I produced prints, cards, a book, and other products. The whole thing started when I found myself uninspired to write long pieces. (A stressful event had taken the wind out of my sails.) It turned out to last for 16 years. I finally decided I was ready to write the novel I’d always wanted to write, so I shut down the biz and started writing fiction fulltime. However, when I find myself stuck in my writing, I still paint and create. Painting seems to come from another place inside of me, and it restores my ability to write…usually!

If you could create a museum exhibition, what would be the theme?

Oooo…this is a fun one! I think I’d curate an exhibit of first drafts side by side with the finished product. In my dreams, there’d be the first page of everything from Shakespeare, Dickens, and Austen to contemporary authors’ work. The pages would no doubt incude handwritten edits and marks. Oh my gosh, I’d LOVE that!