Narelle here. I’m excited to welcome Michelle Shocklee to our blog today and share our interview about her new book, Appalachian Song, that released October 3, 2023.
Fast Five
Hobbits or Mad Max?
Hobbits…as long as I’m invited to their Hobbit house.
Books or TV?
Books. Always.
Sun or snow?
Snow.
Desert or sea?
Sea. Can’t do heat.
Plotter or pantser?
I’ve been both.
Getting to Know Michelle Shocklee
Where are you from?
I was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. For those not familiar with my hometown, it’s located at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range and sits at 7,000 feet elevation. It is the oldest state capital city in the United States and has a wonderfully diverse population. I recently discovered that my 8th great grandmother was born in Santa Fe in 1664!
What’s something interesting or unusual about you that not everyone knows?
When I’m not writing novels, I work with my husband as Estate Caretakers. We live and work on a 250-acre gentleman’s farm in Tennessee and take care of anything and everything for the owners. We’ve been doing this for 11 years and love it!
What is your town or city most famous (or infamous) for?
My husband and I moved to the Nashville area a few years ago. It truly is Music City. As the saying goes: You can’t swing a cat (poor thing) without hitting a musician. You’ll find nearly 40 clubs lining Broadway Street—some owned by famous country music singers—and all of them keep their doors and windows open so folks can enjoy the live music. In my book Appalachian Song, Walker Wylie is a famous country singer in Nashville!
What did you learn while writing your last book that surprised you?
While I researched the Walker Sisters of the Great Smoky Mountains for my new book Appalachian Song, I was not surprised to learn that their mountain home never had electricity or indoor plumbing. But I was surprised to learn they did not have an outhouse. The family—dad, mom, and 11 children—used the great outdoors the entire 90+ years Walkers lived in the home. Men went north and women went south.
Have you ever met a person in real life who is a doppelgänger (lookalike) for a character in your book/s?
I haven’t met one of my characters yet, but I can’t tell you how many times I have been mistaken for someone else. It happens all. the. time. It’s really strange.
If you were not an author, what would you like to be?
I’d love to be an artist. I’d hang out in a cool studio in the backyard and paint all day. Landscapes and abstracts, but not portraits. Painting people doesn’t really interest me. Alas, the painting gene hit my brother and sister but skipped me.
What’s your favourite hobby (not including writing or reading)?
I’ve become interested in genealogy. I had basic information about my German roots on my mom’s side, and my Spanish roots on my dad’s side, but it’s been amazing to dig deeper and find I have DNA connections to places like Scotland, Ireland, Mali, Cypress, and Bosque. I love the verse in Hebrews 12 that begins with, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses…” I’m convinced all these ancestors I’m learning about are part of my great cloud and are cheering me on as I finish my race.
About Your Writing
What’s your favourite part of the writing process?
I love the editing phase. Writing the first draft of the story is work. Real, hard work. Because it takes me a full year to write a book from start to finish, I’m soooo ready for it to be over by the time I type The End. I’ll let the manuscript sit a few weeks while I do something else, then I’ll go back and do a couple good edits before I send it to my publisher.
How does your faith impact your writing?
I gave my life to Jesus Christ as a young girl, and I’ve never looked back. He is the foundation I stand on in life. In the past few years, I’ve become more focused on ‘does this book please God’ rather than ‘does this book please readers.’ I certainly hope it accomplishes both, but ultimately God is the one to whom I’m accountable. As long as I’m giving him my ‘loaves and fish’ with a pure heart, I can step back and watch him feed whomever he wishes.
As for my characters, they go through the same growth process you and I do when we’re seeking God, have questions and doubts, and ultimately become aware of our need for a Savior. I don’t fill my books with scripture and preaching but simply let the characters’ faith develop naturally.
What’s your biggest writing challenge?
Time. Because I have a day job, my writing is limited to evenings and weekends. Years ago, I didn’t mind burning the midnight oil, but I’m not as young as I used to be, and I find I can’t focus and don’t write well when I’m tired.
How do you choose names for characters in books?
Choosing a name for a character is like choosing a name for your own children. Much thought goes into the process. Because I write historical fiction, I search census records for the year my story is set in. Oddly enough, many of the old-fashioned names that were popular in the 1800s and early 1900s are coming back, so I have to be careful not to use them.
If someone was just starting out with their first novel, what advice would you give them?
Many years ago, when I first began my journey as a writer, I attended a writers’ conference where author Francine Rivers taught the fiction track. I’ll never forget her advice to those of us who were just getting started: “Writing for publication is a marathon, not a sprint.” My advice to new writers is, write the book. It may or may not ever be published, but you must write the book. I wrote many books that will never be published, but I learned valuable lessons through the process.
Which book that you’ve written would you like to see made into a movie?
I would love to see Appalachian Song made into a movie. The theme is “I choose you” with adoption at the heart of the story, and I think a lot of people who may not read the book would enjoy a movie. The gorgeous Great Smoky Mountains would be the backdrop for most of the scenes, and you simply cannot go wrong with mountains!
About Appalachian Song
Describe Appalachian Song in one or two sentences.
A childless midwife meets a pregnant motherless teenager, and the baby they both love changes their lives forever.
Who is the target audience for Appalachian Song?
Readers who enjoy southern, historical, split-time novels. It will also appeal to readers interested in adoption, midwifery, and life in Appalachia.
What inspired you to write Appalachian Song?
When I first visited the Walker Sisters cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg, Tennessee, I knew I would write a book about them someday. The storyline of a mountain midwife meeting a pregnant teenager evolved from a conversation I had with my editor about midwifery. Combining the history of the Walker Sisters with my research into midwifery in Appalachia eventually became Bertie and Songbird’s story.
Adoption is also a theme in the book. I’ve had the privilege to watch many families formed through adoption, including my extended family. Each adoption story is different, so while Appalachian Song is not about anyone in particular, I did want to honour each of them—adoptive parents, adoptees, and birth mothers—by creating a poignant tale that speaks to what it means to be family. As Bertie says in the book: “Family don’t always mean blood kin.”
What did you research before writing Appalachian Song?
My research for this book went in many directions. First, I needed to know about the Walker Sisters and their fascinating life in the Great Smoky Mountains. I also needed to learn more about midwifery practices in Appalachia during the 1940s vs midwifery in the 1970s. Adoption laws and 70s hippie culture were also subjects I researched. I’m detail oriented, so I always have far more research than I can use in my books.
Where did you travel to research Appalachian Song?
My husband, who is my research trip buddy, and I visited the Walker Sisters cabin multiple times throughout the writing of the book. Although the farmland is long overgrown, and many of the outbuildings are gone, I relish every moment I spend at the old, weathered homestead, studying the hewn log walls, the stone fireplace, the sleeping loft. I envision the family gathered around a long table in the kitchen or working in the garden just down from the house. We also visited Butler, Knoxville, and Sevierville, Tennessee, to help me create authentic mountain towns.
Which characters are based on real life historical figures?
Bertie Jenkins and her sisters are inspired by—but not based on—the real-life Walker Sisters of Little Greenbrier Cove, Tennessee. When I first read about the Walker Sisters, I knew I wanted to introduce them to readers. However, elements in the tale I was creating were purely fictional, born in my imagination, and I didn’t want to change or add to the history of the Walker Sisters unique story. So I created the Jenkins family, inspired by the Walker family. The number of children, their life on the land, and even the descriptions of their cabin are identical. However, the Walkers became well-known for their refusal to sell their property when the government wanted to create the Great Smoky National Park. I did not include that part of their story in the book.
Which Biblical themes did you explore in Appalachian Song?
Adoption is at the heart of this book. I used Romans 8:14-16 as a foundation for the entire story. “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God…you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, ‘Abba, Father.’ For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.” When we believe in Jesus Christ, we become the adopted children of God, which I find truly amazing and humbling. That is a truth my characters needed to learn as they travel some very difficult roads.
Please tell us about your upcoming book releases.
Appalachian Song is my newest release. My next novel will release in the fall of 2024, and that story is set on a Tennessee horse farm in the 1940s and 1970s. As a transplant to Tennessee, I’ve enjoyed setting four novels in this beautiful state.
Book Description:
Forever within the memories of my heart.
Always remember, you are perfectly loved.
Bertie Jenkins has spent forty years serving as a midwife for her community in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. Out of all the mothers she’s tended, none affects her more than the young teenager who shows up on her doorstep, injured, afraid, and expecting, one warm June day in 1943. As Bertie and her four sisters tenderly nurture Songbird back to health, the bond between the childless midwife and the motherless teen grows strong. But soon Songbird is forced to make a heartbreaking decision that will tear this little family apart.
Thirty years later, the day after his father’s funeral, Walker Wylie is stunned to learn he was adopted as an infant. The famous country singer enlists the help of adoption advocate Reese Chandler in the hopes of learning why he was abandoned by his birth parents. With the only clue he has in hand, Walker and Reese head deep into the Appalachian Mountains to track down Bertie Jenkins, the midwife who holds the secrets to Walker’s past.
For fans of historical and Southern fiction comes a poignant story of love and sacrifice set in the heart of Appalachia, from award-winning author Michelle Shocklee.
Buy Appalachian Song from Tyndale
Michelle Shocklee is the author of several historical novels, including Count the Nights by Stars, a Christianity Today fiction book award winner, and Under the Tulip Tree, a Christy and Selah Awards finalist. Her work has been featured in numerous Chicken Soup for the Soul books, magazines, and blogs. Married to her college sweetheart and the mother of two grown sons, she makes her home in Tennessee, not far from the historical sites she writes about.
Connect with Michelle Shocklee at:
