Featured Interview With Phyllis H. Moore
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Phyllis H. Moore grew up in south Texas in a small rural town just south of a major oil field. After graduating she earned a degree in social work and began working around the Texas hill country. After earning a master’s degree in social work she moved to Galveston Island, Texas and continued working in the public school setting. After retiring, Phyllis moved back to south Texas and opened a bed and breakfast. She operated that business with her husband until they both retired after seven years. A short time in the ranching business followed, and then they were ready to return to the island where they live today. Ollie Bubba their terrier made the move, but he was over fourteen years old and didn’t make the transition following Hurricane Harvey. However, Savannah, an adopted mutt joined the family just before Christmas and is already running the place.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have enjoyed reading novels since about fifth grade. Summers were filled with trips to the library to seek out new stories. However, I didn’t start writing until just after my second retirement at the age of sixty-three. Years of social work and meeting various people in the bed and breakfast gave me many characters to talk about. The house we renovated for the B&B also happened to be haunted. Yeah, I know. I’m not sensitive to those things, but after consistent stories from guests describing the same circumstances, I have to believe that it certainly was. Also, Ollie Bubba apparently talked with the woman regularly. I promise I’m not crazy, but you could probably find someone willing to testify otherwise. So, these spiritual encounters sometimes filter into my writing, but in a positive way.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I have always enjoyed Southern Gothic novels, a little darkness, some crazy characters, an old house, the ability to question the establishment, and all those skeletons in the closet. I also love a good historical novel and have devoured Phillipa Gregory’s stories. Anything written about the South (especially, the ones that question the warts and frailties of the South), grabs my attention. Fannie Flagg, Rebecca Wells, Kathleen Stockett, Anne Rice, Jeanette Walls, and Rick Bragg, are among some of my favorite authors. Coming of Age stories are also some of my favorite because they evoke memories of my own childhood and growing up outside, away from our parent’s eyes. We experienced new things away from technology. I’ve written several short stories about my childhood memories. My inspirations come from the underdog, not the usual suspects. I like the quirky people most wouldn’t glamorize. It’s the nuances in their behaviors, speech and movements that make them unique. They often seem invisible, so we can listen when no one thinks we can hear. I plant them in stories so we can experience what the debutant doesn’t want anyone else to know. Sometimes it’s not a person at all who inspires me, but a building, a storm, an issue, or a failure. Those things take on a life of their own. My latest novel, Birdie & Jude was inspired by a real incident that took place in my hometown in 1968. I didn’t know about it at the time. I was in high school. Two of my friends were threatened. It was a time of protests and demonstrations. When I learned about the incident, it naturally trickled into the story I was writing, so I dedicated the book to these two men. The incident does not flatter my little home town, but it’s true and it reflects on our country at the time. While my inspirations are not always positive, the stories have redemption and hope.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book, Birdie & Jude was inspired by Hurricane Harvey, an incident I learned of that occurred in 1968 in my hometown, the debutant season in Galveston around Mardi Gras, and the untimely death of a friend. I wrote a blog about it called “Not Just One Thing”, because I’ve found my story telling isn’t just about one thing. The stories seem to morph into something of a tapestry woven from several inspirations. One of my friends said this particular story helped her come to grips with the recent death of her sister. That’s all a writer can ask for.
Birdie is and older woman, set in her ways, living a predictable life with her small terrier. However, she is a little restless. Nothing in her life has ever happened the way she wanted it to and now the predictability is irritating her. On her morning walk on the beach, the day before a tropical storm is to hit, she discovers a body. It will be the day that will change her life forever. Jude is young, just graduated from college, planning a trip to Europe with her only friend, to backpack and have an adventure before entering the work force. However, on this same day, her life is changed forever also. The unlikely friendship that develops between these two characters is the core of the story, a tale that takes us back in time to each of them coming of age. One is privilege, the other is homeless, but fate has brought them together. However, we also meet Henry, Birdie’s best friend, in her childhood and forever. Something in Jude’s eyes brings back memories of Henry. It’s familiar and unsettling and maybe they’ll figure it out.
This story came together more quickly than others I’ve written, but I think it was because the characters told me exactly what to do and my fingers moved without much thought about where they were taking me. I read my own stories more times than I can count, and I still enjoy this one every time I read it.
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