Guest Post by Brenda Stanley

The Color of Snow

Can a troubled young girl reenter society after living in isolation?

When a beautiful 16-year-old girl named Sophie is found sequestered in a cage-like room in a rundown house in the desolate hills of Arbon Valley, Idaho, the entire community is shocked to learn she is the legendary Callidora--a baby girl who was kidnapped from her crib almost seventeen years ago and canonized in missing posters with portraits of what the fabled girl might resemble. Authorities soon learn that the cage was there to protect people from Sophie, because her biological father believes she is cursed.

Sophie is discovered after the man she knows as Papa, shoots and injures Damien, a young man who is trying to rescue her. Now, unsocialized and thrust into the world, and into a family she has never met, Sophie must decide whether she should accept her Papa’s claims that she is cursed and he was only trying to protect others, or trust the new people in her life who have their own agendas. Guided by a wise cousin, Sophie realizes that her most heartbreaking challenge is to decide if her love for Damien will destroy him like her Papa claims, or free her from past demons that haunt her mind.

Guest Post by Brenda Stanley

The Color of Snow has been described as dark or mysterious.  I feel most of my writing fits this description because I enjoy looking at the strange and unusual things in life.  My novel will definitely make some people uncomfortable.  I like to look at situations and issues and try to figure out how people will react.  For years I was a crime reporter, so I enjoy investigating stories and learning about the parts of life most people try to hide.  When I wrote The Color of Snow, I was working on a story about a young girl who went missing years ago and has never been found.  I started thinking about what would happen if she were to suddenly show up now.  I loved putting myself in Sophie’s shoes and seeing things for the first time.

Sophie’s relationship with Damien is both intense and tempered.  Her father has raised her to believe that she will destroy anyone who truly loves her, so she is torn between her love for Damien and her fear of causing him harm.

The story changes between what is going on with Sophie and what happened in her parent’s past that brought her to where she is.  I wanted readers to experience the often isolated feeling of living in a vast rural area, but also the mental confinement of a small town.

Mental illness, teen pregnancy, religious intolerance, and racism are all big parts of The Color of Snow.  I like my characters to face challenges and see them grow from them.  It is not only the conflicts with the other characters that keeps the story going, but also those within the person’s own mind.

I wanted Sophie to be unusually beautiful so that people treated her strangely and therefore made her feel even more alien when she is first discovered.  She has transformed from a tragic kidnapping victim to a mythical ghost from the past and this makes her transition into her new life even more difficult.

My ties to the Mormon Church go back to my great-great grandparents.  I was raised in the teachings of the Mormon religion and even though I am no longer a member, I have many friends and family who are still very active in the church.  My descriptions of the Mormon culture are how I view it and how I feel someone who has never been exposed to it might see it.  I think there are a lot of people who are curious about the Mormon religion and have misconceptions.  I feel I’ve been both candid and fair in my portrayal.

Brenda Stanley is the former news anchor at her NBC affiliate KPVI in Eastern Iadho. Her writing has been recognized by the Scripps Howard Foundation, the Hearst Journalism Awards, the Idaho Press Club and the Society for Professional Journalists. She is a graduate of Dixie College in St. George, Utah, and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Brenda lived for two years in Ballard, Utah, within the Fort Duchesne reservation where the novel is set. She and her husband live on a small ranch near the Snake River with their horses and dogs. 


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Interview with Sandra Yuen MacKay

Today we're talking with a talented woman who not only writes memoirs and novellas, but is a brilliant artist as well. I'm sure she has other hidden talents as well, but let's dive into an interview with her and learn about her memoir.

Welcome to We Do Write, Sandra. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm a dreamer who likes variety in what I do. I'm a writer, visual artist and a public speaker on recovery. I have experience as a columnist and editor for Majestic, an online newsletter for Lit.org, a writer's forum.

How long have you been writing?

I did journal a lot when I was young. My first published piece was a letter to the editor in Canadian Architect in 1995. Since 2002, I've been published in various magazines and online since then.

Tell us about My Schizophrenic Life: The Road to Recovery from Mental Illness.

I wrote this book from a personal perspective about what it's like to experience hallucinations, paranoia and delusions and how I dug my way out of schizophrenia to live a purposeful life. Recovery isn't a straight line but has dips and curves. In writing the book, I gained perspective on the balance of positive and negative aspects of my life and was able to let go of some of the pain and losses I had. By sharing my story, I wish to give hope for others.

I also published an e-book titled Hell's Fire, a scifi novella about a father who goes on a mission to save his daughter from alien abduction.

What’s the hardest part of writing for you?

The hardest part is receiving rejection letters! However, they do motivate me to work on my craft and some give me feedback on what editors are looking for.

Any tips you’ve learned about writing you’d like to share?

Write from your heart. Dig into your emotions. Build conflict and tension into your story. Make sure the characters thoughts and actions fit into the structure of your story and plot, and tangents are minimal.

Let’s get to know you on a deeper level. What do you absolutely have to have nearby when writing?

A cup of coffee, an online dictionary and thesaurus, and a blanket because my computer is in a cool basement. A clock is handy but I usually don't pay attention to it when I'm deep into my writing.

If you could have any super power, what would it be?

I'd love to be able to fly. I have dreams where I'm airborne and feel the wind. I look down and see the lights of houses.

And finally, where can people find you and your books online?

You can find me at Letters from Sandra or on Facebook

My Schizophrenic Life is available in print on Amazon, barnesandnoble.com and chapters.indigo.ca or as an e-book at Smashwords or Amazon Kindle

Hell's Fire is available on Smashwords and Amazon Kindle

Thank you for chatting with us, Sandra. Your work sounds amazing.

Thank you, Dorothy, for taking the time to interview me!