Jean Henry Mead, author of ESCAPE, A Wyoming Historical Novel began her writing career as a news reporter while working as an editor of her college newspaper in California. She was a divorced mother of four young daughters and often had to take her youngest to class.

She says, "While living in California, I worked for three daily newspapers as a police reporter and feature writer and later served as a staff writer/photographer and editor. Some years later, I moved to the Rocky Mountains and worked as a magazine editor and freelance photojournalist. Some of my work was published in the Denver Post’s Empire Magazine as well as other magazines, domestic as well as abroad, some of them winning regional and national Press Women’s awards.  I’ve also written seven nonfiction books and three novels."

When asked about her formative years, Jean said, "I wrote my first novel at age nine, a chapter a day to entertain classmates. Thank heavens it was never published. I wrote with pencil on construction paper and took it to school each day until "the book" was finished. I must have received good reviews or I’d probably have given up and done an art project instead. I’ve always liked to draw and paint in oils. I won an art contest when I was 14, but I had so many interests that I didn’t concentrate on just one until I was an adult. I played the violin rather badly, but was in the orchestra in both elementary and high school, and sang in my high school’s a cappella choir. I was fortunate to have been chosen to represent my high school as a soprano in the Los Angeles all-city choir. One of my classmates, Tom Drake, went on to become the lead singer in Andy Williams’ Good Time Singers. I, however, married at 18 and didn’t pursue any of my creative talents until much later."

Although she wrote for her high school and college newspapers, she didn't consider herself a writer until she had a paying job as a news reporter. She says, "That is the most demanding type of writing because you have to get it right the first time. There's usually no time for rewrites."

Some writers struggle with writer's block. Her years as a newspaper reporter may have served her well, there. " I write subconsciously while I sleep and wake up with the bare essentials for another chapter the following morning," she says. "I live with my characters 24/7 while I’m working on a book. If, for some reason, I wake up without an idea of what to write, I read back over the last chapter I wrote, and it propels me into the next one."

She says she doesn’t outline her work because it seems to inhibit her writing. "I just give my characters free rein and go with what I know they will say. In fact, I see them in my mind’s eye as though watching a movie. I then type as fast as I can to keep up with their dialogue. And dialogue is my forte."

Jean is fascinated by the real life drama of pioneers who settled this country. "This nation was based on a gigantic struggle to free itself from England, Spain and France. Our forbearers struggled against all odds to colonize the West before the English could claim the Northwest territory, and the Southwest could be reclaimed by Mexico. From 1840 until nearly the turn of the 20th century, some 300,000 travelers endured extreme hardship as they followed the Oregon, Mormon, and California trails, hoping to find land of their own and a new life. It is estimated that close to 20,000 emigrants died along the way from Indian attacks, disease, exhaustion and exposure. How can you not be fascinated with their courage and determination?"

When asked what inspired her to write Escape, she said, "I sat behind microfilm machines for nearly four years to research a centennial book, Casper Country: Wyoming’s Heartland. I read/scanned 97 years’ worth of newspapers dating from 1888, when Casper’s first newspaper was established. After finishing that project, I had an 18-inch stack of typed research material that was left over and going to waste. I'd always wanted to write a true story of the Wild Bunch, but at that time, no one was interested in publishing a nonfiction book about them. So, I decided to write my first novel (as an adult). I was a member of Western Writers of America and knew many well-known western writers, including Fred Grove, who had won five Spur Awards for best western novels. He took me under his wing, suffered through my badly-written chapters, and offered welcome advice. When the book was finished, Richard S. Wheeler, another multi-Spur recipient, read the manuscript and also offered advice as well as a very nice blurb for the book. Not every fledgling novelist is that lucky.

"It was easy developing the outlaw characters for Escape because I had thoroughly researched members of the Wild Bunch," Jean says. "My favorite outlaw is Tom “Peep” O’Day, a bungling, alcoholic horsethief who briefly joined the gang and badly botched the Belle Fourche Bank robbery. I had a lot of fun writing about him, and he nearly stole the book from Andrea Bordeaux, my 17-year old fictional heroine, who is kidnapped by Harve Logan and his cohorts. Thinking she’s a 12-year old boy, they take her to the Hole in the Wall outlaw hideout. Another fictional character, Andrea’s “Gramma,” was patterned after my own grandmother, a feisty little woman from Alabama, who spouted some colorful expressions, which I used throughout the book, such as “stubborn jack of apes.” Andrea and Billy were pure figments of my imagination, as well as a few of the fringe outlaws. They were written into the storyline, along with actual historical events, to make the plot more interesting. The historical events include the Four-State Governor’s Pact to exterminate outlaws, the Johnson County War, escape from the Deadwood jail, and the cowboy invasion of the Hole in the Wall, outlaw territory, to retrieve stolen cattle."

One delightful scene in this novel spotlights two old spinster sheepherding sisters. When asked about them, Jean said, "I didn’t realize at the time that I was patterning them after two sheepherding women in their early 80s that I had interviewed for my first freelance article for the Denver Post in 1978. They were wonderfully independent and had ridden as cowboys during their youth. The characters I created live on the edge of the Wyoming badlands and never married. They’re crack shots and save the lives of some of my primary characters. I enjoyed writing about them nearly as much as Tom “Peep” O'Day."

Jean plans to make use of the internet as a marketing tool. "I have a lot of online contacts, including my website, a blog, Murderous Musings; My Space, Facebook, CrimeSpace, GoodReads, writer’s forums, Amazon.com, etc. Because I now live in a rural area of Wyoming, traveling is very limited because towns are small and far between. And the price of gasoline is now prohibitive."

She has a knack for writing from the male point of view, something many women writers find intimidating. "I grew up with four brothers (no sisters), and have an ear for the vernacular," she says. "I’ve lived in eight states, including rural areas, where I’ve picked up all sorts of temporary accents and manners of speech. I can’t think a better education for a novelist."

Jean says her mother was her biggest fan. "When she died, I found scrapbooks that she had filled with my newspaper and magazine articles that I was unaware she had. That brought tears to my eyes. One of my sisters-in-law is a mystery fan who likes to read my work, and my husband enjoyed reading Escape. I also have friends who like getting my books as gifts."

Her advice to writers just starting out: "Read everything you can get your hands on. I’ve heard that novelists should read at least 3,000 novels before they even attempt to write one of their own. That’s a bit stringent, I think, but it doesn’t hurt to study the writing styles and techniques of your favorite authors. I originally learned to write fiction from studying the books of Dean R. Koontz because I love the way he strings his words together. Also, listen to the advice of published writers who have made their mistakes and learned the hard way. Some of that advice is included on my website blog, “Advice to Fledgling Writers.”  http://www.jeanhenrymead.com/blogadvicetofledglingwriters.htm. Also, check out my blog: Murderous Musings.com (http://murderousmusings.blogspot.com/)"

A Village Shattered
by Jean Henry Mead

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212 pages, 6" x 9",
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