Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a retired attorney living in Atlanta with my husband and schnauzer, Yoda. We have four adult children and three adorable grandchildren. I practiced law for over thirty years, and before my retirement, was actively licensed in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Georgia. I traveled throughout the country in litigation as regional and national counsel for various corporations. I also have a Masters of Special Education, and before my years as an attorney, I taught learning disabled students. From 1993 through 1996, I also taught at Loyola University Law School as an Assistant Clinical Professor and served as the Director of Loyola’s Homeless Law Clinic. I learned much about poverty in New Orleans during those three years. I moved to Atlanta in 2001 when I accepted a job with a national law firm and have lived in the area ever since.
Why Do you write?
I enjoyed writing when I was younger. I won a few contests and published professionally in several legal journals. Still, I didn’t seriously begin writing fiction until I was recovering from surgery and had some time on my hands. During that lengthy recovery period, I wrote the short story version of OUT FROM SILENCE, then entered the story in the Georgia Bar Journal’s Fiction Contest. It shocked me when I won. But, even more, surprising was how much I enjoyed the writing process.
Writing isn’t easy. I find it necessary, important and I get better at it the more I do it. I write because I must. I’d be lost if I didn’t write. It’s the only thing I’ve ever done in my life that has ever made me feel whole.
What genre do you write, and why did you pick this genre?
I write mysteries. I begin by creating the plot and think of it much like a large jigsaw puzzle. Then I develop the characters, their backstories, concentrating on what makes them tick. I love weaving the plot and the character’s stories together. And since I write murder mysteries, I love exploring the emotional triggers that set the story into action and keep the pace going.
I picked this genre because I enjoy setting up the mystery puzzle piece and am intrigued by exploring the emotional depths that any murder would trigger. In my series, Emma Thornton is an attorney who represents people that have been accused of murder. Invariably, others are murdered along the way. Emma is tenacious in her determination to prove her client’s innocence but occasionally rash and impulsive. Building character profiles into the plot always adds an interesting twist to the story!
Tell us about your book.
I’ve written two books in the THORNTON MYSTERY SERIES. OUT FROM SILENCE, published in December 2019, and THE REDEMPTION, published in February 2021, both were published by Level Best Books. A third book, which is yet unnamed, will be published in February 2022.
- OUT FROM SILENCE: Emma Thornton, a law student, and clerk for a local attorney in the small town of Jonesburg, Georgia, is asked to help defend Adam, a young deaf man accused of killing his girlfriend. The investigation sets her on a dangerous path which nearly costs her her life and forces Adam out of his world of silence.
- THE REDEMPTION: Emma Thornton is back in THE REDEMPTION. When two men are murdered one muggy September night in a New Orleans housing project, an eyewitness identified only one suspect–Louis Bishop- a homeless sixteen-year-old. Louis is arrested the next day and thrown into New Orleans Parish Prison. Emma Thornton, a law professor and director of the Homeless Law Clinic at St. Stanislaus Law School, agrees to represent him.
When they take on the case, Emma and her students discover a tangle of corruption, intrigue, and more violence than they would have thought possible, even in New Orleans. They uncover secrets about the night of the murders and illegal dealings in the city and within Louis’s family. As the case progresses, Emma and her family are thrown into a series of life-threatening situations. But in the end, Emma gains Louis’s trust, which allows him to reveal his last and most vital secret.
How much time do you dedicate to your author’s career?
I try to write every day for about five hours. I like to, at the very least, get in three hours a day. But, daily life intervenes, and I cannot keep to that schedule.
How long, on average, does it take you to write your books?
One year, from the very beginning, through the editing process, to publication.
What is the best money you have ever spent on your author career?
Probably the attendance of the Malice Domestic Convention. I met my publishers there, as well as several authors. I also got some great ideas from several panel discussions.
What is the most challenging part of being an author?
I find the balance between your “real” life and your writing life to be the most difficult. I prefer to write all day long and ignore everything else, but that’s impossible. Dinner must be cooked, laundry must be washed, and taxes must be paid. Life can’t be ignored. It never could be. I didn’t have a problem ignoring these daily routines when I was a practicing attorney. I even looked forward to them sometimes. But, when you write at home, the daily drudgeries of life seem to take over sometimes. I’ve put everything on a schedule. It works better that way.
What is the best piece of advice you have for other authors?
I was very lucky to have found Level Best Books as a publisher. My only advice to unpublished authors is to keep writing and offering your manuscript to agents and publishers. People love to read, especially now. Don’t lose hope. I revised OUT FROM SILENCE a million times before it was accepted. Keep the faith.
What is your favorite book?
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Follow CL Tolbert
www.cltolbert.com
www.facebook.com/cltolbertwriter
www.instagram.com/cltolbertwrites