Joanne Kukanza Easley, born in Chicago, Illinois, has adopted Texas as her home. She lives in the Texas Hill Country on a small ranch with her husband, three rescue terriers, and abundant wildlife. Retired from a career in nursing—with dual specialties in the cold, clinical operating room, and the intense, emotional world of psychiatric nursing— she devotes her time to writing fiction. She is working on her next novel, Just One Look.
Tell us about Sweet Jane.
By age six, Jane, a lonely and precocious child, knows vodka makes Mama mean. After years of dodging her drunken mama, Jane runs away at sixteen—during the Summer of Love. Despite seventeen years of keeping secrets while searching for love in dysfunctional relationships, Jane looks good on paper: married, graduate school, coin-carrying member of AA. But her carefully constructed life is crumbling. Returning for Mama’s funeral catapults her back to the events that made her the woman she is.
What sparked the idea for Sweet Jane?
My main character entered my consciousness on Saturday morning during a writing exercise at an Austin café. I had a vision of a young girl leaving home. She didn’t have a plan, she just knew she had to leave. Later, Jane was fleshed out as a girl whose life was punctuated by funerals that sent her life on a new trajectory.
What kind of research did you do for this book?
I researched the time periods in the book, which takes place from 1957-1984. I also researched locations: Odessa, Texas, Monterey Pop, the Haight, and Austin.
If you could spend the day with one of your characters, who would it be and what would you do?
I would spend the day with Jane’s AA sponsor, Lauren Eaton. Lauren only hinted at her story to Jane and I need to interview her for my novel-in-progress, Lauren Eaton. We would go to lunch at the Magnolia Café on Lake Austin Boulevard. It used to be called the Omelettry West when Jane and Lauren lunched there in 1984.
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
A combination. I start with a character and create their world. An event sets the story in motion. Sometimes I see clearly the path my character is on and other times, I am surprised by their actions.
What are you working on right now?
I am workshopping my novel Just One Look and when that is finished, I’ll do my second draft. In November, I worked on Lauren Eaton through NaNoWriMo. Last year that jumpstarted Just One Look.
Which authors inspire you?
Pat Conroy, John Hart, John Irving, Donna Tartt, Mary McGarry Morris, Flannery O’Connor, Shirley Jackson, Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston, Lee Child, Stephen King. All for different reasons.
Where can we buy Sweet Jane?
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Publisher
How can we connect with you or learn more?