Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Camarillo.
Hi Mary, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I write about living in Southern California, a place I’ve called home for more than fifty-five years and am still trying to understand. My aerospace-engineer father was transferred from Charlotte, North Carolina to Santa Monica when I was fourteen. All we knew about California was the TV show Gidget and the music of the Beach Boys. We had no idea there were places like Reseda (where we first rented a house) or Fountain Valley (where I went to high school.)
When I was a senior, my father was laid off along with hundreds of other aerospace engineers. I didn’t go to college, I went to work—in a drapery factory, a massage studio, and a pizza parlor. I’d save some money, quit, travel for a while, and then find another job. When I came home from backpacking across Europe for three months by myself, a friend said the Post Office was hiring.
I never intended to make a career out of the postal service, although it is in my DNA. Both of my grandfathers were railway mail clerks which was how my parents met. I sorted mail, sold stamps, worked in the accounting office, and went to night school, eventually earning a degree in business administration, a CPA license, and a Certificate in Internal Auditing. I spent the last ten years of my career as an audit manager for the Office of Inspector General.
Writing audit reports gave me the idea that I might want to try my hand at fiction. I know that sounds odd. Audit reports are infamous for being dry and factual, but audit reports also tell a story, albeit in a prescribed format. I believe good fiction needs to tell a truthful story and fiction is definitely more fun to write.
When I retired, I rehired myself as an author. My debut novel THE LOCKHART WOMEN was published in June of 2021 by She Writes Press. It’s won multiple awards, including the 2022 Indie Author Project Winner for California Adult Fiction, the 2022 WILLA Literary Awards Finalist in Multiform Fiction and the 2021 Next Generation Indie Award Winner for First Fiction over 90,000 words.
My poems and short fiction have appeared in publications such as TAB Journal, 166 Palms, Sonora Review, and The Ear. My second novel THOSE PEOPLE BEHIND US will be published in October of 2023.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I’d call it a long and winding road. I’ve always been a voracious reader. I wrote poetry in high school, edited the literary magazine and considered a career in journalism but I let a sour journalism teacher discourage me from that idea. When I tried to start an underground high school newspaper, the principal suggested that since I had enough units to graduate, I could either leave or be expelled. So, I graduated early and went to work.
I never planned to make a career out of the postal service, but I stayed on for several reasons. I made lifelong friends, including my husband. The pay and benefits were generous—five weeks of vacation plus ten paid holidays, important to me because I love to travel.
I always knew there was a novel about the post office besides Charles Bukowski’s wonderful POST OFFICE. There was so much drama from the mix of cultures and ages, weird hours and days off, sleep deprivation, repetitive tasks, broken romances, and extramarital affairs. Although I’ve always respected the people I worked with, I’ve also been a critic of the way the postal service was managed. A lot of that made its way into THE LOCKHART WOMEN.
When I finished the novel, I was determined to publish the traditional way. I spent a year trying to find an agent. I queried more than one hundred agents. The ones who responded were complimentary. They loved the writing and found the story intriguing but they weren’t sure they could sell it. In hindsight, I see several reasons why. The novel was too long when I was pitching it. It takes place in 1994 which isn’t historical or contemporary. And I’m an older author with a very small platform.
A friend told me about She Writes Press, a hybrid feminist press, so I sent the novel to them. They loved it. I knew nothing about hybrid publishing, but She Writes has a good reputation for vetting the work, they offer traditional distribution through Ingram Publishing which means my book is sold everywhere, and there’s a wonderful group of fellow women authors who are so supportive and generous. I’ve found that’s true of most authors I know.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
THE LOCKHART WOMEN is a mother/daughter/sister story set in Huntington Beach, California, where I’ve lived for more than twenty-five years. It’s about divorce, regrets, and bad decisions with the O. J. Simpson trial as background noise.
California’s bard Susan Straight, author of IN THE COMPANY OF WOMEN and MECCA called THE LOCKHART WOMEN “deeply and thoroughly Southern Californian, in all the perfectly detailed cities and streets and, of course, freeways, but also in the evocation of its time – the 1990s. These women are vivid portraits – flawed and desperate and seeking redemption.”
The novel is not about Simpson, it’s about a woman who gets hooked on the media circus surrounding the trial instead of dealing with the ruins of her life or noticing the bad decisions her two teenage daughters are making in lovers and crime. Not to excuse my protagonist, but the Simpson trial was compelling and inescapable back in 1994. We didn’t have Google or Facebook in those days, we had television. TV stations had just begun to use helicopters to report the news. The image of the Ford Bronco on the empty freeway followed by police cars is iconic. Reality television had just begun. Cameras were allowed in the courtroom for the entire Simpson criminal trial, preempting soap operas and cartoons. And this was our first introduction to the Kardashian family.
Strangely enough, there aren’t many novels set in Huntington Beach, California, other than Kem Nunn’s gritty, testosterone-driven TAPPING THE SOURCE. The Lockhart Women has a few gritty moments but is definitely more of a female perspective of Surf City USA.
I’m proud of my novel and I’m also proud of the work I’ve put into promoting it. I’ve been described as a severe introvert but publishing a novel forced me out of my shell. When I realized I’d need to talk about my book, I was almost paralyzed. What was there to say except “Read it.” But I resolved not to refuse to do things just because they scared me. I’ve now survived radio interviews, podcasts, in-person bookstore presentations, IG Live interviews, and Zoom after Zoom conversations. It turns out I have a lot to say.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I write a newsletter called “Life With Riley.” It’s about my writing, my life in Huntington Beach, California and my 15-pound Flame Point Siamese/Manager of Marketing Riley. I have lots of giveaways. You can sign up here. https://marycamarillo.us4.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=21cc9b113312b3e02ad4151db&id=f2869eb72b
You can buy THE LOCKHART WOMEN wherever you like to buy books. My favorite indie bookstore is LibroMobile in Santa Ana, California. They have my book in the store and online. https://www.libromobile.com/product-page/the-lockhart-women
I’m excited about the upcoming release of an audio version of THE LOCKHART WOMEN on 12/20/22 from Blackstone Publishing. It’s narrated by the wonderful Kirsten Potter and is available for preorder now. https://www.downpour.com/checkout/cart/
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.marycamarillo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marycamel13/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marypcamarillo
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarycamelMary
Image Credits
Headshot by Brooklyn Hargrove Photography Seated Side View photo by Brooklyn Hargrove Photography Book Cover by Julie Metz at She Writes Press Photo looking over the couch by Limerick Studios Photos of Riley from the author’s personal collection.
