We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mary Camarillo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mary below.
Hi Mary, so happy to have you on the platform and I think our readers are in for a treat because you’ve got such an interesting story and so much insight and wisdom. So, let’s start with a topic that is relevant to everyone, regardless of industry etc. What do you do for self-care and how has it impacted you?
Creative expression is an important component of self-care and I’m extremely fortunate to have a passion for my writing practice. Sitting at a desk for hours is not healthy, however, so I also have a daily exercise practice.
The pandemic changed that routine of course. When gyms closed, my husband set up his old rowing machine in the garage. I bought some fitness bands and we eventually added weights and an exercise bike to the mix. On the pandemic days that we didn’t use our garage gym, my husband and I walked the streets of our neighborhood.
To entertain ourselves, we started making up stories about the lives of our neighbors. We heard someone pounding on a drum set and decided it must be a kid who dreamed of a rock and roll fame. One of our neighbors always left all of their doors wide open, day and night, and we worried something bad could easily happen to them. We were curious about the flags our neighbors flew, what they thought about, and how they spent their days.
We also saw a lot of suburban wildlife on our walks–coyotes, possums, skunks, racoons, herons, hummingbirds–and started paying more attention to the types of trees and plant life. Most of this ended up in my second novel “Those People Behind Us,” releasing on 10/10/2023.
Post pandemic we’ve gone back to the gym, but we still work out in our garage every other day, and I’m still walking the streets of my neighborhood, for inspiration and exercise.
Another habit I’ve carried over from the pandemic is Sheri Cruise’s online yoga classes. I’ve taken yoga through Jerry and Sheri Cruise for years at the adult school in Huntington Beach. Jerry’s back to teaching in person classes but Sheri has kept up the online version, for which I am very grateful. Being able to take the class when it’s convenient for me was very helpful when I was trying to be my dad’s caregiver. I say “trying” because my dad was fiercely independent up to the very end of his 100- and one-half years of life.
Another benefit is that my roommate Riley can join me.
Sheri and Jerry are Iyengar certified yoga teachers. Iyengar was considered one of the foremost yoga teachers in the world and was the author of many books on yoga practice and philosophy including Light on Yoga. Iyenger yoga focuses on correct alignment of the body, breathing, physical stamina and flexibility, making use of straps, blocks, and other props as aids in achieving the postures.
Sheri’s online classes are structured, thoughtful and creative. Each session begins with a nitric oxide release routine using weights. Each week of the month focuses on specific poses (standing, forward bends, back bends, and restorative as per the Iyenger method. Sheri offers three classes a week and I usually make two of them. Send her an email sllcdesigns@yahoo.com to find out more about her classes.
I’ve been getting regular massages since my early twenties. I even worked as a massage therapist when I was saving money for my first European adventure, but that’s another story. I met Alice Toth more than twenty-five years ago and have been the lucky beneficiary of her massages every three weeks since.
Back in 2016, I booked an appointment with Alice at the Skin Spot in Huntington Beach for my 92-year-old mother as a Mother’s Day gift. My mother never had a massage before. She grew up in the Great Depression to believe that spending money on yourself was very frivolous. She loved the massage though.
Alice describes her style of massage as “therapeutic Swedish.” She uses enough pressure that I feel like my muscles are being worked but not pummeled. Alice is also a level three Usui Reiki practitioner and incorporates Reiki techniques into every massage. Reiki is a Japanese energy technique created by Dr. Mikao Usui in the early 20th century. It can relieve pain, anxiety, fatigue and depression and most definitely enhances a feeling of well-being.
When I manage to pry myself off of Alice’s massage table I feel both relaxed and energized.
Alice is currently accepting new female clients. Email her at alicemtoth@gmail.com
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m an award-winning novelist who writes Southern California stories at a desk in Huntington Beach. I love hearing from readers and talking to book clubs, in person if possible or online. Riley, my 15-pound Flame Point Siamese roommate/manager of marketing might even make an online appearance if he’s in the mood.
My debut novel “The Lockhart Women” was published in June of 2021 and won multiple awards including the 2022 Indie Author Project Award for California Adult Fiction, the 2022 Willa Literary Award Finalist in Multiform Fiction, the 2021 First Place Award in the Next Generation Indies for First Fiction, the 2022 Finalist for the Screencraft Cinematic Book Award, and the 2021 Finalist in the American Book Awards in Women’s Fiction.
My poems and short fiction have appeared in publications such as TAB Journal, 166 Palms, Sonora Review, and The Ear. 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. I had a long career with the postal service, which might be genetic—both my grandfathers were railway mail clerks. 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 currently serve on the advisory boards of Citric Acid, An Orange County Literary Arts Quarterly, and LibroMobile, An Arts Cooperative and Bookstore in Santa Ana, California. I’m also a member of the California Writer’s Guild of Orange County, Women Writing the West, Women Who Submit, and Women for Orange County.
I’m excited to have a new book coming out on October 10, 2023. “Those People Behind Us” is set in the summer of 2017 in the fictional city of Wellington Beach, California, a suburban coastal town increasingly divided by politics, protests, and escalating housing prices. These divisions change the lives of five neighbors as they search for home and community in a neighborhood where no one can agree who belongs. It’s available for preorder wherever you like to buy books. My favorite place is LibroMobile in Santa Ana, California.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three qualities that have impacted my author journey.
Work ethic. I’m a firm believer of keeping my butt in the chair. I try to touch my work every day, even if it’s just free writing words that may never go anywhere. You can’t edit a blank page after all, and at least I’ll have something to chip away on tomorrow.
The Hulu television series, “The Bear,” is a terrific lesson in the importance of a strong work ethic. Author Shelley Blanton Stroud watched the “Forks” episode of the series recently and wrote recently in her newsletter that she was reminded that “you only learn by doing the work regularly. Show up on time and polish and stack every fork until you automatically polish and stack forks right.”
Persistence It’s important to finish things, as author Neil Gaiman advises. “Write a lot but more importantly finish what you write.” It took me seven years to finish my debut novel “The Lockhart Women” and two more years to get it published. Many authors give up much earlier in the process. I was proud of the story and wanted it out in the world so I kept pushing. I’m so glad that I did.
Generosity I’ve always shown up to support other writers, even before I was published myself because I love books, authors, writing groups, writing classes, bookstores and libraries. It’s selfish really because I always learn something new. But I’ve found that other authors, bookstore owners, writing teachers, and librarians are grateful when you show up for them. Consequently, they reciprocate. So many people have been so generous with me by writing reviews, showing up at my events, interviewing me on podcasts, endorsing my work, asking me to endorse theirs.
Create a writing community by joining a writing group. Keep learning. Shop at independent bookstores. Support your local library.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
George Saunders is the author of twelve books, including “Lincoln in the Bardo,” which won the 2017 Man Booker Prize for best work of fiction in English. I especially recommend his “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain” to writers and readers. Saunders dissects short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, and helps us understand why they work and more importantly how our minds work when we’re reading.
Saunders explains (and I’m paraphrasing) that a sentence sets up an expectation and creates a thought bubble above the reader’s head. What’s this story about? What happens next? Do I care? Do I want to find out? If the next sentences don’t respond to the reader’s expectations, to whatever is in her thought bubble, she loses interest. If the next sentences respond too literally to the reader’s expectation, she decides the story is too predictable and throws the book across the room. Sauders includes exercises and writing prompts that are extremely helpful throughout the book. It’s an MFA in Creative Writing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://marycamarillo.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marycamel13/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marypcamarillo
Image Credits
Photo of beach is by Alice Toth. All other photos are by Mary Camarillo
