Mary Camarillo

Mary Camarillo’s debut novel “The Lockhart Women” was published on June 1, 2021 by She Writes Press. It recently won First Place in the 2021 Next Generation Indie Awards for First Novel. Her prose and poems have appeared in publications such as “The Sonora Review,” “166 Palms,” the “Tab Journal,” and “The Ear.” She lives in Huntington Beach, California with her husband who plays ukulele and their terrorist cat Riley.

Twitter: @marycamelmary

Instagram: @marycamel13

Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?

Although I don’t listen to music while I write because I’m too busy talking to myself, I love all genres of music, especially live. Los Lobos is my all-time favorite band. In my opinion, no one tells a story like singer/songwriter John Prine. He accomplished so much with simple chords and compelling lyrics. His death from COVID-19 was a tremendous loss to American culture.

I’m also a fan of Texas raconteur Ray Wylie Hubbard and used the last lines of his song, “Mother Blues,” as the epigraph to my novel, The Lockhart Women. The final realization at the end of the song is that “on the days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, well, I have really good days.” The relationship between gratitude and expectations is a lesson my Lockhart women struggle to learn.

What period of history do you wish you knew more about?

I wish I knew more about the history of the Fairfield area north of Columbia, South Carolina right after the Civil War ended. My family is from that part of the world and the true stories of that time period did not get passed down to my generation. I regret not asking my mother and grandparents more questions. Recent research has shown that my mother’s ancestors owned 150 slaves and several plantation homes but the stories I was told of my ancestors was that they were simply poor farmers with no property. I need to figure out why these stories are so different.

What’s your favorite comic strip or graphic novel?

I’m a lifelong Los Angeles Times newspaper subscriber and reach eagerly for the comic section of the paper every morning. My favorite is Bizarro, created by Dan Piroro and Wayne Honath. I love their quirky, exaggerated look at everyday life, depicting scenes that are equally bizarre and yet completely ordinary and believable. Their commentary on today’s world of wasteful consumerism, corporate greed, environmental decimation, and oblivious citizens is spot on.

During the endless days of the pandemic my husband and I finally became aware of the Secret Symbols hidden in Bizarro’s artwork. There are thirteen symbols altogether and the number in that day’s strip is right next to the signature. We enjoy searching for them so much that sometimes we almost forget to read the strip.  

Do you collect anything? If so, what, why, and for how long?

I love the celebration of Dios de Los Muertos and for more than thirty years, I’ve collected skeletons from all over the world. I admire the idea of celebrating death instead of being afraid of it. Thanks to marriage, I have a Spanish surname, but these traditions are not my own and I realize how important it is to be respectful of them.

Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?

As a woman seeking career advancement in the 1970’s, I was well aware of a newly identified psychological pattern called imposter syndrome, incorrectly defined in those days as specific to women in management. I diagnosed myself with the syndrome and tried the suggested remedies (assertiveness training, dressing for success, chanting a list of my accomplishments in front of a mirror.) I believed that I needed to “fix myself” so I could stop feeling like I didn’t belong in the room.

The problem with the imposter syndrome diagnosis is that it never considered that biases against race, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, social status, or appearance were also at play or that having these kind of outsider perspectives were actually an advantage. Even now, as a sixty-nine-year-old debut novelist, I can easily convince myself I don’t belong in the literary world. I don’t have an MFA in Creative Writing, a degree in English or a teaching credential. But I’ve decided to stop telling myself I’m a fraud. I’m not suffering from a syndrome either and I don’t need “fixing.” I don’t have time for that. I have another novel to finish.