“I want each of the books to deal with an issue that concerns people,” she says. “I think if I try to write too many, they’ll end up just being fluff. And I don’t want to write fluff.”
There will be four books altogether in the Covington series. The third one will be out next spring.
“I don’t know what the title will be.The publisher wants it to have Covington in it, so I’m letting them come up with something,” says Medlicott. “Some battles are worth fighting and some aren’t.”
How did she get started writing at all?
“I started writing in 1989, 1990,” she says. “The first book I had published was nonfiction, “Celibate Wives: Breaking the Silence.”
Medlicott was on all the talk shows that were around at the time, but says that unfortunately, the publisher didn’t have a single book in the bookstores. “The book didn’t do that well,” she says, “but I just kept writing.”
“Before that when I was in the Virgin Islands I was the director of Beautification. I learned on the job. And I learned that I was very goal orientated. When we moved to Boca Raton, Fla., and I was working for my M.S. in counseling I realized it wasn’t something I was going to be happy doing. When you’re planting something you can see results. When you’re writing, there’s a book at the end. When you’re counseling, you never know…”
Why did she choose to write about the ladies of Covington?
“I really had no intention of writing the first book to begin with. I already had something else I was writing, that I was about half way through and editing when the Covington story came to me in the bathtub. The ladies showed up there. After a few nights, I decided to go ahead and jot some notes down and it just flowed. I had no plot, no idea what was going to happen. It was almost as if I channeled it.”
However, Medlicott does say that she got some ideas for it when living in Boca Raton.
“I helped develop lifetime learning classes for a Senior Center there. I found, as we provided transportation for some of the students, that there were a lot of people who had come to Florida to retire. And there were a lot of people living in little houses all by themselves,” she says. “I realized that there were probably even more people who couldn’t afford to retire in Florida who were living in little houses all by themselves.
“It seems to me that it’s much harder to make friends as you get older. When you’re younger, you have children and their school and other activities put you together with other parents. When you get older you’re not put together with other people unless you participate in an activity. It seems that people aren’t as willing to reach out as they used to be. To make friends you need to belong to a church and attend church functions or get involved with an organization. Something that puts you together with other people.”
When asked if the characters in her novels are based on herself or anyone she knows, Medlicott says, “I’m 68 years old. I’ve met a lot of people. So, yes, the ladies are probably based in part on different people I’ve met. My mother-in-law is the model for Hannah’s strength. My mother-in-law was an amazing woman.
“ For the most part though, my characters aren’t based on any one person. I have aspects of each of the women. Amelia has my interest in photography, like Hannah I enjoy gardening, and, I guess, Grace shows that I’m a good listener. I’m certainly not a cook like she is. The recipes that are in the book do not come from me. Although I did add the different colored layers to the recipe for Vienna Cake because that’s the way it’s popular in the Virgin Islands.”
Is there any chance of the books becoming a movie?
“Yes. Lifetime has optioned it. They’ve prepared a treatment, but no screenplay,” she says. “And I just found out from my agent that Hallmark is interested. Lifetime’s option is up in October and if Hallmark doesn’t buy it from them before then, they might pick it up then.”
Does she plan on making the talk show rounds again?
“I don’t see my books becoming Oprah books. They’re not as heavy and tragic as most of the stuff she picks,” she says. “I think that’s why people like the ladies. They’re not fluffy, but they’re not depressing. It’s nice to see women, especially older women, supporting each other as they do in these books.
“ And a lot of other people must feel that way too. After the first book I would get letters from people who loved the book with just my name and Barnardsville, N.C., where I live, on them. And I would get them, no post office box, no zip code. I guess that’s because this is a small town. I suppose I’ll be getting e-mails this time. The letters were nice because I could keep them.”
Lisa Dees is a freelance writer from Aberdeen who is also a storyteller for the Moore County Public Libraries.
