LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE: You grew up in a military family and lived in Guam and France, as well as several Southern locales. What was that experience like, and how do you think it influenced your writing?

KIMBERLY WILLIS HOLT: When I was young I didn’t like moving and having to make new friends, but I appreciate my military childhood now. Growing up I had to learn to interact with all kinds of people in many different situations. Over the years I’ve met a lot of folks, young and old, who are resilient because of their military childhood.

Also I think I have compassion for others because I knew what it was like to be a new kid under the judgment microscope. Compassion and acceptance are reoccurring themes throughout most of my books.

When did you first start writing stories?

June 15, 1994. I didn’t have a computer but I sat at a table on my screened porch and wrote by hand. I remember that date because I looked at the calendar and made a commitment to finally go after my dream.

What was your first big break as a writer, and how did it come about?

In the summer of 1994, I took a two-week fiction workshop at West Texas A&M. While there I wrote a short story that was published by the Concho River Review. I learned a lot in those two weeks from my instructors Jerry Craven and Clay Reynolds. The following summer I took the workshop again; this time Bob Flynn taught with Craven. I learned a lot then too. And another short story that I wrote there ended up being published in the Southern Humanities Review. While attending there, a writer named Glen Alyn came for a one-day workshop. He taught us how readers tend to either hear what they read or see what they read, but writers had to write for both. That statement was huge. It changed the way I wrote because I wasn't using enough visual details.

Your coming-of-age novels play out against a backdrop of some very contemporary topics such as mental challenges, obesity, suicide, adults in prison, bullying, and alcoholism—among others. You have said that the coming-of-age novel is the literary form you are most committed to. Why are you so drawn to this kind of story?

I will always remember what it was like being twelve. For whatever reason, I still have a connection with my young emotional life. I love exploring that moment when a young person has to make an adult decision. How they answer changes their life forever.

Your most recent novel is Dear Hank Williams. For our readers not familiar with the story, will you tell them about it?

Tate B. Ellerbee is dealing with a tough hand of cards. She’s in denial about it, though, because she sees herself as an optimist. Through a school assignment, she has to pick a pen pal. She chooses Hank Williams (Sr.) because she's become a fan of his while listening to him on the radio. Her letters to him eventually reveal what is going on in her life. The story is set in the later 1940s.

In your opinion, when does a person comes of age? Has it changed over the years? Are children “growing up faster”?

I don’t believe that can be pinpointed to one particular age. Sadly, I do think that some children have to make tough decisions too early. And at the other end of the spectrum, there are thirty-year-olds who have never had to make an adult decision.

Two of your books, My Louisiana Sky and When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, were made into movies. What was that process like?

Well, I'm thrilled that I’ve had those opportunities because movies can bring readers to books. When I was eleven I saw Jane Eyre with George C. Scott as Mr. Rochester. I couldn’t wait to check the book out of the base library. There were many stories that I first saw as movies and then read the books. Even today I’ll do that. As a writer, it’s a strange experience to have your story made into a movie because it can change dramatically. In the end, they’re my books and their movies.

How has publishing changed since your first book was published?

When I sold my first book, there wasn’t much going on online. I put my first book tour together and funded it myself. I drove my old Toyota through east Texas and Louisiana, going on the road to bookstores and meeting people, speaking at libraries along the way. I think that first book did well partly because of the people I met on that tour, people I stood belly to belly with. Now days, the Internet is a place you seemed to have to be present. I’m not so good at that. I do what I’m willing and enjoy doing. But in my mind, nothing still beats standing belly to belly.

What’s next for Kimberly Willis Holt?

My next book is middle-grade novel called Blooming at the Texas Sunrise Motel. The setting is a Texas town based on Waxahachie. The pub date is March 28, 2017.

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