Interview with Author Carmen Peone

Interview with Author Carmen Peone

Get to know the award-winning author Carmen Peone. She lives with her tribal husband, Joe, on the Colville Confederated Indian Reservation in Northeast, Washington. Carmen gathers cultural knowledge from family and community members. She studied language, various cultural traditions, and legends under the late Marguerite Ensminger. Carmen is a horse and photography enthusiast.

Tell readers a few things about yourself.

I am a horse fanatic. If I’m not in front of a computer, I’m on a horse. I own two. Every morning, I read one of Sarah Young’s devotionals, right now it happens to be Jesus Always. I read my Bible and wake my brain with a haiku and photo. Normally, the photos include my book setting or animal characters. But, once in a while it is one of my nine grandchildren.

Did you always want to write?

I did not always want to write nor did I always want to read! I have a degree in Abnormal Psychology from Eastern Washington University. After working in the local reservation school district, learning the language, and the Colville Reservation culture (my husband is a tribal member) a young adult story lingered until I wrote it.

Books by Carmen Peone

What book or article are you currently working on or just released?

My first young adult trilogy, True to Heart, was published. It dropped when my publisher went out of business, and over this past couple of years re-written. The first two novels, Change of Heart and Heart of Courage, have been re-released. Book 3, Heart of Passion, will release this October.

Here is a blurb: Spupaleena’s equine journey lingers as the Sinyekst teen continues to fight for her passion to raise and train racehorses. Yet, she takes her dream a step further, hoping to breed her stallions to the Hudson’s Bay Company Fort Colville’s mares and sell a few foals along the way.

Her father persists to thrust her toward expected cultural behaviors. But she has other plans. And they do not include a husband. Nor a fellow racer bent on making sure she does not race, no matter the cost.

Native American Flute Music

Do you write in silence or with background noise/music?

I write with both but mostly quiet music. When I edit, it is with Native American flute music. All of my books so far have had Native American main characters or their cultural influence.

What do you want your readers to take away from your books/writing?

I want readers to know they can dream, there is always hope in God, good friends are treasures, and to fight for what they believe in.

Where do you get your inspiration to write?

My inspiration comes from the three decades I have lived on the Colville Reservation, the rich culture and traditions, both youth and elders, and the land God created for my stories’ settings.

For young writers…

Did you dream of being a writer/author when you were young?

Not at all! I wanted to be a mama and a horse trainer. Both dreams came true. I have three sons of my own and a step-son, and I’ve trained my own horses. Once my kids were in school, I worked at the same K-12 reservation school substitute teaching and coordinating an after school program. I did take a creative writing course in college and when I decided to write, in my mid-thirties, I enrolled in a Writer’s Digest course on fiction writing and have spent many hours with my nose in books on craft and at writer’s conferences, working with talented writers and editors.

What advice do you have for young writers?

Write, write, and write. Know in your heart you are writing and don’t let anyone tell you differently. Believe in your gift and find another who believes in you as well. Get in a good writer/critique group and again, keep writing. If you are stuck, research and write what you learn. Get into a character or scene and write what you see, hear, smell, touch, and touch. How does your character react to those senses? Write and rewrite until you get published. It will happen. Believe.

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