WNBA-SF member Mary Anderson Parks is the author of They Called Me Bunny (November 2006, Livingston Press). Mary’s novel follows the ingenious amateur sleuthing of Bunny who at age 12 dyes her hair to look more like her adoptive parents and at age 16 sets out to find her biological mother and father, certain that she was stolen from them.

Mary was born in Ohio on Dec. 13, 1938. When she was 6, her family moved to San Francisco and she became a city girl - only returning to Ohio for summers. She married at 19, while majoring in English at U.C. Berkeley. Living in Berkeley from 1956-66, Mary says, was an amazing, life-changing experience.

When their daughters were 5 and 10, Mary and her family moved to Toulouse, France for two years, where her husband did physics research.  Here, she studied French as the only American in a school with students from 33 countries. The next family move was to Seattle, where Mary finished college and then went to law school. She worked as an attorney for the Puyallup Indian Nation, the Seattle Indian Center, and in her last years as a lawyer, the foster care and adoption program of United Indians of All Tribes Foundation.

The Indian community taught Mary a lot about love, survival, and humor - as did her husband, who is Korean and Chinese and was born and raised in Shanghai. Currently, Mary and her family reside in Berkeley.

When did you start writing?

I started writing at the age of eight. I hoped to grow up to be a writer, maybe because I loved reading so much. However, I got distracted from writing between the ages of about 20 to 50. Life intervened!

Why did you choose your particular genre?

I was in a short story writing class in 1992 when the teacher, Robert Ray [author of "The Weekend Novelist"], suddenly had us start a novel, using his "five key scenes" method. I guess he was testing it out. I found that I loved the novel form. It gives you much more time to develop characters in depth, to really go inside them. Also, novels are what I like to read, and one good piece of advice I've heard is to write what you like to read.

What inspired you to choose your subject matter?

The inspiration for my two published novels came mostly from my work with Native American people. That and being in an interracial marriage for close to fifty years has given me some understanding of other cultures, and passionate feelings about racism. I think the most exciting thing about writing is seeing what comes up, especially when using Natalie Goldberg's "keep your hand moving" method.

How difficult/easy has your experience been as a published author?

The hard part was getting published. (And then getting people to notice that the book is there!) I sent a query letter and two-page synopsis to more than 150 publishers before getting an acceptance for my first book, The Circle Leads Home. With the second book, I pared the list down to about 80, because I learned from the rejection slips the first time around which publishers do only non-fiction, deal only with agents, specialize in horror stories, or whatever.

What advice would you give other aspiring authors?

Not to give up! Persistence plays a big part in writing and also in getting published and marketing your work. Try letting your characters talk to you. Become the character and say aloud whatever comes up. It was Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones that got me writing again. I recommend it.

Anything else you would like to share with the WNBA?

I am very grateful for the support we as members give one another.

Are you a WNBA-SF member and published author? Would you like to share your story with WNBA-SF? Contact newsletter editor Sara Cassella about being featured in the Member Profile section of the BookWorm.