Featured Member Interview – Valerie Saul

A voracious reader, Valerie Saul grew frustrated with the way women her age were portrayed in fiction. Mature women can be more than caregivers, grandmothers, and book club aficionados. They can also ride motorcycles, use chain saws, rescue drowning people, and chase bad guys on occasion. Her debut novel, The Badass Widows, is about women doing all those things while also dealing with love and loss.

In your bio, you mentioned that you were tired of the way older women were depicted in media and fiction. How do you challenge the domestic older woman stereotype in your work?

(VS): I’ve shown 4 women from different backgrounds being daring and bold with their life choices. They are kind and helpful like the stereotype, but also they chase bad guys, go back to school, found companies, race boats and chop down trees.

What books, movies or other media inspired you when writing this book? Do you have any recommendations for books with badass older women? 

(VS): There are lots of good ones right now; I think it’s a trend. There is Matlock on CBS starring Kathy Bates, The Thursday Murder Club, the best selling book by Richard Osman which is being made into a Netflix movie with some huge stars. Check it out here!

But probably my favorite is a more obscure book I love, Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn.

Did you face any challenges while working on your story?

(VS): No more than most people do. I started writing this thinking it would be a fun romp about older women. But then COVID happened, my mom passed, then her husband passed… and pretty soon the book was also about grief and how we deal with it in different ways. So I guess it became a more thoughtful book along the way.

What does your writing process look like? 

(VS): I guess I am a semi-plotter. I make a vague outline. Having that plan gives me confidence to keep going when it gets difficult but then I ignore and revise it as I go along.

How does your background in psychology influence your work? 

(VS): Studying psychology helps me understand people who are different than I am. Unless you are writing memoir/autobiography, you have to understand people before you can write good characters, right?

What was your favorite moment during the writing of The Badass Widows? 

(VS): I wouldn’t know how to pick one moment. I realize now that I wrote it as escape and as therapy. The last few years have probably taught a lot of us not to take anything for granted. There were just lots of moments with my husband and family that were extra sweet because I had the time and the freedom to write what was in my heart.

Valerie Saul has a psychology degree from Stanford, a master’s degree in special education, and a doctorate in audiology. She has been a clinician, a college professor, and a cochlear implant representative in four countries. Valerie now lives just north of San Francisco with her husband and two rowdy golden retrievers.