Calling Home by Janna McMahan Commentary by Mimi Maddock Mimi @TheColumbiaStar.com

Janna McMahan

I met Janna McMahan in a writing group in the early 90s. She was passionate and serious about the craft of writing. Now her dream of being an author has come true with Calling Home, which, when I last talked to her, is in its third printing.

Janna, who has a masters degree in mass communications from USC, knows writing is hard work and competitive. She has been in writing groups, writing workshops, writing conferences, talked to writers, and read voraciously to learn the craft. To have a book published, a writer has to be accepted by an agent who thinks the manuscript is worth selling to a publisher. If the publisher accepts the manuscript, then there is more and more rewriting.

Janna knows the skill of rewriting. She has won several awards; some of which are the Imaginative Writing Award from the Kentucky Writing Conference, the Harriett Arrow Award from the Appalachian Writers Association, the SC Fiction Project, and the Piccolo Spoleto Fiction Open.

I read Calling Home in one night. I could not put it down. It is set in the 70s in a rural community. The main character, Shannon, is an intelligent young woman who feels trapped in a family torn apart. Janna captured the mood of the times, the drug fueled days and the awakening of the women's rights movement. She also brought the characters to life. I knew them. I empathized with them. And when I finished the book, I missed them. This is the gift of a true writer.

Janna says the question she is asked most often is where she got the ideas for her characters, especially from people in her hometown in Kentucky. Is she Shannon? Does she have a brother? Did her father leave her mother for another woman?

Janna says her characters are ficticious coming from all parts of her experiences and the people she has come in contact with over the years.

Janna's contract with Kensington Publishing requires her to author at least two books for them. Janna has been in public relations for 20 years. She is presently the media relations director and head writer for Post No Bills. She is the wife of Mark Cotterill and the mother of Madison. While she is working, writing, and being a wife and mother, she is also doing interviews and book signings. The book's marketing is up to her.

I have great respect for Janna's persistance and her talent. As a fan of Calling Home, I am looking forward to her next book.