Interview with Oprah Pick Author Tawni O'Dell by Jennifer Minar

I'm excited to bring you this interview with author Tawni O'Dell, whose 2001 debut novel Back Roads (Viking) not only garnered glowing reviews from the likes of Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and the Chicago Tribune, but also won a coveted spot in Oprah Winfrey's world-renowned book club.

In this interview, O'Dell discusses her novel, Back Roads, and her soon-to-be-released (will keep you updated) second book, Coal Run. She also shares how she became a writer and her favorite part of being one.

Why did you decide to become a writer?

I don't think that I ever decided to become a writer. For as long as I can remember, I've always just been one whether I wanted to be one or not (and believe me, there have been many times when I've been stuck on the same page for five hours or receiving yet another rejection letter that I did not want to be a writer.)

I started writing stories when I was a child. I was--and still am--an obsessive reader with an overactive imagination and a knack for storytelling. Putting my own ideas and characters down on paper was a very natural thing for me to do, and I've always done it even when I had little or no hope of actually having anything published. It's something I need to do.

How and when did you get your big break?

I had written five novels over a period of ten years before I wrote Back Roads, and was finally published in January, 2000. I had two big breaks in my career. The first one is one I made for myself. After years of writing what I thought readers would want to read about, I decided to write what I wanted to write about which is the area where I grew up and the people I grew up with. I had avoided writing about it because, frankly, I didn't think anyone would want to read about dying Pennsylvania coal towns and the people struggling to survive there. But there's an old adage for writers and it says: write what you know. There are no better words of advice for a writer. Once I wrote what I knew, I captured some intangible magic that my other books didn't have, and I went from receiving dozens of rejections letters to having a dozen publishing houses bid on my book.

My other big break came one afternoon, about two months after Back Roads had been published, when Oprah Winfrey called me and told me she would like to make my book an Oprah Book Club pick. The book became an immediate bestseller as soon as it was announced on her show. I met Oprah and was on her show. It's a thrill I will never forget.

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