New Orleans Q&A With Pauline

Why have I written so many stories about New Orleans?

I found this question in a review for one of my books and thought it was an interesting one. (And I wondered why they cared. Lots of authors write books set in New Orleans, but I digress. The reader wanted to know why *I* write books set in New Orleans.)

If you look at my roots, it is a bit odd. I was born and raised in Wyoming (and we’ve moved back there after 30 years of wandering around down South). 

So here’s the short version:

Hubs and I moved to Texas when the hubs got his first job. We lived there for five years, then were transferred to…New Orleans. 

Are you starting to see an answer incoming?

I won’t lie to you. That was a lot of change for a Wyoming gal. All I knew about New Orleans was from the movie The Big Easy and from hurricane coverage. 

So this was 1985 and we arrived in some disarray because the hubs had had hip surgery and I’d just had a baby. 

Our first meal was at Taco Bell.

Yes, that is embarrassing. 

The next morning we got up and drove around. We found our way to the Garden District and our favorite pastry place (alas, it is gone forever, sob). We found amazing food. We found music and alien—but enticing—smells in the French Quarter. We found lovely people in a beautiful (though hot and muggy) city. We found…magic. 

We lived there for 18 years. 

So…

I wrote my first book in New Orleans. No, it wasn’t set in New Orleans. It took me a long time to decide I could write about New Orleans because I wasn’t an insider. I wrote some more books set in a variety of places. 

I credit New Orleans and it’s creative ambiance with unleashing my inner writer. 

We were transferred before Katrina, so we didn’t have to see her broken, but we always knew she’d be back and she is. As always was the case, New Orleans was changed by what happened, but her essential core remains: mysterious, delicious, delightful, full of charm. 

And yes, still hot and muggy.

With lots of creepy crawlies. Haha

So, I try to “visit” once a year with my Big Uneasy series. 2020 has kind of kicked my trash, so we’ll see how things shake out going forward, but I’ll always be glad I got to experience New Orleans, and that I get to relive those experiences in The Big Uneasy series. 

Do you have any other questions for me? I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of talking to myself. Lol

Perilously yours,

Pauline