Author Chat with Donna Mumma on Her Debut Novel, Fresh Scars
Donna Mumma is a fellow Floridian and writer whom I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with over the years through the Florida Christian Writer’s Conference. When I learned her debut novel was releasing, I wanted to learn more about this southern fiction story advance readers are raving about. Please join me in welcoming Donna to the blog as she shares about Fresh Scars.
Q: Welcome, Donna! What is one random fact about yourself that not many people know?
I love a good monster movie, especially those really great old B-movies that were made in black and white. I like modern monster flicks as well, but only if they are long on campiness and short on the blood and gore.
Q: I’m excited to congratulate you on your debut novel. Would you share with readers a little about your writing journey that led up to this release?
My writing journey started when I was eight and wrote a very short story about a girl in a hurricane. My mother had a set of Reader’s Digest condensed versions of the classics and I read those growing up which gave me a very active imagination. I’ve always loved a good action/adventure story and started out writing a science fiction book. It never found a place in the market, so I shelved it. The idea for Fresh Scars came, but it intimidated me because I felt I wasn’t experienced enough to write such an emotional story. Thankfully God placed people in my writing life who had enough patience to teach me what I needed to know. It took a long time, but I’m so grateful for the experience. I still love a good sci-fi story, but I’ve found my place in Southern Fiction.
Q: What message do you hope readers will take away from this story?
We all have scars. Sometimes God puts us in situations that make us face the pain from those scars so we can move on to a more hopeful future. And he is there with us every step of the way.
Q: I like that your premise challenges the cliché that “time heals all wounds.” Without any spoilers, what truth does your story present about healing?
Sometimes healing is more about learning to live with our scars and making peace with how we got them through forgiveness.
Q: Your story takes place in a fictitious setting called Emerson, Florida. I know we’re both “Florida girls,” so I’m curious how your personal experience as a Florida resident shaped your story.
I was born and raised in Sumter County, just like my main characters. Emerson is a hodge-podge of the small town we lived close to and the city where I went to high school. I mixed a little of what I remembered from my childhood with how the area is changing and growing today, which is a large part of being a Floridian. There is always new growth happening somewhere. I didn’t start out with my story set in my home county, but so much of what I was writing came from childhood memories. Alligators, swimming holes, huge mosquitoes, thunderstorms, hair-do melting humidity, and church pews that smelled like Lemon Pledge are all things that I lived growing up. I grew up on a farm, ran barefoot through grass, worked in the summer crops for other local farmers to earn money, and watched out for snakes, just like the characters in my book. Florida is much more than just Disney World and the beaches. I wanted to showcase what rural Florida was like, where folks still speak with a southern drawl, love a good bar-b-que place, and don’t want things to change too fast. As one character learns in the book, no place is perfect, but all of them have some beauty about them that makes them worth remembering. I’ve not been back there for many years, but until I wrote Fresh Scars, I didn’t realize how deep my roots in Sumter County still run.
Q: How can readers stay in touch with you?
They can find me on Facebook. I tend to hang out there the most these days. I also have an email list and newsletter they can join by visiting my website (www.donnamumma.me).
Q: Can you hint about what next project you have in the works?
I have a couple of book ideas in the que. One is a follow-up story to Fresh Scars, tentatively titled Finding Closure, that involves a feuding family with deep, dark secrets who are forced to reunite on New Year’s Eve. The other, tentatively called Alligator Dreams, is about a woman who returns home for her wealthy grandfather’s funeral and is kidnapped by her half-brother in a scheme to gain the family fortune for himself.
About the Author
Donna Mumma perfected storytelling in her first grade classroom, spinning tales exciting enough to settle a roomful of antsy six-year-olds. She is an award winning author, and loves to write about flawed people who find a way to overcome and thrive. A Florida native, she now lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, spending time with her husband, adult children, and their energetic collie, Duke.
About Fresh Scars
Time heals all wounds . . . or does it?
Asia Butler and her sister, Ivy Butler Morelli, have not spoken in fifteen years. As children, they endured brutal emotional abuse from their mother, Veronica, and want only to forget the past . . . and each other.
But the past comes calling when they each receive a letter from Veronica’s attorney promising much needed cash if they will fulfill her dying wish and consent to cleaning out their childhood home. Asia and Ivy reluctantly return to their hometown of Emerson, Florida, only to discover the house is a hoarder’s nightmare filled with strange mementos and clues hinting that they were not the only victims of Veronica’s sadistic nature. Can this new pain be the path to their healing? Will they be able to choose forgiveness over resentment?
