[♪♪♪] -♪ Every day every day Ev ery day every day every day ♪ ♪ Every day I write the book ♪ [♪♪♪] -Welcome.

I'm Rose Martin, and we are Write Around The Corner in Ferrum, Virginia, with Willa Reece.

Now, this is Willa's debut novel as Willa Reece, but don't worry, we're going to talk about that a little bit later.

The book, Wildwood Whispers , is a heartwarming tale of hope, fate, and folk magic in a sleepy Appalachian mountain town.

After the death of her very best friend Sarah, Mel wants to fulfill her promise and takes the ashes back home to Morgan's Gap.

What she discovers there is the mystical wildwood.

Willa, welcome to Write Around The Corner .

-Thank you.

-Well, and this is just the perfect location because the book being in the woods and your beautiful cabin, it just feels so right next to this stove, so.

-It definitely inspired the book.

-It did it?

Oh, well, let's talk about you.

So, growing up, you were a book person always, right, loving to read.?

-Always.

Always.

I have been fascinated with storytelling since I was a tiny little girl because it's in this area, the Appalachian storytelling.

I mean, all of us grew up with stories on the porch.

And so, I think that it's just in my blood.

-Was that something you did as a young girl with your family, your grandma and your mom?

Was that just part of the regular routine?

-Absolutely.

We would break beans on the porch with the porch swing, and everyone had stories.

And it was a competition who had the best stories, and you never knew how tall the tale was - how far removed it was from reality.

And so, I definitely think it's, like I said, in my book.

-How about your sons now?

You have three boys, right?

Two are twins.

-Yes, I have three boys.

-And I read that they're all scientists.

-They are all scientists.

I have twins that are getting ready to graduate from Bridgewater College, one with a chemistry degree and one with a physics degree.

And right now, they're shopping for grad schools.

And my oldest is a fisheries biologist for the state of North Carolina, so.

-No writers?

-No writers.

As a matter of fact, they hate writing.

Although there's a lot of writing with science, but it's a little bit different than the fantasy that I do.

-Hm-mm.

Well, and I know you love Animal Rescue.

We might get in a performance by Gilbert.

Gilbert might even show up at some point of time during the show.

But that's important to you, right?

-That's very important to me.

Animals are very important to me.

And I have two rescue dogs and I have three rescue cats, and I donate to Rescue, and I guess, you know, home is really important to me.

And I love giving creatures a home.

-Oh, that's sweet.

You know, I started this by teasing everyone that this is the book by Willa Reece, your debut novel as Willa Reece.

So, they might have heard about you through another genre.

And why don't you share that?

-Right.

I also write romance and paranormal romance and romance under Barbara J. Hancock.

So, I have written for Harlequin Publishing and Entangled Publishing.

I have audible titles.

And that's something I still do.

And I really enjoy it.

And, again, that's almost about finding the person you call home.

And so, it's all about home to me.

-That's interesting - "finding the person you call home" meaning you find out really who you are and what you're all about.

-Yes.

And also, who you're comfortable with and just that partnership.

And in Wildwood Whispers , it's Mel's desire to protect herself interferes with her connections with people and she has to learn to overcome that.

-Well, you love the supernatural and the mystical elements that tend to be woven in all of that.

Is that been something that you naturally have just always been drawn to?

-I've always been drawn to it.

I actually believe that there's more to this world than what we see.

I believe that there are people with a sixth sense.

And I think that's part of my Appalachian heritage too, because it seems like everyone had a granny or an aunt who had a feeling, you know, you'd get that phone call.

"Don't go to town today, I just don't feel good about that, or whatever."

And I think that that influenced, you know, my belief system in my life, and I think it definitely influences my writing, and also maybe I want to believe.

Maybe I want to believe in something more.

It's just interesting.

-Well, and the Appalachians storytellers, right, and you hear the stories of the healers, and the herbalist and all of that that went around.

-The Granny Doctors.

-Yes, the mountain folklore and all of that.

Did you grow up hearing those kinds of stories?

-I grew up hearing those kind of stories.

My mother had all the Foxfire books on the shelf that featured all of those kind of the home remedies and the homesteading and all of that.

I've always been fascinated with the ghost stories, and there's always ghost stories in the mountains and in the areas, and so, definitely grew up with that.

-Well, and part of it is also the respect for nature.

-Yes.

-You know, the respect for nature and the world we're living in and to make sure that, you know, we are almost reverent about making sure that we take care of the beautiful place here.

-Yeah.

And that is extremely important to me and my family.

I think that my children have been very influenced with that, and living here in the wildwoods, in this little cabin in the wildwood and growing up here, I think that the closer you are to nature, the more connected you are with it.

And I carried that idea through into Mel coming and moving to the wildwood.

-You had mentioned earlier about grannies and grandmas, and people have a sense of knowing.

In your own family, do you believe that that's been happening with your relatives and.?

-I definitely think - I've always said that my family has - we're a little bit psychic.

We joke about being a little bit psychic.

It's absolutely worthless.

It never really tells you anything.

-It's a great story.

-But it's great for stories and it's great for storytelling but I definitely think, especially the older people.

And sometimes what you perceive as a sixth sense might really just be wisdom learned from a long life.

I know at 80, my mom had a lot of wisdom to pass on to us.

And as I'm growing - I'm 50 now - as I'm growing, I feel like I'm becoming more wise so that when I'm speaking to a teenager or my children, maybe they think I know.

And it's not a sixth sense; it's just wisdom.

-Do you think there is a sixth sense, though?

-Oh, yes.

I definitely-- -I mean, with you, too?

-Oh, I don't know.

Like I said, it's not useful.

Sometimes I feel like, though, I feel like there is.

-And I wonder if that creativity and that sixth sense helps you to tap into the process of writing.

-I think it absolutely does.

I think all artists, all artists have a little more of a connection, a little more.

heightened senses about the world around them, and they connect to it and share it with their work, which is what I really celebrated in Wildwood Whispers , is the Appalachian artists and artisans and their connection.

And it's make-believe but it's not, because it's what I really believe in.

-Hm.

So, when you're thinking about the book, how long did it take you to get from that idea?

Because I understand you like wrote a little piece of this book and tucked it away for a long time and it didn't really come to fruition until maybe it was ready, or you were ready?

-Right.

I actually wrote the opening scene of Wildwood Whispers years before I wrote the novel.

And it was on a shelf in a notebook because I'm constantly writing and constantly saving.

And my agent called and was talking to me about wanting to see a women's fiction from me.

And at the time, we were thinking of something that wouldn't have magic in it - I can't do, I can't write without something of the other in it, something supernatural.

So, at first, I was trying to write just a straight thriller, and the supernatural sort of came to life around it.

But I took out that opening scene, and the book just went from there.

I write very quickly because I have hyper focus, and I will write for four or five hours and realize, oh, I need to drink water.

I need to stand up, I need to move around.

So, it's almost like obsession for me to get a story on the page once it is in my head.

So, but yeah, I wrote the first scene years before I wrote the book.

-I'm interested in that process, like it comes into your head as the scene.

And is it that one scene that has to totally get out and get on paper before you move on?

-Yes, I definitely think of stories scene by scene.

And when a book is coming together, when a book is coming together, I often will get a vivid scene before I plot or think of the overall novel.

It'll be - I need something to hang my hat on, and a good intense scene will do that.

-So then what do you do?

Do you have to keep that one scene there and then build the rest of the story around it, or?

-It's almost a subconscious thing.

I will write that one scene, you know, tuck it away, but it's never away.

It's always in my mind, and I just nibble and nibble at it until it - I always think of it as like an explosion where I see the whole book in my mind.

I'm not a pantser type of writer who doesn't know what's going to happen at the end as I'm writing through the novel.

I see the whole book in my head before I write it down.

There's something called a synopsis that's like an outline of a book and everyone complains about them - I love them.

I'm weird.

I'm strange because I see that in my head.

-It's not hard for you.

-It's not hard.

I see the whole book in my head and then I start writing.

It's usually scene, that awakens the whole book, and then I will write the book after the synopsis.

-And what about the editing?

What happens then?

-The editing is so fun.

I enjoy editing so much.

And I think I can attribute a lot of that to my agent is Lucienne Diver, and my editor at Redhook Orbit is Nivia Evans.

And they're so story-savvy, and they get so connected to your idea and so, you know, they'll flag little things, or they'll suggest little things and it just makes - your brain runs with it.

So, it's almost when you get to that point, after you've written the whole book, the editing is like a collaborative effort where they say, let's bring this out more or I'd like more of this or less of this, or where you're learning if you have conveyed to the reader what you intended to convey because it's all in your head and sometimes you might think you have conveyed something that you haven't.

So, editors help with that tremendously.

-And I loved it.

Carol and I both, we both really enjoyed the book.

-That's great.

-And the fact that you came up with such an interesting title for it, we'll talk about the fact that, you know, we actually feel like we're in the wildwood right here with you, right, in your own setting.

So, the characters - describe the characters to me.

Who are the main players-- -[Willa] Okay.

[Rose] --when we're talking about Wildwood Whispers ?

[Willa] So, Mel is a tough streetwise foster child from the city.

And she's my Jessica Jones character who is like a Marvel character people might be familiar with, who is very - she is a person protect-- she protects people more vulnerable than her.

So, with every character, I always think of a word, and "protection" is Mel's word.

She's protector.

She.

And so, but in order to do that, she is closed off, she is shut down, she is protecting herself as well as other people, and so she has to risk vulnerability and exposing her vulnerability when she goes to Morgan's Gap.

And then there is the Granny character, who is like the Ben Kenobi of the tale.

She's like the Yoda of the tale.

She, you know, she becomes a mentor to Mel and she's a healer.

And Mel learns from her.

She really begins that connection to the community of wise women on the mountain.

And it's really - I enjoyed so much writing that sisterhood of, there's different ages, different generations, and all of them working together and helping each other.

And it was so wonderful to give Mel that, as someone who'd never have it.

Sarah was also a foster child.

And she is the best friend who is like a sister to Mel.

She's the only "family" Mel ever had.

And it's her failure to protect Sarah, really, that causes her to bring her ashes back to the mountain, which was Sarah's wishes.

And so, even though Sarah is not living, she's still a major character in the novel because there are flashbacks, and all of it helps Mel's connection.

And then there's Jacob, because I have to have supernatural elements and I have to have romance as well.

And so, Jacob is - I think of Jacob as the wildwood personified because he's a biologist and he's outdoorsy.

And whenever I described Jacob, it could just as easily be a description of the wildwood.

-And we picked up on that.

-Did you?

-Yes, thinking that wildwood is its own character, right.

-Right.

And so, he really is representative of a complete connection to the wildwood.

And in that sense, he is alluring to Mel, and also Franklin, because she's not really been connected to anyone or anything, except for Sarah.

She's the only one that she was connected to.

So, I really like Jacob.

-I do too.

I do too.

I think it's interesting that you have the wise women and the woodsmen.

-Woodsmen.

-[Rose] Yeah.

-Right, right.

And I think that, you know, in Mel's situation, there are some - it was important to me to show because, you know, there are some bad guys in this book.

And it was important to me to show that it wasn't the women against the world or whatever.

There's a community, and some of the men are also part of that community.

-And they're strong.

I mean, you write really strong characters, which I think was wonderful.

So, Mel is now landed in Wildwood.

She doesn't have any idea what she's supposed to expect.

But she's got to fulfill her best friend's wish.

So, the things that she finds out, the things that she gets to know, like the remedy book.

-I love the remedy book.

That was one of the first things that came to me too.

And I think that that idea came to me because of my mother and all of the, you know, recipe books and all of the scribbled little things and remedies.

And I think that we had - my son has it because I gave it to my daughter-in-law, but we have a recipe box that has handwriting from, you know, aunts, great aunts, grandmothers, and I love the handwriting on those recipe cards.

And my daughter-in-law is a cook.

And so, that's why we passed that to her because we felt like she would really use the recipes, but that idea of knowledge passed down is, and my adoration of ephemera - I love old papers and books.

-Yes, it was beautiful.

You kind of get the history.

The other thing I was fascinated with was the animals, you know, from the mouse in the pocket to the fox, to the way you almost personified that, which I didn't see coming with.

Oh, oh, they've got a whole another role.

So, they were like a separate character set, almost, to the story.

-Right, right.

They're not familiars in the sense of traditional, you know, witch tales.

But they are familiars in that they help connect the wise women to the wildwood, and they're like a communication with the wildwood, and they're also tied to the arts and the artisans because they all begin as something that was handmade from the wildwood, like a carved fox or a crocheted mouse, and interestingly enough, that's how Wildwood Whispers became a fantasy.

I was writing the first scene with the crochet mouse.

And as I was writing, that mouse wanted to come to life, and I thought - this, my agent told me to try to steer clear of magic and make this a straight women's fiction.

But I just - you got to do with the muse.

-You've got to do, you have got to do you.

Would you read a section for us?

-Sure, sure.

Now, this is going back to Jacob and one of her first times that she met Jacob.

And so.

and it's when she is returning Sarah's ashes to the wildwood.

"It took far too long for me to tilt the container.

"I stood.

I waited.

"In the end, it was only a tremendous force of will "to honor my promise that allowed me to sprinkle "Sarah's remains on the damp ground.

"Strangely, it seemed as if "every individual particle of ash "flickered off the lip of the urn to pause, "infinitely defined against the air, "before it fell.

"The birds sang.

The insects whirred.

"And I laid Sarah to rest - "the person who had known me better "than anyone had ever known me, "in the company of two men I barely knew.

"I couldn't handle a spoken eulogy.

"No words would convey the sentiment for Sarah "that beat in my heart.

"The urn was too light afterwards.

"I replaced its lid and stood, not quite knowing what to do.

"Walker hovered.

"He seemed torn between leaving and offering support.

"Truthfully, I was so unused to the offering, "I didn't know how to respond.

"My usual was frightening people away "before they reached out.

"It's easy in Richmond - the crowds, the rush, "nobody questions a 'leave me alone' vibe.

"'My name is Mel,' I said to the biologist.

"He watched my every move, "and I was aware of his every breath.

"It seemed stupid not to introduce myself to the man "if I was going to be that attuned to his respiration.

"He was a part of this understated memorial "where everything about and around "Sarah's black locust tree seemed suddenly portentous.

"The dark twisted trees were a memorial "but also vaguely unsettling.

"Their tortured limbs didn't seem at peace "as they scratched at the sky.

"'Nice to meet you, Mel,' he replied.

"He looked from me to the forest around us "and nodded as if we'd been more formally introduced "by the leaves in the trees.

"The ashes had settled into the dirt, "and they darkened as they soaked up the moisture "Tom had sprinkled on the ground.

"There was no sense of relief.

"No sudden sense of closure claimed me.

"Granny had warned me.

"It felt like a beginning instead of an end.

"My first noon on Sarah's mountain.

"I tingled with the knowledge that it wouldn't be my last.

"'You and Granny don't get along,' I said.

"I wanted to pin him down to define him.

"In the course of one morning, he'd been too changeable "for the keen perceptions I usually could count on.

"'I noticed she gave you some tea.'

"'Be careful.

That old woman is always brewing something,' "Walker said.

"'You think she doesn't know what she's doing,' I surmised.

"I crouched to place the urn on the ground, "and only when I rose with empty hands "did my heart spasm in acknowledgement "of what I'd done.

"Sarah's life was over "and every contraction of muscle that continued to give me life "caused me pain.

"'Oh, she knows exactly what she's doing.

"I'm just not sure you know what you're getting into,' "Walker said.

"My chest burned inside "the way ice burns against the skin.

"But even though I was painfully numbed from the heart out, "I turned because his voice had come from farther away.

"He was finally moving toward the place "where the trail resumed "on the other side of the garden's clearing.

"'It would be safe to assume "that every bag of herbs she hands out "has strings attached.

"And I'm not talking about the ones that tie them.'

"'You're a scientist.

You can't believe.'

I began.

"My screaming heart thumped harder in my frozen chest "than it should.

"I'd been drinking a Ross herbal brew for years "and I was fine.

Perfectly fine.

"Not hexed or bespelled in any way.

"But hadn't Granny said the coffee interfered?

"I didn't believe in hocus-pocus.

"I believed only in Sarah and Sarah was dead.

"Even a fighter could get tired.

"'What I believe is that I won't be drinking "one of Granny's concoctions anytime soon,' Walker said, "'and neither should you.

"You should head back to Richmond.

"Say goodbye to your friend and go back to the city "while you still can.'

"'While I still can?'

I asked.

"The tone of his voice was lighthearted, "but there was no mistaking the warning in his words.

"'Once the wildwood has you, "it never lets you go,' Walker said.

"He had paused at the opening to the trail.

"Behind him, cool green shadows waited.

"I noticed his eyes were the same moss-in-shadows green.

"In fact, the colors around him "didn't only echo the color of his eyes.

"The multiple browns and golds in the waves of his hair "and his lightly tanned skin blended with his surroundings "so it was hard to tell where the woods began, "and he ended.

"'Does it have you?'

I asked softly.

"My heart went warm and quiet without my permission.

"Ice thawed.

Thudding eased.

"He suddenly looked nothing like a scientist "and everything like a being who belonged among the trees.

"He was a creature of hush and masculine grace "that somehow looked more at home "in the wilderness than he would look among men.

"How could I be comfortable with this chameleon man?

"Even for a second?

"Loss had obviously made my radar spotty "and my defenses faulty.

'Always has, always will,' he said."

-Hm.

I feel like I'm right back there in the wildwood.

Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

-My special thanks to Willa Reece for inviting us here to Ferrum in her beautiful cabin right here, I think, in the wildwood.

Make sure to check out more of our conversation online, where we're going to talk more about the book.

We'll be learning about the sect and so many other things.

Wildwood Whispers is fascinating, and I know you're going to enjoy it.

Tell all your friends about us.

I'm Rose Martin, and I'll see you next time, Write Around The Corner .

-♪ Every day every day Ev ery day every day every day ♪ ♪ Every day I write the book ♪ [♪♪♪] ♪ Every day every day Every day ♪ ♪ Every day I write the book ♪ ♪ Every day every day Every day ♪ ♪ Every day I write the book ♪