Creating A MONTH OF SUNDAYS was a years-long process. I began writing novels when I was 20 (actually 17, but I didn’t finish that first one). But after 10 unpublished novels, I decided to switch modes. Screenplays were a good fit for me because I write dialogue-heavy anyway. I joined screenwriting groups (one in Austin and one in Richmond, Virginia when I moved there) and learned the craft. But in between, when I lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area (an unglamorous town in the middle called Euless), a colleague told me about a playwright’s group, and I decided to try my hand at plays.
This was a fairly professional group that had a dramaturg and staged readings attached to it. Having a staged reading was a tremendously gratifying experience. I loved hearing my lines re-enacted (and finding out which ones got laughs) and seeing the physical personification of my characters The director was an older, Irish man, who claimed to be classically trained, and he was always screaming at the actors during rehearsals. We were all terrified of him. The person who played the protagonist was older and frumpier than I had envisioned, but I suppose it fit everyone’s stereotype of a social worker. The actress mentioned to me that she had a difficult time asking so many questions in dialogue, but when trying to solve a murder, there naturally has to be a lot of questions asked. I loved the person the director chose to play the victim – she had long, red hair and wore a skimpy top under her overalls (yes, overalls were in style then).
