BLOGWORDS – Thursday 3 July 2025 – CHAT THURSDAY – DONNA MUMMA
BLOGWORDS – Thursday 3 July 2025 – CHAT THURSDAY – DONNA MUMMA
CHAT THURSDAY – DONNA MUMMA
Please give a warm feathered welcome to author and friend, Donna Mumma.
rem: Hullo Donna, welcome. Tell us three random things about yourself.
DONNA: I grew up on a dairy farm in rural, central Florida. Alligators have been my favorite animal for as long as I can remember (I graduated from the University of Florida, Go Gators!), and I love old monster movies from the 1950s.
rem: Well, from the ‘50s, yeah. What is your favorite quotation and why?
DONNA: Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. - Thomas Edison
rem: Oh, that is so true. When reading, what makes or breaks a story for you? Your fiction pet peeve?
DONNA: I have the attention span of a toddler, so I need to be drawn in right away. This can be done through great characters, plot, an interesting premise, or even the setting. I will forgive a lot of bad storytelling if something catches my interest. If I’m not engaged, I skip to the end of the book to see how it ends, and them I’m done with it. My fiction pet peeve is a story that has weak set-ups and pay-offs that allow me to see where everything is going way in advance.
rem: Ditto to the attention span. What are you reading right now?
DONNA: I’m currently reading The World of Department Stores by Jan Whitaker
rem: Imagine that 😉 Tell us a little about your writing journey.
DONNA: I always played around with writing when I was younger, but got serious about it when my children were toddlers and I needed an outlet to keep my adult brain engaged. I wrote a book and took it to the Florida Christian Writers Conference in 2010 and learned I knew nothing about writing. I dug in to learn craft, joined Word Weavers International, and worked with mentors for several years. That first book was never published, but my next one was in 2021. I’m currently getting ready to launch my third book in September.
rem: I’ve read both of those first two—Fresh Scars, oh my days, what a powerful story—and I absolutely cannot wait for First Comes Marriage...Then Comes Murder! What genre(s) do you write and why?
DONNA: That first unpublished book was speculative fiction. Now I write mystery/suspense and am working on a series of cozy mysteries. I also write some non-fiction, mostly devotions and I’ve written one article on educational techniques to use in an elementary classroom.
rem: I designed an elementary school classroom as my Senior Project when I went to college, so that intrigues me. But the mystery/suspense, you do that so well. Tell us a little about your latest book? What is your current project?
DONNA: I’m getting ready to launch book 2 in a series about four women who work in a 1950s department store in Florida. The first book was called The Women of Wynton’s, and the second is titled First Comes Marriage . . . Then Comes Murder. In this book, the owner and operator of the store’s bridal salon, Miss Vivien, bands together with the other ladies of Wynton’s department store to find out who is killing her brides.
rem: I love that your stories are set in the 1950s—now a bygone era. What is YOUR favorite part about the book or why do you love this book? Why should we read it?
DONNA: In each of these books in the series, I’ve tried to focus on themes that women of this time, and readers today, relate to. In this book, Miss Vivien, the elder of the four main characters, is struggling against the idea that she is too old to be a businesswoman, and she must work to protect her reputation and salon. Through no fault of her own, she becomes the target of public anger over the murders of these young women. While they try to help Vivien through these trials, her friends are facing their own battles such as trying to balance work, family, and needs of aging parents, crippling insecurities, and the pressures of a demanding career. Because this book is set in 1950s Florida, I also have female characters who are fighting against the racism of the time. I tried to accurately depict how this affected them in ways other characters never realized, and how their frustrations planted the seeds for the Civil Rights movement. I enjoyed weaving all these threads together to show the power of female friendships and how we are all much more alike than we often realize. And of course, in the midst of all this, there are all these strange clues popping up and a murder that needs solving. Bringing all this together is great fun for me.
rem: Oh my dear, I do love the way you think—and write! We be kindred writer sisters! What is one take-away from your book(s) that you hope readers identify with?
DONNA: I want my readers to enjoy the escape, but also see themselves and their own close friendships in my four main characters. Times change, and situations may evolve into something that looks very different from how it once was, but deep down all generations have common experiences and we can share and learn much from one another.
rem: (A) lasting friendship(s) is/are one of life’s greatest treasures. One more and then we’ll close. Do you have a life Scripture?
DONNA: Hebrews 12: 1-3 (NKJ)- Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
rem: Oh yes, what a wonderful image and promise. Anything you’d like to add?
DONNA: I hope everyone will check out my first book, The Women of Wynton’s, and then grab First Comes Marriage … Then comes Murder on September 1st. Thank you so much for letting me talk about my ladies a bit. This was fun!
rem: I, too, hope everyone will check out your books! Donna, it’s been a delight. Thank you so much for chatting with us on my blog today!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Donna Mumma is an award-winning author, a native Floridian, farm kid and dreamer. She was blessed with two wonderful parents who taught her how stories enable readers to learn, escape, connect, and be inspired.
Her writing inspiration comes from the folks she knew growing up in rural Florida. She hails from a small town that was filled with storytellers who spun yarns of hunting trips gone awry, flipped airboats, eccentric relatives, and beloved hunting dogs. These seasoned her childhood and she learned to love a good story filled with twists, turns, and a dash of suspense. Donna now weaves each of these elements into her works of southern fiction.
Growing up on a dairy farm in Florida taught her two important lessons. First, life comes with sunshine and hurricanes. Second, with God’s help, we can flourish in both. She has always been drawn to characters who are bruised and broken but keep pushing forward. These same folks inhabit her story worlds. Before she started writing, she earned her degree in teaching and honed her story-telling skills as a first-grade teacher working to keep antsy six-year-olds enthralled. She believes the best stories grab a reader’s heart and mind and nudge them into discovering something about themselves.
Her debut novel, Fresh Scars, released June of 2021.
www.facebook.com/donnamummawriter
https://www.instagram.com/donnamumma_writer/
#Blogwords, Chat Thursday, Interview, Donna Mumma, The Women of Whyton’s, Fresh Scars, First Comes Love….. Then Comes Murder
Look forward to Donna’s new book! Her other two books are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteno doubt!! I've read both of her first two and they're such great stories!
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