Daily Inspiration: Meet Sandra Dallas

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sandra Dallas.

Hi Sandra, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl and realized I would never make it as movie star. I think I chose writing because I loved reading. I was always fascinated with words and their power. I majored in journalism at the University of Denver and was hired as an assistant when Business Week opened its Denver bureau, in 1961. Later, I became the magazine’s first female bureau chief, covering the mountain states. It was an exciting job because I wrote about a variety of subjects–western alternative energy development, Native American business ventures, hard-rock mining, and women’s advances in the business world. I started writing fiction on the side, and published my first novel in 1990. I left journalism about 2000 to write novels, and since then, I’ve published 20 adult novels and five children’s novels. I’ve also written 10 nonfiction books. and

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I faced sexual harassment with a publisher of a nonfiction book, but in those days, you just thought what a jerk and tried to laugh it off. At Business Week, the discrimination came from people I wrote about, who either tried to snow me or assume i was too dumb to understand business. Sexual discrimination is all about power, and I was the one with the power; So the men I interviewed (it was almost always men) did not make sexual advances. It was so much easier for me than for other women. Because I was female, I was aware of the problems women faced and wrote one of the first national stories about sexual discrimination in the workplace.

I went to work at a time when women were supposed to stay home and raise children. Child care was a problem, but I was fortunate in finding a loving woman to care for the girls. And my mom backstopped her. I couldn’t have worked if it hadn’t been for my mom.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
As a business reporter, I never considered writing fiction. I just fell into it when two other writers and I decided as a lark to write a novel. We never got very far, but I discovered I loved the freedom of writing fiction. My first novel came out when I was 50. My first midgrade (children’s) novel was published when I was 70. I love the idea that one career can evolve into another. These days, as people live longer, healthier lives, more and more are making mid-life career changes. I’m an example of that.

My novels are generally about women and the challenges they face in different time periods. I try to make them true to the era in which they live. I try to recreate the times so that readers learn something. I’m proud of the awards I’ve received but prouder of the emails from readers who’ve told me my books have made a difference in their lives.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
For would-be writers, just do it. Don’t just wish you could be a writer. Sit down every day and write. Most novelists don’t go to Peru for a month and write a novel. Instead, they sit down at their desk every single day and write something, a page or half-a-page. If you do that, in a year, you have a finished manuscript.. And don’t worry if you fail. We all have unpublished manuscripts tucked away. Keep at it. If you are a writer, you write. If you don’t write, you’re just a wannabe.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sandradallas.com
• Facebook: Sandra Dallas, author

Image Credits
Photo by Povy Kendal Atchison

I’ll send photo separately.