Mandy Mikulencak & Forgiveness Road Feb 22, 2019

Way back in 2009, the book was called This Side of Crazy. It was Mandy Mikulencak’s first attempt at writing a novel and it drew, in all, 96 rejections. So Mandy turned to two other writing projects. First, was Burn Girl and then The Last Suppers, which came out in late 2017. Now here comes a new version of that first story from 2009 only it has been given an overhaul and a brand new title: Forgiveness Road. On the podcast, Mandy gives us a peek into what drew her to the story and setting, 1970’s Mississippi, and why she’s drawn to stories set in the Deep South. Mandy, a Writer of the Year nominee last year, has been a writer her entire working life. First, as a journalist and then as an editor and PR specialist for two national nonprofits and a United Nations agency. The shift into fiction had an unusual beginning at a writer’s retreat. At first, as a non-fiction writer, she didn’t think she wanted to add fiction to her daily schedule, too, but then discovered the freedom it offered. Mandy is drawn to “real life" and "tough subjects” and likes stories that examine, in her words, the dichotomy of human spirit.