Episode 62
From Musical Dreams to Literary Success: Tamatha Cain Always Weaves in Romance
Tamatha Cain is the award winning author of Song of the Chimney Sweep, a dual timeline women's fiction novel with not one but two mysteries (and an ending that satisfies in the most delightful way), and Only Oona, the first biographical fiction about Oona O'Neill Chaplin. After careers as a vocalist and then sugar artist and baker, she finally allowed herself to believe the pages of writing she'd shoved in a drawer over the years could be more than a hobby, and her first novel won a Royal Palm Literary Award. She went on to write and publish two more novels, and has just completed a fourth. With each one, she flexed a different part of her writing muscles, but her love of timely details and historical accuracy runs through all of her work.
Featuring strong female main characters and multicultural casts, her stories often illuminate a unique perspective on American life, one informed by her own diverse cultural background. As the daughter of an Air Force code interceptor and the brilliant Indian woman he met while stationed at a strategic outpost in Pakistan, she's lived in four countries, seven states, and so many houses she lost track. She is a wife, mother of four, and a new grandma. Her little dog Luly would like you to know she puts her own toys away every night.
You can learn more about her at www.TamathaCain.com, and while you're there sign up for her popular quarterly newsletter which always starts with happy news and a selection of hilarious memes.
A link to all her social media and special events can be found at https://linktr.ee/tamathacain.
Support your local bookstore & this podcast by getting your copy of Song of the Chimney Sweep at https://bookshop.org/a/90599/9781949935387
A little about today's host-
Author and musical composer Kathleen Basi is mother to three boys and one chromosomally-gifted daughter. Her debut novel, A SONG FOR THE ROAD, follows a musician on an unconventional road trip. Bestselling author Kerry Anne King writes, “In a novel filled with music, heartbreak, and surprising laughter, Basi takes us on a journey that encompasses both unimaginable loss and the powerful resilience of the human heart.”
Meaty, earnest, occasionally humorous, and ultimately uplifting, Kathleen’s fiction highlights the best within ourselves and each other. She writes monthly reflections on life, writing and beauty on her newsletter. Subscribe at https://kathleenbasi.substack.com/.
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Learn more about our hosts, the guests we've had, and their books -
Transcript
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Kathleen Basi [:Welcome to Author Express. Thanks for checking us out. This is the podcast where you give us 15 minutes of your time, and we give you a chance to hear the voice behind the pages and get to know some of your favorite writers in a new light. I'm one of your hosts, Kathleen Basi. I'm an award-winning musical composer, a feature writer, essayist, and, of course, storyteller. Let me tell you a little bit about today's guest.
Kathleen Basi [:Tamatha Champagne Cain is the author of 2 adult novels and winner of the 2022 Florida Book Award, the 2020 Royal Palm Literary Award, and the Experience Poetry Competition. A musician and a former band leader, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Florida and has a BA in English. She writes book reviews for the Southern Literary Review and is a member of the Women's Fiction Writers Association, Women Writing the West, and Florida Writers Association. She and her husband live with their weirdly smart little dog in a 100-year-old bungalow in North Florida. Welcome, Tamatha.
Tamatha Cain [:Oh, thank you. Thanks for having me.
Kathleen Basi [:Well, first, I have to know about the weirdly smart little dog.
Tamatha Cain [:Oh, my goodness. Yes. She's very smart. She's only 3, and she was a rescue. We did get her when she was only, I think, 10 weeks old. And she came from they called it a hoarding situation for a little thing. But we started, you know, teaching her little things. She picked everything up instantly. It's like she understood English. And now every night, she has this routine. She puts her own toys away every night.
Kathleen Basi [:Oh my gosh.
Tamatha Cain [:And so, my husband says, okay. We're going to go outside. We're going to go potty real quick. And sometimes he'll say, we're going to find a possum or something like that. And then you're going to put your toys away, and she goes dashing outside. She goes potty real quick, and then she cut I'm ready in front of her toy box. Right. Because the kids are all grown, and this is what we do with our evening. I have her lie on full of treats, and she checks my hand to make sure I've got treats in my hand because she's not doing it for nothing. And she gets her toys, and I'll say, you know, get the squirrel. And she picks it up and puts it in the box as she gets a little peep and treat. And she does all her treats like that, and then I have one special one.
Tamatha Cain [:And I'm like, okay. What's this one for? And she runs to her bed, gets in her bed, in her crate. She sleeps in her crate and waits for a treat. And so, anyway, she just understands, she picks things up faster than a little kid sometimes. It's just so weird.
Kathleen Basi [:It sounds to me like she's faster than all of my kids put together, and I have 4 of them.
Tamatha Cain [:It's amazing when our kids come over with their dog. We're like, your dog doesn't just understand stuff. They're like, no. You can barely get him to sit.
Kathleen Basi [:That's hilarious.
Tamatha Cain [:Yeah. So, it's just, I don't know. She's one of those dogs that probably should have been, you know, a movie dog or something like that.
Kathleen Basi [:That may actually be the most interesting thing about where you're from because that's what I'm supposed to ask to begin with. So, tell me, is there anything more interesting than that about where you're from?
Tamatha Cain [:Oh, no. Where I'm from? Well, it's hard to sort of decide where I'm from because my dad was in the airport, and we moved a lot. Yeah. My whole childhood was moving around, and so we lived in 4 countries and 7 different states before I graduated high school. But still where we live now in North Florida is where I've lived most of my life, so feels like home. It's where we raised our kids and everything. So, here in North Florida, it feels like home, but you just still can't get that same feeling that I see other people have when they were born and raised in a place and, you know, have that touchstone. I don't have that. For me, it's kind of funny because I get nostalgic for things like, you know, the base commissary or those concrete buildings that most people think are just ugly. You know, there's something just kind of childhood nostalgia about those to me, so.
Kathleen Basi [:So, was it your entire childhood until you were 18?
Tamatha Cain [:Yes. Well, not quite 18. My dad retired; I think I was about 16.
Kathleen Basi [:Okay.
Tamatha Cain [:I was in high school when he graduated, so.
Kathleen Basi [:Well, you've lived in a lot of places. So, then I guess my next question, you kind of moved me in a different direction from where I was going to go. But if you've lived in a bunch of different places, I'd like to ask, where would you live other than North Florida, if you can choose anywhere to live in the world.
Tamatha Cain [:Oh, you know, that's a really good question, and it's funny because I've just been thinking about that recently because as a young person, when I had set writing aside to being a singer as my career, my dream was to go to New York City. Growing up my whole life, I just knew I belonged in New York City.
Kathleen Basi [:On Broadway?
Tamatha Cain [:And that was the place for me, Broadway or recording studios and, you know, I just knew that that was what was going to happen. Even when we got married, that was the plan. And then God had a different plan, you know? Man proposes. God disposes. And, you know, we weren't going to have children right away, but a long and a whole other story, you know, we could talk about, but life changed. And for a long time, I still kept having this sort of dream idea of New York City and how that would be where I'd want to live. But recently, I'm finding that that's changing, and I'm feeling more like, you know, wouldn't it be lovely to live somewhere, you know, on a beach or even someplace very remote where you had to drive a long time to get to Walmart or Target or something. You know? So just I think it's just that life the last few years has been so different that a lot of things about perspective have changed, though.
Kathleen Basi [:Yeah. I think that's happened to all of us. I have to say that I always wanted to live on a mountain top, but I also recognize that I am far, far too forgetful to remember everything I need at Target, so I need to be 10 minutes from the mall. I don't know how to reconcile these 2 things.
Tamatha Cain [:I know. It doesn't fit like, lately, I've told my husband, some place remote, but where Amazon can reach us.
Kathleen Basi [:That's true. That's true. If you can wait,
Tamatha Cain [:or Walmart plus or whatever.
Kathleen Basi [:That’s funny.
Tamatha Cain [:It would be okay to be forgetful.
Kathleen Basi [:Yeah. Well, let's kind of focus in on your book, The Song of the Chimney Sweep. Tell me what chapter or what part of the book sticks with you the most strongly?
Tamatha Cain [:Okay. I thought that was going to be a difficult question, but then something popped in my head. And there's the chapter where the main character, Melody, goes to visit her mom at her house. And that whole scene is basically set in the house that I live in because her mom and her mom's character is sort of based on me and my experiences.
Kathleen Basi [:Mm-hmm.
Tamatha Cain [:And, not that, well, I don't want to give too much away, but not everything about her, but, you know, her musician background and her experiences as being a musician in Jacksonville. So, that stands out to me.
Kathleen Basi [:So, give us, like, the 1 sentence rundown of this book.
Tamatha Cain [:Oh, dear. I can't believe you did that to me. Well, a podcaster is looking into a cold case of a missing woman in North Florida. And in another timeline, a woman is having a very difficult romance, interracial romance, with a young man who goes on to become world famous, and then she spends her life behind the counter of a highway motel following his career. So, we learned that she's the one who disappeared. She's the one who Melody is looking for. And there are actually 2 mysteries that will come together and be solved in very, I think, I hear it's a very satisfying way.
Kathleen Basi [:Yeah. I loved this book. I thought the characters were really, really engaging, and I thought the podcast was a very interesting way to structure it and a really cool framework to put it on all around. So, tell me what was hard about writing this book for you.
Tamatha Cain [:What was hard about it was that structure. For whatever reason, it felt going into it, you know, as I was trying to think of ways to tie these threads together and also give the reader the information they need at the right time. I ended up with this idea of dual timeline, but also having a transcript of the podcast as a way for the reader to experience the podcast and also Betty's diary. And so, the most difficult thing was, you know, where to drop what piece of information because there are the 2 different mysteries that are related. But once I sort of figured that out, figured out where different threads should be strengthened and where they should step back, then I felt that it was really, really the best way to tell the particular story.
Kathleen Basi [:Well, it was very effective. You've got romances all the way through it, which is really lovely. So, tell me, who was it that encouraged you the most in doing writing? Because you have a BA in English. So, did you always know you wanted to write? Did that come on later?
Tamatha Cain [:Yes. So, I always was a strong writer. I was told I was, you know, as a student, and as a lot of people end up being writers probably also experience winning the local contest and those types of things, teachers that pull you aside. And also, I was in fire and band, and a certain time, you know, you can't be that diversified and fool you to pick what you're going to do. And, you know, I had that dream of being a singer, and writing just became I wrote songs and put them in a drawer, and I wrote short stories, put them in a drawer, poetry. And at some point, I started a book that turned into the 1st novel that I ever wrote, which hasn't been published, but which was the one that won the Florida or the Royal Palm Literary Award.
Tamatha Cain [:But the person that encouraged me was my husband, you know, because it was a long time. It wasn't until after all the kids were basically out of college that I started writing full-time. And I used to own a custom cake shop, which was my way of contributing to the household without still being in a certain way a stay-at-home mom because I ran my own schedule. I didn't do it from home, but I can open and close my shop when I wanted because it was all custom.
Kathleen Basi [:You are becoming more interesting to me every time you open your mouth.
Tamatha Cain [:I was always trying to start some kind of business. I tell you. But, anyway but that one, I did for a long time. I did it for 13 years, and that was a whole other career. You know? I won awards for sugar art and it was published in American Cake Decorating and all that stuff. But I still, you know, I dropped the kids out of the pool. I was there to pick them up, and I never had any employees. So, it was just locking the door and leave it and work all night if I had to while everybody's asleep, that type of thing. But how did I get, I tend to do this. I go off on tangents.
Kathleen Basi [:No, you were saying your husband encouraged you.
Tamatha Cain [:Yeah. So, it was my last wedding cake. And I had written that 1st book that ended up, you know, winning the Royal Palm and decided I was going to do this full time and close the shop. All the kids were out of college, which was the point of that business to help them through school, and we delivered the last cake. He always helped me deliver cake. And I got in the car, and my husband had bought me this beautiful book and a pen with a thing and it's oh, I'm going to, I don't want to even repeat it because I'll start crying. Just this beautiful thing about following your dreams and all this. So, yeah, we've been together since I was 18 and he was 16, and he's always been, you know, my biggest supporter. And so, yeah. There's no doubt.
Kathleen Basi [:Well, it's no wonder you write romances into all of your books. You're living one.
Tamatha Cain [:Oh goodness. He's a sweetie. He really is. Yeah. We've been married this year was 33 years.
Kathleen Basi [:And see, what you guys can't see out there because you're just hearing this is how young this woman looks.
Tamatha Cain [:Oh, because, yeah, because we got married when I was 12, no. No. No. But wait. I mean, I was 20 years old when we got married. So, you know, that's one good thing about having your kids’ young is people like, there's no way you have kids that are 30 years old. So, it's like, because I'm 40. I mean, not quite. But, you know, also, you have to stay a little chubby like this. That helps.
Kathleen Basi [:Okay. Well, let's, start to wrap,
Tamatha Cain [:You got to tell them about that part.
Kathleen Basi [:Yeah. Right. Well, let's start to wrap things up. Tell us where's the best place for people to find you online?
Tamatha Cain [:That would probably be my website, which is just tamathacain.com. And then from there, you can follow me on Instagram. I tend to use Instagram most for social media. I’m on Twitter and Facebook as well.
Kathleen Basi [:Okay. So, in closing, tell us what book or story is inspiring you the most these days?
Tamatha Cain [:Oh, gosh. Well, I don't know about which one these days because these days, I'm, for the first time in my life, reading more than 1 book at once.
Kathleen Basi [:Fun.
Tamatha Cain [:But the one book that I have found the most interesting because of how I still can't figure out how he did it is Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. And I remember starting out reading that book because I'd heard so much about it and thinking, well, I want to read something that makes me look smart and just starting it and thinking, okay. Well, what's happening here? It just seems like just some fellow talking. And by the end of it, my mind was just so blown, and I still go back to that in my mind and go back and read it every once in a while. Just for that as a writer, you kind of get that feeling of what the writer must have gone through in his process by reading what they wrote, and so that book definitely is still the most inspiring just as a piece of writing that I just cannot wrap my brain around, but in the best way.
Kathleen Basi [:It sticks with you. That's very cool. I love it when people give recommendations for things that are really kind of classics that I haven't read yet. So, thank you for that.
Tamatha Cain [:Oh, good. I definitely recommend it.
Kathleen Basi [:Alright. Well, thank you so much for being on Author Express, and good luck with whatever comes next for you.
Tamatha Cain [:Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.
Kathleen Basi [:Thanks for joining us today. We hope you'll take a second to give us some stars, or a review on your favorite podcasting platform. We'll be back next Wednesday. And in the meantime, follow us on Instagram at Author Express Podcast to see who's coming up next. Don't forget. Keep it express, but keep it interesting.
