At age 11 Jiles knew she wanted to be an author, writing her first adventure story by hand,
complete with illustrations.
"Writing was all I ever wanted to do other than live in the country
and have horses. I have been able to support myself by writing only recently."
She recalls her mother reading Tom Sawyer to the family.
"I was so surprised to find out that Mark Twain was from Missouri. I thought that
to be a full-time writer you had to be from someplace like Mars or Boston."
Jiles earned a degree in Spanish literature from the University of Missouri in 1968. She turned
to writing poetry and eventually to fiction.
"My poems just kept getting longer and longer. I tried to write a novel twice and threw
them both away. Didn't understand anything about plot. Finally understood I was
interested in writing an adventure novel rather than a a novel of psychological
exploration. Adventure novels have a whole different set of tools, different aims, etc.
I always admired Hemingway but thought girls weren't suppose to write like that.
The idea for Enemy Women came after I found that a large number of women in
Missouri were imprisoned during the Civil War."
In 1969 Jiles followed a boyfriend, a Vietnam War draft dodger, to Canada. Eventually she
returned to the United States, settling in San Antonio. Her ex-husband, a military man,
was born and raised in Corpus Christi. Jiles now lives at age 75 on 32 acres, in a one room
cabin, without a television set.
"...I have necessary work to do here on the ranchito, including feeding and care of
two horses and a donkey, fence work, hauling feed and hay, and cleaning stock
tanks. I write in the mornings; but when the hot weather comes, I will have to shift
that to the afternoons, as the cool early morning hours will be the only time to get
work done. I ride with friends once or twice a week. I don't travel all that much, but
when I do, it is ususally to Missouri to see family, to San Antonia, Texas, to go to the
opera or to have lunch with friends, or to Liano, Texas to visit with writers Laurie
Jameson and WC Jameson."
Book Discussion for The News of the World (Jiles 6th book) will be May 3rd at 10 AM