JANET MASON, Author of CINNAMON

Janet Mason's latest novel CINNAMON: a dairy cow’s (and her farmer’s) path to freedom will be released in May 2024 by Adelaide Books. Cinnamon: a dairy cow’s (and her farmer’s) path to freedom is Janet Mason’s third novel from Adelaide Books. Her novels THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders and The Unicorn, The Mystery were published by Adelaide Books in 2018 and 2020 respectively. Her book Tea Leaves, a memoir of mothers and daughters (Bella Books; 2012) was chosen by the American Library Association for its 2013 Over the Rainbow List. Her novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage was published by Thorned Heart Press in 2022. She is a lay minister for the Unitarian Universalists of Mt. Airy in Philadelphia and her talk which includes an excerpt from Cinnamon and was given on International Pig Day can be found at Pig Day Revisited — #GoVeganForLent or just #GoVegan #amreading | Janet Mason, author (wordpress.com)

1.Tell us a bit about yourself – something that we will not find in the official author’s bio?

One thing that is not in my author bio is that I’ve followed a healthy plant-based diet for the past five years. I went to the diet for health reasons and was right there when my acupuncturist suggested it. My partner and I had been thinking about going vegan for several years out of compassion for the animals and my need for emergency surgery for a kidney stone, and a subsequent life-threatening infection, pushed me to make changes. I started feeling better after a month or so. Now, I feel great and have so much weight (with the goal of being healthy) that it feels like a small person walked away from me. I think of it as a person who contained all my addictions (including food addictions) that have been with me for generations. After my father died, seven years ago, I did a genealogy and saw the documents of the people on my paternal side who had died in their forties from conditions related to heart disease. (My family history on my maternal side was full of health issues also.) I didn’t change my diet for that reason, but several years after going to a healthy plant-based diet the addictions simply lifted. It felt great and was rather amazing!

My partner and I had gotten to know some cows at a local dairy farm and so we saw firsthand how they are treated (abusively) and also learned that dairy cows are sent to slaughter to become hamburger and cheap cuts of meat after they are done having milk taken from them. Usually, this happens when they are three to five years old. When they are not slaughtered, a cow's average lifespan is fifteen to twenty years. We spent so much time with the cows that when I was transitioning to a plant-based diet, I was inspired to write my most recent novel from Adelaide Books Cinnamon: a dairy cow’s (and her farmer’s) path to freedom.

Cinnamon is also influenced by my experience as a Unitarian. After I went plant-based, I found out that the Unitarian Universalists have an animal ministry – and they advocate going plant-based for the animals and also for environmental reasons. I’ve been a Unitarian for about six years and am a worship associate (lay minister) at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

My other narrator in Cinnamon, besides Cinnamon the talking dairy cow, is a female farmer who spends time in church contemplating the fate of her cows.

There is another connection between my diet and my writing. I have better mental acuity and more energy which is always good for writing!

2. Do you remember what was your first story (article, essay, or poem) about and when did you write it?

When I was in about second grade, I wrote a story about a canoe floating down a river. I don’t remember much else about it – if there was anyone in the canoe or where the person might have been going. But I do remember that my teacher didn’t like it very much because nothing happened. When I was a young adult, I learned that the story was a Zen koan which in its simplest form is reflecting on the sound of one hand clapping.

Perhaps the point of the story was that it’s okay not to have a point or to disconnect from reality or from what is perceived to be reality. Maybe my meaning, if I had one, is that sometimes we just have to drift and be in the moment.

3. What is the title of your latest book and what inspired it?

Cinnamon was inspired directly by my contact with the cows. In particular, it was inspired by our cow friend Sacred. Sacred knew us and would always come to the fence to greet us when we visited her. My partner, Barbara, wrote a special song for Sacred because she was so special to us and Sacred knew her song, and would stand there alert and regal when Barbara sang it to her. It was through Sacred that I got to know the other cows and their habits such as mourning their dead and their calves who are taken away from them at birth. This practice is done so the cows’ milk can be taken from them and used for human consumption. Cows have to be pregnant in order to produce milk—just like human mothers.

Eventually, my partner and a group that she was in, managed to rescue Sacred and send her to a farm animal sanctuary where she lived out the rest of her natural life. The sanctuary is called “The Cow Sanctuary” and is the model for the sanctuary in Cinnamon. I wrote about “The Cow Sanctuary” from my partner’s description of it, before I actually visited it.

I was also inspired by E.B. White’s classic Charlotte’s Web and by the life of E.B. White. He was a “gentleman farmer” which meant he made his living by other means. I learned he got very attached to his farm animals, especially when they became ill, and it broke his heart to send them to be slaughtered—especially after he nursed them back to health. He couldn’t take things to the next level, so I did.

4. How long did it take you to write your latest work and how fast do you write (how many words daily)?

I started the first draft of Cinnamon in the fall of 2019. I was probably done in four months or so. I don’t keep track of the amount of the words that I write daily, but it is most likely at least four to five hundred words a day. My process is to let the first draft sit for a while and then come back to it after a few months and keep doing this as I revise. I once heard someone say that most of writing is revising. I think the author who said this was Toni Morrison. The writing of Cinnamon was a natural process. In many instances, the things in the book actually happened to me. Cinnamon is perhaps my most experiential novel, since it was informed by my experience of going to a healthy vegan diet. After I finished the first draft, I found out at a local vegan gathering that the story of a small family farm being turned into a farm animal sanctuary has actually happened!

I wrote the first draft of Cinnamon in a much shorter time period than it has taken me to write other novels. For example, I wrote The Unicorn, The Mystery (my last novel from Adelaide Books in a year. This was a far longer time period in which I have written most books. Before I started writing, I spent a lot of time doing research. I had a lot going on during this time, so I don’t remember exactly how long I was doing the research. It was probably close to a year. My father was dying and I’m an only child and was close to him. The fact that he was ninety-eight when he died, and I was in my late fifties just meant that I spent more time with him and grew more attached to him. I started writing the book a few months after his death. In a way, the writing – and creating my own alternate reality – got me through this difficult time. I actually owe the book to him. When he was still living, he knew I would be spending the week in New York on business – and he suggested that I go to The Cloisters (the Met’s medieval collection which includes “the unicorn room” tapestries that inspired the novel) because he and my mother had gone there shortly after they were married.

There is a scene in the book where the unicorn talks about the old lion dying (historically the unicorn and the lion had a strong allegiance) and I remember feeling that the writing went deep and the emotions behind the words were strong. Because the writing took so long, I think of The Unicorn, The Mystery as my biggest canvass meaning that it took the longest time for me to write and research.

Some of the things that I was researching was everything about the Middle Ages (from how people thought and lived, down to what they wore and what their favorite gems were); the gnostic gospels (the Thunder Perfect Mind passage in particular); the literature of the time including Chaucer; and everything factual, historic, and imaginary about unicorns.

My novel THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders (published by Adelaide Books in 2018 – my first novel from Adelaide Books) only took three or four months to write. I was taking a class at the Unitarian church that I ended up joining and started reading the Bible. Reading the Bible wasn’t required but I had always wondered about it. I’m glad I read it because it explained so much of what our Western society is based on. But then my mind started wandering and I started writing. THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders was born. I received good feedback on THEY from all over the world. It was a novel whose time had come -- and people were ready for it. I also received a fair amount (more than I thought I would) of online harassment. Ultimately, I think that was a good thing. It did show that people heard about the book and that it irritated them. I put all my responses to the harassment on my blog and sent posts out on Twitter. You never know when someone who needs the book is going to hear about it. This might include the relatives of the harassers. Some of them probably really need THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders. In my outspoken twenties, I declared that the Bible needed to be rewritten. This was before I was a serious writer, but I suspect that THEY was building up in me for a long time.

So, every book is different in terms of the time I spent writing it. When the muse descends, I honor it. I write books that need to be written. I teach writing part-time at various places, and I always emphasize that it’s important to cultivate your inner voice and to follow your intuition.

5. Do you have any unusual writing habits?

One thing that I have overlooked when teaching but which has just occurred to me is to allow yourself to have obsessions and to follow them. For example, when I was writing Cinnamon, I became obsessed with cows. I always liked cows and felt like they were the intelligent beings that they are but in the process of writing Cinnamon, I became OBSESSED with them and entered the world and thoughts of dairy cows.

6. Is writing the only form of artistic expression that you utilize, or is there more to your creativity than just writing?

Years ago, I went through a period of drawing. I let the images enter my words. But the drawing kind of dropped away. Now I take regular walks and sometimes photograph interesting sights with my phone – so I guess I still am in the visual world. For the past five years or so I have started a regular yoga and meditation practice. The practice puts me in a healthy and creative frame of mind.

7. Authors and books that have influenced your writings?

There are so many authors I’m inspired by that it’s hard to pick just one or several. Of the author that I mention the most when I’m teaching, it would be Willa Cather, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and Truman Capote. If had to pick just one favorite writer, it would be Sappho. I’m learning Greek now so that I can read my book of Sappho fragments and poems that I picked up in a bookshop in Athens twenty-years ago. Half the book is written in modern Greek and the other half is written in classical Greek. I started out as a poet.

8. What are you working on right now? Anything new cooking in the wordsmith’s kitchen?

I always have a number of writing projects going on at the same time, but one project I am very excited about is my novel in progress titled Dick Moby. You can read an excerpt here, TRAPPED AND IMAGING (?) A TALKING SEA TURTLE by Janet Mason | Adelaide Literary Magazine (adelaidemagazine.org), published by Adelaide Literary Magazine.

9. Did you ever think about the profile of your readers? What do you think – who reads and who should read your books?

I often think about my readers and am honored when I meet someone who has read one of my books. This happened when I was participating in a ritual led by Starhawk (a feminist witch) when I met a trans woman who had read my novel THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders (published by Adelaide Books), put it in her community center library, and said to me after the ritual, “You’re THAT Janet Mason? I loved it, of course. Writers are so often under a rock—which isn’t a bad place to be actually.

People who would enjoy reading Cinnamon include those who are interested in learning about cows (including the cow-curious) and farmers; those interested in learning about the health benefits of plant-based diets; those interested in the rights of animals; those interested in books inspired by the classics; and those interested in a good read.

10. Do you have any advice for new writers/authors?

It’s important to show up. If you want to write, put yourself on a schedule and stick to it. Remember to give yourself credit for what you do. The hours you spend on research counts to your writing time.

11. What is the best advice (about writing) you have ever heard?

The late poet and prose writer Audre Lorde once said (rather fiercely) to her students, “don’t wait to be inspired.” I would add that when you are inspired, don’t ignore it. Write down your ideas and then follow up on them.

12. How many books you read annually and what are you reading now? What is your favorite literary genre?

I read books on the subject of what I am writing. So, I just finished a slew of books about Berenice Abbott – and also looked at and read books about her photographs. I also review books for This Way Out, an international radio syndicated LGBTQ newswrap that is based out of Los Angeles. The last book that I reviewed was Armistead Maupin’s memoir titled Logical Family.

I read all types of genres, but I guess my favorite would be literary fiction and memoir.

I’m always reading, and I never thought to add them up. But I guess I read about five books a month so that would come to sixty a year, at least. Sometimes, I read the same book over and over. I always suggest reading a book that speaks to you twice -- the first time to see what happens and the second to see how the author did it.

13. What do you deem the most relevant about your writing? What is the most important to be remembered by readers?

I think curiosity is the most essential part of my writing. I write because I am intrigued by something – and usually I learn a lot in the process.

I want readers to remember to be open and curious to the writer’s journey – and also to their own.

14. What is your opinion about the publishing industry today and about the ways authors can best fit into the new trends?

Write what’s in your heart and write the books that are important to you. Writing is a time-consuming endeavor -- and you are going to stick with what’s most important to you.

I don’t consciously pay attention to trends. If there is a book that you want to read it and you can’t find it, then write it.

Janet Mason with the cow and cow Sacred with Helga at the Cow Sanctuary