February 21, 2008

A writer's life

Novelist offers writing secrets at local book signing

By Jeanne C. Carbone
Staff Writer

You’ve written a novel so now what do you do? Author Marjorie Johnson shared the answer at a recent book-signing at Almaden resident Doreen Jurado’s home.

Almaden resident Doreen Jurado (far left) hosts a book-signing party for Marjorie Johnson (far right) Feb. 14. Johnson recently finished writing her first novel “Bird Watcher.” She also painted the cover of the book. Photo by Jeanne C. Carbone

But Johnson’s genesis of her novel “Bird Watcher” is just as interesting.

“I met Marjorie 10 years ago,” said Jurado. “We met at the Ninety-Nines [International Organization for Women Pilots]. We’ve been flying friends for a long time. She is a woman of many talents, very smart and sweet. She even painted the cover of the novel.”

“Bird Watcher” narrates the story of Jerry Christensen and the theft of his Cessna, which disappears from its tie-down at Palo Alto Airport. Air Traffic Control doesn’t help and the FBI isn’t interested. The main character, a schoolteacher, is determined to catch the thief himself. Acting on hunches, extreme plans and his experience as a pilot, he chases the birdwatcher, thief and terrorist villain across California and the Western states.

“From the first explosion, Marjorie leads the reader through a twisting trail of discovery,” said Carolyn Donnell, who first met Johnson at a Santa Clara Adult Education class while Johnson was working on the book. Donnell is mentioned in the acknowledgements for her insights during the writing process. “Wild chases, captures, escapes, false clues and sheer determination culminate in an unexpected ending. Mystery, action humanity; all elements of a great read,” Donnell said of the book.

She added that the silver-haired great-grandmother “is a dynamo of talents and accomplishments; teacher, mathematician, pilot and now a novelist. I can’t keep up with her.”

Attending the signing were Johnson’s fellow adult education class students as well as California Writers Club members. Johnson is membership chair for the organization.

Rosemarie Niles purchased a copy of the novel because her daughter often flew out of Palo Alto Airport, and she and her husband owned a hotdog cart there for about a year-and-a-half pre-9/11. We often saw all the birds flying around—the birds mentioned in her book,” said Niles. “Marjorie gave a lovely insightful talk about how she came to write her book. It’s fiction of course, but has a background in our area that makes it familiar.”

The Palo Alto Airport borders the Baylands Nature Preserve, a wildlife preserve popular with bird-watching enthusiasts. The area is home to over 500 Canada geese and many snowy egrets. The final approach to the runway is so close to the duck pond that birders with binoculars can read the plane tail numbers and pilots are always on the lookout for bird activity. Johnson takes the relationship between birders and pilots to the ultimate confrontation.

But besides being an edge of your seat thriller, “Bird Watcher” encompasses the Bay Area, as well as San Luis Obispo, Los Banos and the Barstow/Mohave Desert area as Christensen searches for clues to find his Cessna.

While not an English teacher, Johnson has done quite a bit of writing. The former high school mathematics teacher spent 30 years in the classroom before retiring in 1991. She is married, has four children and is a great-grandmother. Before writing “Bird Watcher,” she penned more than 90 mathematical articles for various professional journals including “The Fibonacci Quarterly.”

She learned to fly in a Cessna 172 out of Palo Alto Airport and earned her instrument rating at the Mineta San Jose International Airport. She and husband Frank have flown across the United States several times as well as to Baja, Calif., Canada and Australia.

“This is an inspiration to all of us at the California Writer’s Club,” said Mary Chiao. “Many of us want to write and publish a book. It’s wonderful that she succeeded.”

“Bird Watcher,” a novel by Marjorie Johnson is available at Barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com.