Business Innovators Radio - The Inspired Impact Podcast with Judy Carlson-Interview with Patricia Raybon, Christy Award-Winning Author of Books, Devotionals, and Nove

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

A writer of faith by day and mystery by night, Patricia Raybon is a Christy Award-winning author and essayist who writes the Annalee Spain Mystery Series and authors devotional writing for Our Daily Bread. A newspaper journalist right out of the gate, Patricia turned to mystery fiction during the pandemic and hasn’t looked back. Her debut novel, “All That Is Secret,” won a Christy Award for First Novel and was picked by NBA All-Star Steph Curry as a Literati Book Club selection. The series’ second installment, “Double the Lies,” won the Christianity Today Book Award for Fiction. The third in the series, “Truth Be Told,” was a New York Times Book Review pick among “4 Great Fictional Detectives.”Patricia cut her writing teeth in high-pressure newsrooms and won multiple awards for feature writing during her years at The Denver Post, where she was editor of the Sunday Contemporary Magazine, and later at the Scripps Howard Rocky Mountain News. Mid-career she taught print journalism for 15 years to bright graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Colorado at Boulder.Her personal essays have been published in the New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, USA Today, USA Weekend, Guideposts, In Touch Magazine, Christianity Today, the Washington Post, and for National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition.A lifelong Colorado resident, Patricia lives near Denver with her husband Dan, a retired educator. With two grown daughters and five grandchildren, they enjoy movies, popcorn, college hoops, and Masterpiece Theatre historical mysteries on PBS. They also love spoiling their grand-dog Max and grand-kitty Mittens.https://www.patriciaraybon.com/ https://www.facebook.com/patricia.raybonhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/patriciaraybon/https://x.com/patriciaraybon*********************************************************Judy is the CEO & Founder of the Judy Carlson Financial Group. She helps her clients design, build, and implement fully integrated and coordinated financial plans from today through life expectancy and legacy.She is an Independent Fiduciary and Comprehensive Financial Planner who specializes in Wealth Decumulation Strategies. Judy is a CPA, Investment Advisor Representative, Life and Health Insurance Licensed, and Long-Term Care Certified.Judy’s mission is to educate and empower her clients with an all-inclusive financial plan that encourages and motivates them to pursue their lifetime financial goals and dreams.Learn More: https://judycarlson.com/Investment Adviser Representative of and advisory services offered through Royal Fund Management, LLC, an SEC Registered Adviser.The Inspired Impact Podcasthttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/the-inspired-impact-podcast/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/the-inspired-impact-podcast-with-judy-carlson-interview-with-patricia-raybon-christy-award-winning-author-of-books-devotionals-and-novels

Welcome to the Inspired Impact Podcast, where dedicated female professionals share how they inspire impact every day. Authentic stories, passionate commitment, lives transformed. I'm your host, Judy Carlson. Welcome to today's episode of the Inspired Impact Podcast. Today I have the distinct pleasure of introducing you to an author, who writes faith by day and mystery by night. I love one of her taglines that says, Great mystery, real history.

I can attest to that because I met her through her mystery series that I'm currently reading. I'm so excited to introduce you to Patricia Raybon. Welcome to the podcast. I'm delighted to be here with you, Judy. Thanks so much for inviting me. So let's start by talking about where did you get started, Patricia? What inspired you throughout your journey to pursue the path you're on now?

How has it allowed you to make an impact on your field? I can't wait to hear your story. Well, I love the question. When people ask me how I became a writer, the first answer is that I loved being a reader. From my earliest years, I loved reading those first grade readers. And maybe we're reading a little in kindergarten, too. But I loved the experience of diving into a story. And by the time I got in third grade, I was writing my own stories.

I had a teacher, third grade teacher, who asked me one time, if I said, Patricia, when you grow up, do you want to be a writer? And I, you know, my eyes lit up and told her, yes, yes. And then Judy, she said, you are a writer. Can you imagine her teacher affirming that dream in a child who at that point was, I might have been seven or eight years old. But, when my very first book was published and I had my first book signing, I invited her, my former third grade teacher to be my special guest at that book signing. So it started early like that. But there's another part of the story. I went on to earn a degrees in journalism with the support of my parents, who never said to me that aspiring to be authorship was, you know, a crazy idea. They just always support of it.

So I earned my first degree in journalism, started working at the Denver Post in the newsroom on the city desk. And one day, I noticed a note on the bulletin board. award announcing a position in the features department. And that then, at that point, I think it was called lifestyles at that point. But, you know, think of it as human interest writing, if you're not familiar with the term feature, news feature, right? And I wanted to move up in my career. And so I did, I put, you've heard that.

phrase that little hinges open big door. Amen. I remember standing there in that newsroom, a busy newsroom, people going here and there and typing up their news stories and photographers moving around and rushing around. And I was so young, really young, just out of college. but I did submit my name and I was selected for the position. So I literally went upstairs to work in features where I went from writing about facts to also writing about feelings. And I didn't know at the time, but the experience of diving into life, and people's issues and problems in a news feature way turned out to be a great foundation for the kind of writing I'm doing right now, which is writing novels. So I didn't see it at the time.

I also didn't know that my faith experience, which I grew up in the church, if you've ever heard somebody, use that phrase. So from early age, the first thing I learned about the Bible was through stories. We used our teachers used what we called felt boards. And we have the characters on the felt boards. And so all of these things were saying to me that putting down life experiences in the form of a story. was a divine, if you will, and an appropriate thing to do and an exciting path to take. So that's my long answer to the question of how I got started. All those things combined were operating to tell me that stories make. matter and that I could make a life and a living telling stories, my own stories through

memoir, first person essays, and then through the stories of other people. I remember just to finish this thought, when I was in the features department, it was during the time when long-form journalism was very popular. And so we were encouraged to write these long page one Sunday stories. If you remember when Sunday newspaper used to be a really big product and a big deal. And so we were write these, I wrote for the Sunday magazine at the Denver Post. and at some point became editor of the Sunday magazine of the Denver Post. And then during the week we were writing feature stories.

I wrote one time called Grandmothers Too Soon. And it was about women who had had babies as young teenagers, maybe 12 or 13 years old. And then when they were in their 30s, their children were having children. And so that that feature story explored the lives of young women who were exploring the experience of being what they called grandmothers too soon. So that was the kind of story that we would present, explore, report and present. And I never ever felt like going to my job every day. I never felt like I was going to work. I just loved feature writing.

Later when I went up to the, left the news business, I went up to the University of Colorado and taught for years, 15 plus years. And I taught not just news reporting, but I taught feature writing, feature reporting, profiles, how to write a memoir, news profiles. And I just feel very grateful to have landed in this life path that has allowed me to do this work in the writing formats that I enjoy so much, including mysteries.

Love the genre. Just love it. When you were in the features department, are you the only one that was responsible for coming up with the ideas of what you were going to explore and write about? or were there a lot of people who were, you know, Patricia, this would be a great idea, or Patricia, have you ever thought of this, or have you explored this idea? Because Grandmothers Too Soon is a phenomenal article title with an amazing story, but how would someone even think of that? Well, all of the ways you just described are part of the work.

And in fact, when I was at the university teaching in the School of Journalism, early in the semester, there was always a lot of efforts spent on how to come up with good stories. the one answer is to pay attention to life. And so I would assign my students to come back a week later with three to five solid story ideas based on observing what's going on around them in their environment, talking to people they know, listening to suggestions. editors who know their writers would say, oh, this sounds like a Pat Rayvon story, you know, example. And so they would make that suggestion. And then as the readers began to know a journalist byline

and see your stories in the paper frequently, then they would say the same thing. I saw your article on such and such. I thought you might be interested in, and this other thing. And then, of course, a big part of it was being able to come in every week. And we would have story meetings. It seems to me we'd have story meetings on Monday mornings.

And we would, as a staff, sit down, share our story ideas. If a reporter had an idea but needed sources, they would ask, I'm doing a story on grandmother's, soon. Does anybody have, know anybody who would be a good resource for that story? So we would share resources with one another. And then just get out and beat the bushes. And all of those things together led to, you know, great story angles and great story ideas. And I was talking to a young man And just this week, his grandmother asked him, he wants to be an author and his grandmother asked him to call me.

And so I said to him, one way a writer knows what to write about is to think about their own life, their own identity. Who are you? And so I talked about all the people I am. And I teach this when I teach memoir, too, but I am a westerner. I grew up in Colorado, for example. I am a wife, a grandmother, a sister, a neighbor. I'm all of those relational things.

I'm African American. I am now a woman of a certain age. And, oh gosh, it's a long, long list. I'm a sibling, just many things. And I have written in all of those voices. I've done a lot of mom pieces, a lot of wife pieces, a lot of faith pieces. I mentioned I grew up in the church. And so I was saying to this young man, if you know who you are, all of your writing identities, all your writing voices,

you'll never run out of things to write about. But a big part of it is writing is paying attention to life, to living, to what's happening in the world, to what's not happening in the world, but should be happening, to what gives you joy, what makes you angry, fearful, all of those human things. and those are the things that have inspired me over the years to keep at it. Well, at one point, you know, being an author is a tough job. At one point, I thought, well, maybe I'll just, maybe I'll sell real estate.

Maybe I'll get a real estate license. I don't know where I got that idea. And because I know where I have an author friend who did leave publishing and got her real estate license and is actually doing well as a realtor. But as I sat down with myself, I understood that that was a worthy vocation and life path. but that I wanted to honor the main path that I've been called to. And in fact, Judy's interesting. I'm actually a landlord. My sister and I rent our late mother's home.

So I ended up a little bit in real estate anyway. I know that my calling is to write. in addition to writing mystery novels, I also am a contributing regular contributor to our daily bread ministries, which publishes globally, they're daily devotional. And so I have that devotional writing to do as well. That is heavily informed by my background growing up in the face. context. And so I put the real estate license idea on the back, back, back burner, and

I am continuing to write. And the world and people in it inspire me every day. I have so many notes and things that are so important. You have taught me so many life lessons in just the short time we've been together. But so many of us, when we're asked who we are, what we do, we identify with one thing. And that's the job at hand that we're doing on a daily basis. And so to take a space of time and get in touch with who you are, you said one day I sat down with myself.

And I realized that these other things are very worthy professions. but I want to honor the path that I've been called to. How many people really figure that out and life passes them by and they never figure it out? And I'm just so honored to learn that from you today. Yes. I think that may be true for a lot of people. You know, when I first went up to the university, on the first day, we would always, I would always invite my students to say who they are.

Typically, you know, they might say, you know, I'm Patricia Raybon, I'm a sophomore from Denver, Colorado. They might say that. But then I would say, yes, but who are you, who are you really are? And so then they would, and I say to them, you know, it's just us in this room. This is a writing space and it's a safe place. So tell us who you really are. And they would then start to think about it. And I remember having the students say, you know, I'm the daughter of hippies.

My parents, I grew up in the mountains with my parents, you know, we barely had running water. And so, you know, so that kind of answer. And another young lady said, I am the child of divorce. My parents broke up when I was five years old. And it has been the biggest, made the biggest impact on me than anything else. And so as they began to safely say and seize on what life has given them, then they began to identify their own writing agendas. And so, but before, if we're not invited to do that, a lot of us may not, you know, ever do that.

Like the young man I was talking to just the other day, I said, thing I know about you is that you are sibling. He's the oldest of four. And I told him, I said, you know, you could write out the rest of your life about that. You know, how, what those experiences have been like. And then he told me about sports he had played in college and sports journalism is up a place where some of the best writing, journalistic writing, occurs. And we talked about sports journalism and what he could do with that. So to reply to your point, for each of us, when we say to ourselves, what makes me different than all the other thousands, millions, billions of people who are out there, what makes me different from all those

other people. Then we can begin to find out, in a business way, our brand, you know, what sets us apart. And then what we have to offer to the world because of that difference. And first, you know, it's matters to me as an African-American woman. I always need to talk about the fact that I'm, I grew under Jim Crow segregation in the 50s. And when I say that, Judy, I am telling my age when I say that. But it is a part of who I am. Yeah, it is. And so when people don't want, you know, they're saying, oh, don't talk about race or don't talk about black history.

What they're saying is don't talk about who you are. And or, you know, put a sock in it. And writing says you'd better talk about who you are and boldly and bravely, even when people don't want you to. I spoke at a high school about a year ago and a young woman raised her hand in the back and she said, what if people in your family don't want you to write about something that you want. to write about. And so I said to her, when people don't want us to write something, that's the thing we need to write about most.

I love that. Yeah, exactly. We do live with other people, you know, in life. So I said, you know, what the writer has to do is sit down first and do the work, do the writing. and to the best of your ability. But then share it with those people who are afraid of what you want to say. And that happened with my sister. I have one sibling, an older sister.

And my first book, a nonfiction book called My First White Friend, was my actually my 10-year project. I needed to get a book published in order to get tenure at the university. And so I decided to write a reflection on making peace with white America. That was my idea.

But when I wrote it, it turned out that there was all this unfinished business in my own family. And so I needed to write that too. And my sister was very upset with me. She said, you know, why are you writing all this stuff about us? But once I wrote it and showed her what I wrote, then she said, oh, now I understand.

I understand why this was something that you just could not let go. You had to write about these things. And she became a huge cheerleader for the book. I ended up on the Today Show with that book. Oh my gosh. I want to read it. It's still in 15. Okay.

25 plus years. And so, in fact, one of the suburban Denver libraries emailed me just this week and said one of their noontime book clubs is reading. that book and they wanted me to come talk about it. So think if I had just said, oh, I better not write this. You know, I said to that young lady, that young student in high school, you know, those are the things that writers have to challenge themselves to sit down and write, especially when somebody's saying, oh, you shouldn't, you shouldn't write it. That's because it needs to be said.

When you started writing your more recent mystery series, how did you choose the time frame, what was going on in Denver at the time? How did all of that come to be? I was, well, in two ways. I've always loved the mystery genre. from the Nancy Drew Days. I've been a reader and lover and a fan of mysteries, especially clergy mysteries, again, because of the church experience. So I love the Father Brown mysteries, for example,

for those who may be familiar with the G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries that are dramatized on masterpiece on PBA. Yes. And so in my mind, and I love fiction. And as a journalist and as a nonfiction author, I wanted to, I felt a hunger to learn how to write a fictional story. you know, because I'd spent all these decades writing nonfiction.

But that has taught me that if I had learned to do that, I could learn to write fiction. And so I wanted to try that. And in the meantime, as a Coloradoan, someone who grew up here, I had become aware of the history in my life. state of the Ku Klux Klan. In the 1920s, Colorado had the second highest clan membership per capita of any state in the U.S.

The first was Indiana, the state of Indiana. So this is the second iteration of the clan, which started in the 1800s, and then after World War I in the 1920s, it under the disguise of Americanism, the clan took off again, you know, by saying all these outsiders, black people, Jewish people, Catholic people, essentially non-white Protestants, are not

true Americans. And so the clan just became very popular. And so that was really never taught in Colorado history when I came through public school. But there were some really good books about the clan. So I had just been reading about how that had happened in Colorado. And then I thought it would be interesting to place a fictional detective in that era of the 1920s in Colorado. And so it all started to sort of take shape and come together. And then during the pandemic, I said to my husband, you know, since we were all isolated and, you know, for that very curious time of the pandemic, I said to my husband, what if I used this time to finish this mystery that I've always been thinking about and working on? And I finished the first one, my agent really liked it,

and my nonfiction agent really liked it. And he sold it very quickly. And then my publisher asked me if I could turn it into a series because mystery readers often really love mystery series. So I went from wondering if I could finish a mystery to having to write three of them because I got a three book contract. But, you know, faith is a mystery. The Apostle Paul has a statement where he says, now we see through a glass darkly. He's talking about how we can't see on the other side of life.

We can't see it on the other side of heaven. Right. He can't see that. So he says, now we see through a glass darkly. Darkly. And that's one of the one of many mysteries that the Bible talks to me. And so I love the invitation that a mystery gives to explore. To search out truth, that's what detective stories do.

They search out truth. What's the truth? There's a situation. Usually it's a murder, clearly the worst crime against another person who gives this crime. What's the truth of this? What happened and who did it? and Agatha Christie, of course, one of the iconic authors of the Golden Age of Mysteries, says that everybody in the mystery story is hiding something, not just the villain.

And so the detective, then knowing that is trying to uncover truth, everybody's truth, including in my case of my mysteries, including my character's own truth. What is her? You know, she's asking a question about herself and about a belief. So it becomes a lot more than a who done it. There's a lot more to offer a reader in a mystery than who did it. Right. Wow.

The ultimate question is what's the truth about myself? I think that's why people, I hope that's why people are enjoying the stories. Oh, for sure. Yeah. And have you uncovered truth about yourself through writing about your detective in this series? Yes, yes, yes. One of the intriguing things about writing fiction is that it's heavily done. dependent, especially popular fiction, like the mystery genre, heavily dependent on a protagonist who has the guts to do things most of us would ordinarily do.

Because if you invest in a book and in reading a whole book about a character, we want to read about people who are courageous and, brave and, you know, are out there fighting the world. That means the author has to challenge yourself to write a character who's like that. And so in making my character a lot tougher than I am and a lot more determined than I am. and I'm willing to go into dark places and open doors on scary things. I've learned that, oh, I can do some of that too. You know, I can today talk to Judy, even though my desktop wasn't connecting this on Zoom.

I can pick up my phone in this digital age. when I wasn't born into the digital age, it's new to me, but I can try these new, hard, scary things too. And I was talking to one of my granddaughters. She's in high school, and she loves to write too.

And I said, I never knew that about writing fiction, that the character you create turns around and teaches you things. Oh. So, that's the thing. I don't see that coming, Judy.

Wow, that's amazing. That's so thought-provoking. We should all go out and write about protagonists, right? And you mentioned your granddaughter who loves to write. I was going to ask you about your writing legacy. You mentioned you have two daughters and five. grandchildren. Is that right, Pat? That's right, yes.

So they have observed you all of their lives writing. Yes. And all of them loved to write. In fact, I wrote a book with my younger daughter. Our younger daughter

converted to Islam right before 9-11 when she was in college. And And so that matters because, as I said, I grew up as a follower of Christ. You know, I always have different faith systems. So for me to have a daughter who converted to Islam then presents me with a problem,

which writers know means it's time to write. And so she is now a middle school principal. But at the time, she was teaching in the great school levels. And language arts was one of the things she was teaching. And I had always read her writing. I knew she was a strong writer. And Judy, we were really struggling with this faith choice that she made. And because it demanded of my husband and me that we become this interfaith family

and I wasn't trying to do that. I didn't know, you know, as people say, I didn't see that on my bingo card. But we had argued about it for too long, and it was a hurtful thing for us. And so I said to her, what if we wrote a book together to examine this standoff that's challenging,

that we have and try to write our way through it to the other side. And at the time, I wasn't thinking of it as an opportunity of legacy. But now that you describe it that way, I suppose it is because we did write a book called Undivided, a Muslim daughter, her Christian mother, their path to peace. and ended up on the Today Show with that book. Oh, wow. You're amazing. Both of you, were both of you on the Today Show?

Yes. Oh, my gosh. So, you know, when we do the writing we're supposed to do, that's, you know, those kind of doors can't open. And, but the fact that we did that writing then has said to others in the family that, you You know, writing is a real profession. It's a tough one. It's tough to make a living as an author. And so I'm hoping that my grandchildren will identify other professions.

And then out of those professions, maybe they still can go back to the writing that they really do love. Right. But if they decide to do that, they will have had the experience of journeying with me. Wow. I just went back to something you said in the beginning regarding your daughter and the book you wrote together. Little hinges open big doors and wow, to open that door together. I can't even imagine. But another thing you said is let's write our way through this. And such incredible. lessons. I could talk with you for hours. Pat, you just are fascinating. You have so much inspiration for me today and for our listeners. And wow. So I think for people who are interested, tell us a little bit about you've got a website, you've got books. People can read. Are you still teaching at the university?

You're speaking to, I mean, I'd love to come and hear you speak sometime. I just need to know where they are and when they are. Well, that's funny to find out what I'm doing is to go to my website, patricia Raybon.com and click on the little invitation to get my book news. And so I tried to send out an email note every month or so. And on the note, I provide updates and tell people where I'm speaking and, you know, any book news that I might have. And I have some giveaways. And so that's a good way to, that's the best way to keep up with me.

Great. Yes. Yes. and then get reading the Patricia Ray Bon mystery series. It's fabulous. It's available. My publishers just made it available pretty much anywhere and everywhere books are sold. And the libraries have it.

It's on, you know, audio format, hardback, paperback. There's a large print edition that's now available. So it's readily available in all convenient formats. And I am honored. I got in the past couple of days, just such really nice email from people saying, I just finished Truth Be Told, or I just finished Double the Lies or one of them.

And I enjoyed it so much. When's the next book? So if you're doing a three-book series for that, then will you, do you know what you're going to be writing next yet? I am under contract for a World War II spy novel at a black finishing school in North Carolina. And so that will be, that's a standalone. Okay. And because I wanted to try it. I told my editor in a Zoom call the other day that I didn't really appreciate until now that a standalone truly has to stand on its own.

It's a challenging writing assignment, but I'm enjoying that. And then I'm hoping that I can return to the Annalise Bain series because I really, really love the character. and there are more things she needs to do. Oh, I love it. I can't wait. Yeah, she's quite a character that you wrote about. My goodness, you have, I love her in the stories. Thank you.

Oh, well, this has been absolutely my pleasure and so delightful. Thank you so much for taking time with me today and sharing your inspiration and just love it, Pat, so thank you. Thank you, Judy. I've been an honor to be your guest. My kind is thanks. Thanks so much for joining us for the Inspired Impact Podcast. To listen to past episodes, please visit theinspiredimpactpodcast.com.