Leaning into the Curves

Conversation with the Authors

Q: Mormons and motorcycles… that seems an unlikely pairing. But motorcycles are big part of this new book, Leaning into the Curves. How did you come up with that idea?

Nancy: A few years ago, I sat next to a couple from my ward, Tom and Elaine Kenney, at a High Priest activity. During dinner Tom entertained us about his and Elaine’s adventures with the Temple Rider’s Association. That’s a group LDS motorcycle riders who combine road trips with temple service.

Q: So there really is a “Mormon motorcycle gang.”

Nancy: Yes. There are more than 700 members worldwide these days. Anyway, the more Tom talked, the more intrigued I began. Before the evening was over I was certain there was the basis from a great book in their adventures.

Q: Did you jump right into the project?

Nancy:  (Laughs.) No way was that possible! Carroll, Lael, and I were in the middle of book three of The Company of Good Women trilogy. But the idea stayed in the back of my mind.

Carroll: Then in August of 2008, Lael and I came to Salt Lake so the three of us could do a book signing during Education Week. That’s when I saw an article in Deseret News about the Temple Rider Association’s 20th anniversary rally in Manti, Utah. Now I was intrigued, too.

Q: That brings up a question. Only two of the Virtual Sisters worked on this book. Why is that?

Carroll: After the big push to finish the last book in the trilogy, Lael was ready to take a break. Plus she had some personal projects she wanted to develop. So Nancy and I, who are real-life sisters, decided to write together.

The three of us will write together again somewhere down the line. We have an idea bubbling on the back burner.

Q: Back to Leaning into the Curves. I’m guessing you had to do a lot of research on the Temple Riders and motorcycles in general to give your book an authentic flavor. 

Nancy: No kidding. Although our brother has a Gold Wing, neither one of us were riders or familiar with cycles. I learned a lot about the Temple Riders in my visits with the Kenneys, who are members. Some of the stories they told me while going through their photo album ended up giving us ideas for the book.

Carroll: I had a great time interviewing anyone with a motorcycle who would talk to me. I had phone conversations with Arizona members of the TRA, and I talked strangers whose bikes were parked in front of businesses or restaurants I was visiting. I discovered that motorcycle riders love to tell about their cycles and where they’ve ridden. Cynthia Gillman, an LDS Harley rider from the Phoenix area, was my go-to gal whenever I had a question.

Q: People might not think of motorcycle riders being older, but the fictional TRA members you depict are mostly retirement age. Is that true of the organization?

Carroll: Generally, yes. It’s interesting to know that as the Baby Boomers have begun retiring, there’s been a corresponding increase in the number of older riders. The romance of the road calls them, I guess.

Q: Is that why you made the main characters, Molly and Hank, that age?

Nancy: Partly, but also so that Carroll and I could explore what happens in a relationship when a man who’s focused mostly on work suddenly doesn’t have a job to go to in the morning. It’s a change that affects both marriage partners.

Q: In the book, Hank comes home with a motorcycle, and Molly hates motorcycles. That’s a common conflict, I understand. And either the motorcycle goes or the man goes.

Carroll: Something or someone has to give. So the question in the book is: Will Hank’s unexpected response to retirement tear the marriage apart or will he and Molly find their way to new understanding and deeper love?

Q: So the book is more about relationships than motorcycle.

Carroll: Leaning into the Curves falls in the Women’s Fiction or Chick Lit category. Whatever the plot, those books are always about relationships.

Q: One thing I’m curious about. Have either one of you been on a motorcycle?

Carroll: As a passenger, yes. Mark Hendricks, the second counselor of my ward took me for a ride on his BMW, and Nancy’s neighbor, Tom, took me for a ride on his Gold Wing. Both time, I got off the cycles thinking, “I could get into this!” 

Q Has writing the book changed your attitude about motorcycle and motorcyclists in any way?

Nancy: There’s a bumper sticker that says, Start seeing motorcycles! I’ve started paying more attention to motorcycles when I’m driving, what lane they’re in and where they are going.