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Following her muse

Juanita Holbrook Ingram took up her pen when a novel failed to impress her. Three books later, she's on a roll.

SUN BAY SOUTH - Clay Owen had a mission to accomplish before accepting his first assignment as a United States Marshal. He had to find a 16-year-old boy who had run away from his home in the Indian Territory to join Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders.

When the train reached St. Louis, Clay unloaded his horse and found a place to board him for the night. With his saddle slung over his left shoulder and his gear in his right hand, he headed for the hotel that was close to the train station to spend the night.

The train takes Owen, a lead character in Juanita Holbrook Ingram's latest novel, to Tampa and a life of ... well, you'll have to read the book.

Ingram, author of three books, spent years crafting stories about Oklahoma only to find her best tale in her back yard. Blue Mountain, published in September, begins in Tampa. It tracks a lawman looking for a young boy who ran away from Oklahoma to join the Rough Riders and fight in the Spanish-American War.

"I read that they would have shipped out right here in Tampa, that one of the encampments shipped out of Port Tampa City, which is right near here," said Ingram, who lives in Sun Bay South.

"I thought it was unbelievable."

The research, discovery and creating is why Ingram picked up a pen four years ago at age 65 and stroked a new career.

"It was a window that opened, and I want to do as much as I can before it closes," she said.

Growing up in rural Ohio, Ingram had no plans of becoming a novelist. Her eyes were set early on her husband, Bob, whom she met while riding the bus to school when she was 15. Ingram enrolled in nursing school after high school, and a year later Bob received military orders. Ingram wanted to join him, which meant being married - and dropping out of school.

"They wouldn't allow you to be in nursing school while you were married," she said.

She spent the next 23 years as an Air Force wife, raising four children, losing one to illness, traveling the globe and retiring to Tampa in 1976, a mile from MacDill Air Force Base.

Ingram and her husband went to work at the University of South Florida, Bob managing printing services on the second floor of administration and Ingram working as a word processor down the hall. She eventually began writing news releases and taking writing courses.

They retired together in 1996, packed up a Winnebago the next day and set out to explore the country.

They traveled the West and Midwest every summer, visiting museums and reveling in the history. During a 1999 trip, Ingram picked up a popular historical romance - she won't say which one - and put it down in disgust.

"It was a piece of junk."

That fall, she pulled out a legal pad started writing.

"And it was easy," she said.

Her first story begins in 1893 in Missouri, where 10-year-old Jessie runs away and finds herself alone in the middle of the Indian Territory of Oklahoma. Ingram incorporated the tidbits she and her husband dug up in their travels: real gunfights, life along the railroad lines. She titled the book Just One Bullet Left.

Bob Ingram, who serves as her editor, has just as much fun as his wife.

"It's just been a real adventure all the way through," he said.

Mrs. Ingram worked on Bullet for a year. Then she began her second novel, Finding Dakota, about a part-white, part-Apache boy and life in Indian territory.

She had the two manuscripts with her when she and her husband were traveling in Oklahoma in 2002. They connected with a publisher in Stillwater. She left copies of the manuscripts and he called her in December. He wanted to publish them both.

"When she got the word, she was floating," her husband said.

She got her son, an artist, to create the book covers and maps. The couple returned to Oklahoma earlier this year to pick up the new paperbacks and promote them at book signings in Ohio, Oklahoma and Iowa. Ingram also handed over the manuscript for the third novel, which picks up the story from her first.

Reader comments started to come in.

From Darrel D. Ray, retired professor of reading education at Oklahoma State University:

"Finding Dakota, a story of an odyssey involving a lost child, takes the reader on an adventure through the territory that would one day become Oklahoma. Episodic in nature, the tale reminds the reader of a John Jakes novel."

From www.amazon.com a reader from Asheville, N.C., recently gave both Ingram's books five stars. For Finding Dakota:

"This was a great book! Even more exciting than the first book in the series, Just One Bullet Left. I love the way historical facts and places are blended into the story. I can't wait for the third book."

Ingram stays busy sketching her fourth story while arranging book signings to promote Blue Mountain. In her next book, characters Mike and Jessie from her first novel may find themselves in medical school.

And some harrowing adventure might whisk Clay Owens off ... well, you'll have to read the book.

- Denise Watson Batts can be reached at dbatts@sptimes.com or 226-3401.

Juanita Holbrook Ingram will sign copies of her latest book, Blue Mountain, from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday at the Henry B. Plant Museum, 401 W Kennedy Blvd. Call 254-1891 for more information.

AGE: 69

FAMILY: husband, three grown children

CAREER: author of three books

PAST LIFE: word processor at University of South Florida, housewife

HOBBIES: collects rare and antique books

FAVORITE AUTHOR: doesn't have one but has been influenced by Louis L'Amour

AFTER READING A BOOK: "I always ask myself, "What did I learn from reading this book? Did I learn anything worthwhile, or was it a waste of time?' "

WHERE TO GET HER BOOKS: Inkwood Book Store, 216 S Armenia Ave.; Haslam's Book Store, 2025 Central Ave., St. Petersburg; online at www.newforums.com and www.amazon.com