What Does Maura Stokes Like to Do When She Is Not Being a Statistician?

What do you do in statistics?

Currently, I am senior director for statistical development at SAS. I also oversee the documentation process for my division and its web presence. I have held various positions at SAS over the years, and prior to that I had a stint at Research Triangle Institute. I have also participated with the ASA organization, serving COPSS [Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies] and COM [Committee on Meetings] and chairing the ad hoc group charged with beginning the Conference on Statistical Practice.

What are your hobbies?

I ride a bike, play golf, and read.

And?

I write. I consider writing to be my avocation. It’s way too much work to consider it a hobby! I also consider it my early morning career, because I do most of my writing from 5 to 7 and on Saturday mornings. Occasionally, I get away for a writing retreat for a few days and just focus on writing.

I just published my first upper-middle-grade novel, Fadeaway.

How long has this been going on?

I’ve been writing since I was a kid. I took a creative writing course in college, and I wrote a couple of columns for the school newspaper. Grad school in biostatistics and getting started in my statistical career limited my time for writing, but eventually I got back to it and earned an MFA in writing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, with a focus on writing for children and young adults.

So you are really using both sides of your brain?

Yes and no. I’m left-handed, and that means the left- and right-side brain paradigm gets pretty scrambled! Some people ask whether the reasoning and logic of my mathematics background helps with the plotting aspects of writing fiction, and the answer is not at all. Either that or I am so weak at it that the math levels the playing field for me!

So tell us about this book you published in June.

Fadeaway is the story of a 14-year-old girl who loses her best friend right before their freshman year of high school. They are basketball players, and Sam is devastated at the idea of even playing ball again without Reagan. However, Reagan shows back up, at least to Sam, as she navigates the way to life without her best friend. So, it’s a story about dealing with grief, but it does have a comic tone to it.

Is the book autobiographical?

Only in that it’s set in a small town in New Hampshire, where I grew up, and I did play basketball.

How do you get a fiction book published?

It’s not easy! These days, you really need to have an agent, although you can still directly submit to editors—usually those you meet at conferences and workshops and the like. I met an agent through an alumni conference at my school, and she was interested enough in the beginning chapters of this book to keep in touch. Almost a year later, she offered me agency based on the completed manuscript and, after a series of submissions, sold the book to a publisher starting a new middle-grade imprint.

You then go through an editing process, the cover art design, the decision on the title, and—a year or two later—you get a box of your books in the mail! My local bookstore, Flyleaf Books of Chapel Hill, was kind enough to host a book launch for Fadeaway. I did a short presentation, read a few sections, and signed books. It was a lot of fun!

Where can you get a copy?

The usual places. You could order it at your book store or online. However, I don’t see Amazon offering to bundle it with Categorical Data Analysis Using SAS—my other book!