LaRene Gaunt and her daughter Lisa Mangum have strong opinions about paper clips.
Gaunt, assistant managing editor of the Ensign, and Mangum, assistant editor at Deseret Book, like to joke they are a mother-daughter match made in heaven.
"We have this joke that in our pre-mortal existence there was probably a whole group of people talking about grammar, punctuation and organization," Mangum said. "Pretty soon everyone got bored and walked away. Mom and I kept talking about it and stayed so interested that Heavenly Father said, 'OK, you two have to be part of the same family because nobody else would get this much joy out of the relative merits of oversize paper clips."
Whether their love for grammar and organization is pre-mortal or not, the two seem to have been born with a gift for writing.
"I think that Lisa was born with it in her. She loves the word … I would never have guessed that my writing ever had any influence on her because it just seemed like it was in her soul and her heart," Gaunt said.
Gaunt, however, started out as an artist. She was a photographer, art teacher and interior designer. She was more interested in painting, drawing and fabrics than the written word. After graduating from college, Gaunt didn't know which direction she should go and asked her father for a blessing.
"In that blessing it was very clear. He said that I had a gift for writing that had lain dormant for too long, meaning I'd never done it," Gaunt said. "He said I would have the power to write and people would weep because of the things I wrote because it would bear witness of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Working at the church magazines — that is what I do."
Years later at the age of 37, Gaunt decided to resign as PTA president and follow through with the counsel she had been given in the blessing. She began to write.
"It was like I had the Midas touch. Everything I wrote got published," Gaunt said.
A friend whom Gaunt worked with on one of her books suggested that she proofread for the Ensign during general conference. During conference, the Ensign puts out 120 pages in three weeks, compared to the regular 80 pages in 18 months, and they needed help. Gaunt began helping out during conference times. Through a series of events and over time, Gaunt eventually found herself working at the Ensign.
"I was seeing my mom write, publish books and be interested in editing," Mangum said. "She would teach me the (editing) marks and how to edit and I was really interested in it."
By the time Mangum graduated as an English major from the University of Utah, she knew she wanted to be an editor — she just didn't know how she was going to become one.
It was through Gaunt's position at the Ensign that she knew of an opening coming up at Bookcraft, and she told her daughter to apply. After hearing about the opening at Bookcraft, Mangum took their test and scored the highest they'd ever seen in proofreading. But she didn't get the job.
"I was really kind of upset about it. Three or four months later, they had a new position and they wanted me to interview for it," Mangum said.
She interviewed and knew that this time, she had the job. Mangum became the editorial assistant at Bookcraft four months to the day after her graduation. In 1999, Bookcraft and Deseret Book merged, and eventually she was promoted to assistant editor.
"There isn't much in LDS writing that doesn't go through one of the two of us," Gaunt said, laughing.
The huge success of Mangum's recent books in her series, "The Hourglass Door," seems right in step with her mother. Gaunt has had six books published, a board game, three card games and a cookbook that sold more than half a million copies.
"Seeing me have books published probably made it seem like not a big deal to think that you could write a book and have it published," Gaunt said about her daughter.
Mangum agreed. "It made it seem possible. Like you could do it. My mom did it, so I could do it."
e-mail: hloftus@desnews.com