What inspired you to write your first book? My first novel
(under the bed somewhere) is a thriller inspired by a newspaper
photograph of a runaway girl. I wanted to tell her story. I spent 4
years telling it. I couldn’t get her sad face out of my mind. But also –
someone at my 5-year high school reunion said, “Oh, I’ll bet before we
see her again, she’ll write a book.” I felt challenged by that – and
before the 10th reunion, I had.
Have you ever had writer’s block? If so, what do you do about
it? I went to a writer’s conference as a young poet, feeling nervous and
insecure, and an established poet was condescending and insulting to
me. Instead of realizing he was a sexist jerk, I took his words to heart
and believed that I was wasting my time. I didn’t write for about three
years after that. He broke my heart. But I believed him instead of
believing in myself. That’s really the key. You have to put on your
writing self as you put on a cloak – it is all yours, and no one can
take it off of you without your permission. I slowly learned to wear my cloak again. And it’s all mine. I will wear this til death!
What is your favorite quote, by whom, and why? Ernest Hemingway says in A Moveable Feast to write one true thing
every day. He doesn’t mean in your journal. He means to write one
beautifully, emotionally true thing. If that is describing the color of
the sunrise under a birds wings, or what your morning coffee tastes
like, that’s as true as writing anything else. Your Facebook status can
be your one true thing – if it’s honest and heartfelt.
Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?
I really learned about structuring a novel, about creating resonance,
about revision. I was in my graduate fiction workshops at the time and
they were a tough crowd, believe me. Sharpened knives. I also took it to
writing conferences, and there were sharp knives there, too. I learned
to have a tougher skin from those sessions, but also how to kill my
darlings. I killed off three beloved characters for the final draft.
That’s about half the volume. That was hard – but necessary. You see
only palimpsests of these characters in the final story.
Why did you choose to write this particular book? I originally
began it as a way to tell my then-husband’s priest story – it was
called “A Priest’s Tale.” But reality was very different from where the
story wanted to go. I went with the story instead of the
documentary-style tell-all. One of my poetry professors told me, “Don’t
let the truth get in the way of a good poem,” and the same is true of a
story. I had to leave “the real story” behind very early on in order to
make beloved characters and believable plot and action. So it’s based,
somewhat, in truth, but it is by no means a true story.
Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre - Contemporary Romance
Rating – PG13
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