An Evening With Cathy Marie Buchanan and Robin Oliveira

By Kim

Those of you who have been reading the blog for a while know that I’m a huge fan of Cathy Marie Buchanan. (You can see my review of The Day the Falls Stood Still here and The Painted Girls here.) I was so thoroughly haunted by her debut novel back in 2009 that I wrote her fan letter, and we've periodically kept in touch online ever since. When I learned she was coming to speak at the Dallas Museum of Art on February 18^th, I jumped at the chance to finally meet her in person.

Robin Oliveira's My Name is Mary Sutter has been on my to-be-read list for quite some time. I knew nothing of her new book, I Always Loved You, until a few days ago. How I missed a love story about two artists, I have no idea, because that’s the sort of book I devour. I am, in fact, scrambling through this post because I’m anxious to return to I Always Loved You. I’m currently on chapter ten and already I know this story of Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt will stay with me. Expect a review here in the next few weeks!

About 300 people packed into the Horchow Auditorium at the Dallas Museum of Art. Cathy Marie Buchanan spoke first, making the audience laugh when she confessed to being a terrible speller who wanted nothing to do with the written word until the invention of spell-check. In fact, she had chosen her college major (biochemistry) partly because it would involve very little writing. Her inspiration for The Painted Girls came from the years she spent training as a classical ballet dancer in her hometown of Niagara Falls, Ontario. Degas prints hung on the walls of her dance studio. Years later she watched a documentary about Degas’ statue, Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen, and knew she must write the model’s story. Her reading of the passage in The Painted Girls when Marie first sees her statue drew sympathetic gasps from those seated around me, especially as Buchanan had already discussed the hateful comments made about it at its unveiling. I admit I got misty-eyed, partly because Buchanan significantly changed the tone of her voice. I "heard" Marie and I ached for her.

I'm surrounded by brilliance! - Photo by Deborah Downes

Robin Oliveira then took the stage and entranced the audience with a story of how Edgar Degas’ friends come to his apartment to sort through his things after he had died. Mary Cassatt and her maid were among them, and Mary was on a mission to find something in particular—the letters she had written to Degas over the years. She found them and kept them alongside his letters to her until near the end of her own life. Rather than risk their correspondence being found and published later, she elected to burn them, leaving the nature of her relationship with Degas forever a mystery. This sort of gap in historical record is gold for both a novelist and their readers. One of the most moving parts of Oliveira's speech came when she showed a picture of one of Degas’ prints that featured Mary Cassatt. A reader once showed up at an event with a copy of this picture tucked into a manila folder and said Oliveira would be interested in it. In the print, Cassatt stands in front of an Etruscan tomb featuring an image of a man and woman resting in each other’s embrace. A message to Cassatt? Perhaps. I like to think so.

During the Q & A, both authors agreed their favorite part of the writing process is research and that they much prefer re-writing to composing a first draft. Buchanan is already researching her next book which, from the little she was at liberty to say, sounds both engrossing and entirely different from her other two novels. I Always Loved You just launched a couple of weeks ago; Oliveira is sorting through ideas for her next project, which is certain to be brilliant.

I made sure I was last in the book-signing line, so I could chat with both authors and they graciously posed for a picture with me. My mom, also present with her ready camera, snapped a few more candid shots while my father was left carrying all our bags and books. (Thanks, Dad.)

If you have the chance to see Cathy Marie Buchanan or Robin Oliveira speak, definitely go. They are both brilliant speakers. Click on the author’s name to be taken to their ‘upcoming event’ pages and see if they will be coming to your area soon.

An interesting side note:

After we left, I realized that I have in my possession original correspondence written by a Civil War nurse whose name Oliveira surely encountered in her research for My Name is Mary Sutter. The letters were written, interestingly enough, to my 3x great-grandmother, Martha Angell, in the 1840’s, when both girls were teenagers. Martha Angell is the grandmother of the protagonist in my novel. Such a small world! Wish I had thought to bring copies in a manila folder of my own. (Robin, we must talk!)

Research Workshop: Dig Deeper

By Kim

Half of Therese Walsh’s upcoming novel The Moon Sisters is from the point-of-view of a young woman with synesthesia. (I’d never heard of it either until reading the book.) In The Painted Girls, Cathy Marie Buchanan brought to life the underbelly of the Paris Opera Ballet during the 1870s in gritty detail. Alyson Richman took readers into a concentration camp in The Lost Wife. Jodi Picoult tackles controversial topics in all of her novels, which requires insight into the minds of characters ranging from school shooters to stigmatas to modern day witches.

If you’re writing a novel, chances are you'll have to do research in order to make your story believable and compelling.

As a writer of historical fiction, I’m neck-deep in it. Each new piece of information I dig up potentially comes with a deeper story; sometimes that story can change the whole trajectory of a scene. Today I’m going to show an example of what I mean by this, and how taking the time to scratch beneath the surface can enhance your work.

This past week I received an e-mail from David Menary, an Ontario writer penning a book called Literary Landmarks of Cambridge. He intends to include a profile on my great-grandfather, Carl Ahrens, who did write, but was better known for his painting. While researching Clara Bernhardt, another author he will feature, Menary discovered a journal entry about a visit Clara made to Carl’s home in December of 1934. Here is a shortened excerpt of what she said:

“There’s a man I shall not quickly forget. He looks more completely the artist than anyone I've ever seen. Tall, thin, emaciated from long illness, with eyes so deep-set and piercing you felt all your disguises penetrated by one glance…Pain has not only touched his face – it has carved it…As he talked I was surprised and disappointed and desperately sorry to find him cynical and bitter. Yet he is risen to the peak of his profession artistically if not financially. He said if his life were his to live over, he would not choose painting. As to his illness: “It is all very well to tell yourself it is for the best, but I feel I am not getting a square deal. I resent it.” How dreadful to live that way, and to die like that…for he looked mortally ill…No doubt he believes in [God] – any creator has to – but if I am not mistaken, God does not mean anything to him in personal relationship…He is keen, and witty, but quite unsmiling. Very weak physically, sometimes his voice would blur out, and he mentioned he had to use drugs all the time and that he rarely slept.”

If you were to write a scene illustrating this visit using only this passage as a guide. what information can you glean about Carl and Clara?

Carl: He is an artist of some acclaim who has been sick a long time, lives in great pain, and will probably die soon. He’s grumpy about this. His eyes, height, and frailty are his distinguishing physical features. He takes medication and may or may not believe in God. The line about living his life over again implies an older man, but he could just as easily be young and dying too soon.

Clara: She's insightful and has a way with words, suggesting a good education and wisdom that comes with either age or experience. While she has sympathy for the artist’s plight, she’s frustrated that he refuses to see the good with the bad in life. She believes the best way to accomplish this is through God.

There are a lot of unknowns here. Why is Carl cynical? Why does Clara make such assumptions about Carl's religious beliefs? With fictional characters, an author can invent a back story and motivations, but both of these people in question actually lived. Let’s dig a little deeper to see if we can flesh them out a bit. Bonus points if we can tell the truth.

Carl Ahrens in 1934

Let’s start with Carl. A simple Google search of his name will reveal that in late 1934 he was 73 years old and that he'd had a tubercular hip since his youth. His name is mentioned in several art history books and he has a painting in Canada’s National Gallery, but by 1934 he had already been overshadowed by a younger group of painters and his house had just been foreclosed. His wife’s memoirs (available to view at several libraries) describe a man of boundless energy and an adventurous spirit cut down by illness, destitution and bitter enemies. The “drug” in question was codeine. Side effects of large doses include sleeplessness and extreme irritability. His medical records, also available publicly due to his association with a prime minister, show Carl was admitted to the hospital a year later. They describe him as being six foot tall, eighty-five pounds, and suffering from a condition “of a most uncomfortable nature.”

And now for Clara. I was shocked to discover that she was only 23 in late 1934 and quite pretty, too. Had you pictured her in a wheelchair? I hadn't, though she had been in one since age 11, when she contracted  polio. Her formal education ended after 8^th grade because she couldn't take that wheelchair on the streetcar to get to the high school, though she continued to study on her own and was on her way to becoming a well-respected Ontario writer. A year before this entry was written she had spent months in a rehabilitation facility where she did extensive physical therapy and, with the help of her religious faith, came to terms with the injustice of her own childhood illness.

Clara Bernhardt by Stephen Jones

With the addition of these details, our hypothetical scene has grown much more compelling. We no longer have a simple dialogue between a grumpy artist and an insightful but slightly self-righteous woman. We have two people, both immobile, one at the end of his life and the other in the prime of hers. We understand his bitterness and why she finds it disappointing. Perhaps she perceives he sees through all of her disguises because on some level she realizes they are kindred spirits, that he was once much like her.

What are some ways you have dug deeply in your own research? Have you learned anything that shocked you and changed your story for the better? What stumbling blocks have you run into?          

Literary Crushes

By Kim

As an avid reader from the age of three and a sucker for a good love story, I confess I’ve fallen in love with more fictional men than real ones in my lifetime. Most are transitory infatuations that last only as long as it takes for me to finish a novel or until they do or say something that annoys me, whichever comes first. I don’t remember their names a month later.

Some remain with me, luring me back to their pages so I can again experience that heady rush. I don’t always get it. At nineteen, I loved Emily Bronte’s Heathcliff. Twenty years later, I wonder why. My opinion about Diana Gabaldon’s Jamie Fraser has not changed since 1992, however. I’m sure I’ll feel much the same about Cathy Marie Buchanan’s Tom Cole and Stephanie Cowell’s imagined version of Claude Monet.

I met my first literary love at twelve, when my mother gave me my first copy of Jane Eyre. Ever since, Edward Rochester is like the bad boy ex-boyfriend I’d take back in a heartbeat, damn the consequences. I forgive him the moodiness, the mind games, and even the mad wife imprisoned in the attic. Each time a movie version comes out, I’m at the theater and praying that the actor in that role fits the image in my mind. He never does, though Toby Stephens was my favorite.

My eldest daughter is now almost twelve and she, too, has fallen in love for the first time. The object of her affection: Peeta Mellark from The Hunger Games. As soon as she finished book three, she immediately picked up book one again, so she could have “her” Peeta back the way she wants to remember him.

How about you? Who are your literary crushes?

A Review of Cathy Marie Buchanan's The Painted Girls

By Kim

Synopsis ( from the book jacket):

1878 – Following their father’s sudden death, the van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without his wages, and with the small amount their laundress mother earns disappearing into the absinthe bottle, eviction from their lodgings seems imminent. With few options for work, Marie is dispatched to the Paris Opera, where for a scant seventeen francs a week she will be trained to enter the famous ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work – and the love of a dangerous young man – as an extra in a stage adaptation of Emile Zola’s naturalist masterpiece L’Assommoir.

Marie throws herself into dance and is soon modeling in the studio of Edgar Degas, where her image will forever be immortalized as Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen. Antoinette, meanwhile, descends lower and lower in society, and must make the choice between a life of honest labor and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde – that is, unless her perilous love derails her completely.

Set in a moment of profound artistic, cultural and societal change, The Painted Girls is a tale of two remarkable sisters rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of “civilized society.”

About the author (from the book jacket):

Cathy Marie Buchanan is the author of The Day the Falls Stood Still, a New York Times bestseller, a Barnes and Noble Recommends selection and one of the Canada Reads Top 40 Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade. She holds a BSc (Honors, Biochemistry) and an MBA from Western University. Born and raised in Niagara Falls, Ontario, she now resides in Toronto.

Review: 

Those who read my review of The Day the Falls Stood Still already know I am a fan of Cathy Marie Buchanan. When I learned The Painted Girls would be released in Canada (but not the US) before I would depart on my recent vacation, I happily went online and paid the few extra bucks to have the Canadian version shipped to me.

The novel did not disappoint. Edgar Degas is there in the wings, endlessly watching and sketching, his intentions as much a mystery in the novel as they likely were in life. Buchanan’s classical ballet training is evident, though readers need not have any technical knowledge of dance to grasp what happens in Marie’s classes or feel her palpable love of performing.

Photo by Deborah Downes

The grace on the Opera stage contrasts sharply with the lives of the dancers backstage, many of whom, like Marie and Antoinette, are from the Paris gutters. The Painted Girls unflinchingly contains all the grit and blood of the Paris slums, though it is far more hopeful a tale than novels like Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. The alternating first person point of view plunks the reader right into Marie’s tattered shoes or Antoinette’s sweat-soaked washhouse clothes. That the narrative is in present tense adds an immediacy to the tale that keeps pages turning. As a mother, my heart alternately ached and swelled for those girls, especially because I have my own “little dancers” – ages eleven and seven. Neither of them will be reading The Painted Girls any time soon, but when they are grown, or at least nearly grown, I will hand them a new copy. My own will probably be as tattered as Marie’s shoes by then.

The Painted Girls will be available in the United States tomorrow - January 10th, 2013

Have you read this novel? Feel free to share your thoughts.

Six Authors Share What Inspired Their Novels

By Kim

Those of you who have been following What Women Write know that I recently finished The Oak Lovers, a novel based on the lives of my great-grandparents. Unless you’ve been stopping by since 2009, you may not know what compelled me to write their story.

My favorite childhood stories all involved a colorful character named Carl Ahrens. I adored the outrageous tales about young Carl running away from home to live with the Indians, befriending Calamity Jane, or making a catastrophic attempt to fly off the barn roof. He was a cowboy in pioneer Montana one night and the next he traveled the California coast by covered wagon.

Though I knew Carl was my ancestor, it wasn’t until I was much older that I associated the adventurer with the frail old man in the family photographs. How could a man who suffered from a crippling form of tuberculosis have had all those adventures? What about the woman beside him in the photos, the one who kept a comforting (or perhaps possessive) hand on his arm? He gazed at her instead of the camera, a look of naked adoration on his face. What was their story? I had to know it and, once I did, I had to tell it.

Many writers claim they had to write a particular book, but the reasons behind the need vary greatly. Today, authors Therese Walsh, Stephanie Cowell, Kathryn Magendie, Cathy Marie Buchanan, Judy Merrill Larsen and Erika Robuck join us and share their inspirations.

Therese Walsh – The Last Will of Moira Leahy 

There are so many layers to this question, and it might be answered in as many ways. At a base level, I think I was compelled to write because I sought professional gratification. I'd left a career as a researcher and writer for Rodale Press to become a stay-at-home mom. I had no regrets--not a single one--however I missed the world of more cerebral work. This persisted even after I began freelance writing from home, because that didn't satisfy my need to evolve as a writer. Once I hit on fiction--trying my hand at some children's picture book concepts before deciding to write a work for adults--the bug bit hard. My reasons for writing evolved then, became partly about recovering from the death of my father and other real-life events. But at root, I think I simply needed to feel like a relevant professional with something to say, and with the skill to say it.

Stephanie Cowell – Claude and Camille 

I was so passionately interested in writing Claude & Camille because most of my friends have been in the arts and, like the young Claude Monet, most of them have had a hard time managing their art and the needs of a normal life. Since the arts often bring little money, how do you pay the rent? And if the writer or singer or painter has a day job, she must fit her painting or writing in the evenings and weekends. She is constantly saying, “I can’t do any of these lovely social things because evenings and weekends are my time to…” It can be a real tension in a relationship; it can cause marriages to fail. If you are devoted to an art it takes an awful lot of time and money. So the story was dear to me because I lived it and many of my friends lived it. Claude & Camille is a bittersweet story because by the time Claude Monet had succeeded as an artist, he had lost Camille. I wanted to ask, “What is art worth? What was the cost of the beautiful water lily paintings?” It has no easy answer.

Kathryn Magendie - Sweetie 

While letting my first book (Tender Graces) simmer before chopping it to pieces (laughing), I wanted to see if I could write a draft of a novel in 30 days—not for nanowrimo, for at the time I’d not heard of it; I just wanted to see if I could discipline myself to the task. I started with a vague notion of a “special” girl who has scars on her body and lives in a small mountain. In the back of my mind was an article I’d read in Reader’s Digest magazine about a little girl who had a congenital insensitivity to pain, and how her mother had to watch over her so very carefully. Well, I wondered, what would happen if the mother couldn’t watch over the little girl? And what if this was during a time, and in a place, where this wasn’t a known condition? What if the girl and the town thought she was afflicted or cursed? I began writing: tippity-tap-tip-tap—wheee!

There I was la tee dah’ing away on a story-path and then one day during a walk in the forest on my mountain cove here in the Smoky Mountains, Sweetie “came to me.” She was so real in her faded cotton dress. She told me I had it all wrong—had her all wrong. I’ve never had this kind of experience with a character before. I may never have it again. And whenever I’d stray, she poked me until I had it “right.” Sweetie also affected the ending, which I angsted over so very much until I finally let it “go” and knew it was the only ending that could “be”—period.

Sweetie remains one of the most special of my books because of this feeling of something outside of me that can’t be explained. I had to write her, and I had to write her as “Sweetie” wanted me to. She, and I, could not rest until that was done. I have never seen her or felt her since finishing the book. I miss her but I’m glad she’s happy.

Cathy Marie Buchanan – The Day the Falls Stood Still 

When I set out to write The Day the Falls Stood Still, the story of William Red Hill, Niagara’s most famous riverman, was a natural place to find inspiration. Born and bred in Niagara Falls, Ontario, I grew up awash in the lore of Red Hill. I’d see the rusted-out hull of the old scow lodged in the upper rapids of the river and be reminded of him rescuing the men marooned there in 1918. I’d see the plaque commemorating the ice bridge tragedy of 1912 and know he’d risked his life to save a teenage boy named Ignatius Roth. I’d open the newspaper and read a story about his son, Wes, carrying on the Hill tradition and rescuing a stranded tourist. The hero of my story, I decided, would be loosely based on Red Hill. In creating a riverman with an extraordinary—perhaps even mystical—ability to predict the erratic behavior of the Niagara river and falls, I saw a chance to showcase the wonder I feel when I stand at the brink of the Niagara Falls.

Judy Merrill Larsen – All the Numbers

With All the Numbers, as well as manuscripts I've completed since, I've found that the story itself nags at me until I can't NOT write it. A scene will come to me--or several scenes, and I know that I have to dig deeper, I want to know what happens, I have to listen to these characters and help them get from point A to point Q or R or wherever they need to be. I suppose that all sounds very vague or all "whoo-wooey," but it's how it's worked for me.

Erika Robuck – Hemingway’s Girl (coming September 4, 2012)

I hesitate mentioning this in mixed company, but what compelled me to write my novel, Hemingway's Girl, was a dream. I had visited the Hemingway House in Key West and felt an intense connection to my surroundings while I was there, but I was working on another novel. Not long after my visit, however, I had a dream where I was sitting with a young Hemingway in the Key West house, and he asked me to write about him because he’d become irrelevant. The next morning I shelved my other project and began Hemingway's Girl. The rest, as they say, is history.

Breadcrumbs and Whoopie Pies

By Julie

Like Hansel and Gretel’s mother, we’re always dropping bread crumbs along the path, leaving a trail for our children to follow back to home and family—even if we’re not aware we’re doing so in the process. The poor mother of those fairytale chidren secretly left crumbs, intentionally and strategically, hoping they'd be able to retrace their steps toward home after their father decided the only way for the family to survive was to sell them as indentured servants to an evil witch who actually intended to devour them.

Okay, maybe that’s kind of a morbid metaphor. But most of our regular readers here at What Women Write know several of us were inspired to write novels based on breadcrumbs of family lore—whether extensively researched stories, following the family story as closely as possible in a fictionalized account of real life (The Oak Lovers/Kim!), or simply clutching a single gem of a family secret and using it as a springboard for a—more or less—made-up story (Calling Me Home/me!). We also love interviewing authors who’ve done something similar, such as Kristina McMorris with her novel Letters from Home, Jamie Ford with Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and Cathy Marie Buchanan with The Day the Falls Stood Still, to name a few.

What exactly is it about our ancestors that draws us in, that makes us want to delve deep and attempt to discover what made them tick, what led them to make the decisions they made, who they loved and left (or were forcibly separated from, in the case of my grandmother) and who they stayed with? Not every one of us has these yearnings to uncover history—some of us would rather bury it, I suspect—but with some of us, the drive is deep and irresistible.

I know, too, that it’s not a drive we can force upon our children. Will my grandchildren or great-grandchildren be curious about what I did in my life? Will I have done anything interesting enough to make them determined to nose out the details or dream up their own versions? Will they study my photos, as I study my ancestors’ photos, wondering why I decided to be a writer, why I lived in so many different homes and states before I finally settled here in Texas, why I … never mind. I’ll let them discover that on their own, maybe with the help of rumors they’ve heard through the family grapevine. Maybe they will. Perhaps they won’t.

It’s the same with family traditions. We can guide our children as they grow up, hoping they’ll take an interest in the things we do every year at the same time, the recipes we cook, the photos we lovingly protect. But they may not take the bait.

My kids are interested in family history—by spells. At some times more than at others. I was thrilled this week when one of my daughters decided to take on the not-simple task of preparing Whoopie Pies from the recipe one of my grandmothers recorded carefully in her notebook of food wonders. We don’t know where Grandma got the recipe, but we know it’s absolutely the best. (None of that marshmallow fluff, none of that regular old buttercream frosting. Our soft, cocoa-flavored cookies embrace genuine, rich, creamy icing, pure white from the ungodly amount of Crisco shortening it takes to prepare it.) But I know that as a child, one of my favorite moments of every family journey to see her was the one where I rushed through the front door and headed straight for the fridge, where a batch of individually wrapped Whoopie Pies always awaited our arrival. One taste, even now, is enough to conjure up memories of those childhood visits, good or bad, joyful or sad.


I suspect you have those recipes in your family, too. Kim blogged once about the her family’s holiday sugar cookie recipe and the special cookie cutters she uses to prepare them. Are the cutters themselves magic? Is the recipe really is the best in the world? Or is it the combination of factors—the equipment, the recipe, and not least of all, the family history—that makes the outcome so special?

I am thankful for the breadcrumb my grandmother left me—a handwritten recipe, delicious in part because of the memories it stirs (but trust me, it really is the best!). I am thankful for the breadcrumb my other grandmother left me—the gem of family legend that says she fell in love with a young man who was judged inappropriate by her family and society, the true love of her life, though she spent only a small amount of time with him.

What are the breadcrumbs you’re following, leading you back in time into the vault of your own family history?

And yes, of course, this is my daughter, busy making Whoopie Pies with Sadie, one of our fur babies, who stuck close by to be sure she cleaned up anything Emilie offered—accidentally or on purpose.

The Fiction Writers Co-op

By Kim

Late last year, New York Times bestselling author Cathy Marie Buchanan formed a Facebook group called the Fiction Writers Co-op, a band of fifty published authors who help promote each others' work and cheer each other on. I have been aware of the FWC since its inception since many of the authors involved are among my Facebook friends, but only recently have they been receiving some real press. As many of our readers are aspiring authors, I thought it was long past time to do a post on FWC. Membership in this particular group is currently capped, but one author pointed out that anyone can create a similar group using social networking sites. With the publishing world being what it is today, I have the feeling this is the first of many author co-ops.

For our readers who simply love books, please click here for an official list of books recommended by the FWC.

I apologize ahead of time for the length of this post, but there are five authors visiting us at What Women Write today, and I want to allow them all to have their say. Without further ado, please welcome Cathy Marie Buchanan, Stephanie Cowell, Therese Fowler, Melanie Benjamin and Judy Merrill Larsen.

I will start with Cathy because she is the founder of the FWC. After that, the remaining four authors will join in. I have only listed my questions in Stephanie’s contribution to save space. (This made it necessary to slightly tweak the beginning of some of Therese’s answers for clarity’s sake.)

Cathy Marie Buchanan (The Day the Falls Stood Still)

The idea of starting the co-op came to me when fellow Harper Collins Canada author Catherine McKenzie asked me if I had any great ideas for supporting the upcoming release of her latest novel, Arranged. I was already making daily book-related posts on my Facebook author page and would of course post about Catherine's release. With shrinking traditional media coverage of books, I expected there were plenty of authors on Facebook, with large followings of readers, who would be more than happy to do the same and, in turn, have their releases similarly supported. It was the premise with which I began approaching authors about joining the co-op. About half of those I approached joined. With the creativity, hard work and generosity of the authors involved, the co-op has morphed into a group where we not only promote each others' works but also share marketing know-how and a sense of community.

Stephanie Cowell (Claude and Camille, Marrying Mozart)

WWW: What drew you to join the Fiction Writers Co-op?

SC: I knew Cathy Buchanan and joined early -- before they filled up! I thought, how great to communicate with a group of wonderful fiction writers.

WWW: Have you seen/been a part of any other groups like this before?

SC: No, nothing like this. I have been on groups that helped you with history, but they weren't sharing experiences of working and surviving in the world of professional writing.

WWW: What have you gained from the experience?

SC: I have a great sense of community and know if I have any publishing questions, ten people can give me good advice.

WWW: Have you made any special contributions to the FWC?

SC: Nothing special...sharing agent advice, promoting each of the books on my website and sometimes buying them myself -- what better support is that?

WWW: What types of things do you see the FWC doing in the future?

SC: I guess forging new paths in PR and maybe finding critique partners but, most of all, I hope we can show other writers the real world of publishing and how to navigate it.

WWW: Anything else you wish to add?

SC: I think sometimes some of us are more involved than others at different times. These days I need to concentrate mostly on my book. And I always have to be aware that though most people may have a fan page, I don't wish to and that is enough. (I deleted mine.)

Therese Fowler (Exposure, Souvenir, Reunion)

When I got the invitation, which explained what the group was intended to be and do, I thought a co-op was an incredibly smart idea. A lot of authors-helping-authors goes on informally, but to organize and cooperate formally made so much sense—it would mean the efforts weren’t left to chance or whim.

I was also impressed by how varied the proposed group would be: seasoned pros and debs, award-winners, best sellers, all from an array of genres—Cathy Buchanan had clearly put a lot of thought into the group’s composition. She also asked for a commitment up front, which told me that anyone who accepted the invitation was likely to be a reliable participant.

I have never been in a group in this kind of specific and structured way. The closest comparison might be group blogs such as Jungle Red Writers, The Lipstick Chronicles, or The Girlfriends Book Club.

The FWC is a nascent group, so it’s too early to say whether any of our books’ sales have or will be increased because of the group’s efforts—though of course we hope so. And a lot of what we’re doing is untried, so there will be some hits and some misses along the way, I’m sure.

The sense of community, however, is tremendous and was unexpected. Every writer in the group brings his or her unique wisdom and insight to the mix. When one of us has a question or problem with any aspect of writing or the writing life, the others are quick to offer ideas, advice and support.

Plus, the community extends beyond the group’s parameters because of the close connections we each have to other writers. When I was first published, the idea of authors networking was almost unheard of. There were a lot of author and writer blogs, but Facebook was “for kids” then, and Twitter didn’t exist. I could count maybe three authors as friends.

Our raison d’etre is to assist one another in outreach to readers. So while I don’t know specifically how that will manifest over time, I do know we’ll keep looking for creative ways to connect with readers that are mutually beneficial.

There has been some misunderstanding in the writing community about what the FWC is, so I’d like to help clarify if I can.

We are a group of published authors who have banded together in order to help bring our books to more readers. As any author will tell you, the biggest challenge after getting a book published is getting readers to know it exists. The group size is limited to fifty, despite there being hundreds and hundreds of fantastic authors whose work all of us would support enthusiastically; this is because each member is committed to trumpeting the other members’ books. The whole endeavor takes more time than you might imagine, even with only fifty of us—and our real business, after all, is to write our next books.

So although the FWC is not a general writers support group, we are also not “elitist,” as a few writers have said. Size limit is a practical necessity. Everyone in the FWC was once a struggling writer who dreamed of being published—I personally am in my tenth year at this gig, with six of those years being pre-publication.

Now, that said, many of us do participate in support groups, we volunteer our time, we teach, and we encourage aspiring writers to get in touch with questions. Our public FWC page will sometimes feature articles, interviews, etc. that aspiring writers may find useful. All writers, published and unpublished alike, are working very, very hard to get to do the thing we love. There’s no place for bitterness in the writing world.

Melanie Benjamin (Alice I Have Been, Mrs. Tom Thumb - to be released in July 2011)

The amazing group of writers is what drew me to FWC. I have been invited to participate in other groups—and have done so in the past—but have decided to limit my involvement in these simply because I don't have enough time. The reason why I chose to stay with this group was because of the caliber of the authors, and the fact that it's all taking place on Facebook, which makes it easier for me as I already have a presence there. It doesn't require contributing to a blog, for instance—which is not something I really have the time to do right now.

What most of us have gained, so far, is the behind-the-scenes support; this is a place where we can complain/worry/brainstorm about the life of the published author in a safe, supportive environment. There has been a lot of solid advice given, freely. My husband helped out with sharing what he's learned regarding online advertising for my books, over the years. And then, I was the one who started the Group's Fan Page.

I hope we continue to support each other publicly and privately. The public sharing of each release is so helpful but truly, I think it's the group brainstorming, the sharing of advice that will be most worthwhile, in the long run.

Judy Merrill Larson (All the Numbers)

One day I received an invite from Cathy Buchanan to join the FWC—it was early—there were maybe only 10 to 15 of us at that point. I was thrilled. As you know, writing can be a very solitary endeavor and having other writers to celebrate/commiserate with makes such a huge difference. Plus, I loved the chance to shout out about others' books. I'd been doing that all along, of course, but this made it easier. I suggested a few of my writer buddies to Cathy, and when they joined it was great.

I've never been in a formal writing group (where we sit around and critique each others' work), but, through the wonders of technology/the Internet, I've been lucky enough to be part of some writing groups—I'm part of a group blog—The Girlfriends Book Club and that is similar in that we all support one another and share our triumphs and woes. Writers, at least the ones I've gotten lucky enough to know, are the most supportive folks around.

It's hard to directly relate an increase in sales to these groups, but I know it hasn't hurt. But the best thing has been the sense of camaraderie. We talk about the craft of writing, the frustrations and joys. The goofiness. It makes me feel so much less alone and makes it all so much more fun. I love walking into a bookstore and seeing one of my writing buddy's books on the table. I love saying, "My friend wrote this. You'll love it."

Our group continues to evolve—and we just started in December. I love our fan page—and I think we see it as a cool place for other writers to join in our discussion and really be a place for writers and readers to share. I know everyone is really excited about how we're reaching out to book clubs—in the five years since my book came out, I've met with over 100 book clubs, in person and on the phone, and it's one of my absolute favorite things about being published. Book clubs rock! (Just ask, by the way, and I'll happily meet with 100 more!)

I think, as a group, FWC has just scratched the surface of what we'll do and I just feel so lucky to have been here from the beginning.


Thank you so much Cathy, Stephanie, Therese, Melanie and Judy for being here today.

An Interview with Cathy Marie Buchanan

By Kim

Those of you who have been following What Women Write for awhile know that I'm a huge fan of Cathy Marie Buchanan, whose debut novel, The Day the Falls Stood Still recently came out in paperback. Julie also mentioned the book in a recent post, calling it “mesmerizing.” It is indeed. While savoring both the prose and the historical photos scattered throughout, I ached for Tom and Bess, and heard the thundering crash of a river I’ve never seen but feel I know. A year later I read it again and enjoyed it just as much.

Cathy has appeared on many blogs since her book launched and has answered everything imaginable about the novel itself. When she agreed to be interviewed for What Women Write I wanted to ask her something new, questions geared towards process than product. In case you have not seen her other interviews, Cathy answers the most frequently asked questions here.

About The Day the Falls Stood Still (from the author’s website):

1915. Niagara Falls. The dawn of the hydroelectric power era. Seventeen-year-old Bess Heath, who has led a sheltered existence as the younger daughter of the director of the Niagara Power Company, meets Tom Cole by chance on a trolley platform, and finds herself inexplicably drawn to him—against her family’s strong objections. Tom is not from their world. Rough-hewn and fearless, he lives off what the river provides and has an uncanny knack for reading the whims of the falls. His daring river rescues render him a local hero and cast him as a threat to the power companies that seek to harness the power of the falls for themselves. As the paths of Bess and Tom become entwined, she must make a painful choice between what she wants and what is best for her family and her future.

About Cathy Marie Buchanan (from the author’s website):

Cathy Marie Buchanan’s debut novel, The Day the Falls Stood Still, is a Barnes & Noble Recommends Selection, a Barnes & Noble Best of 2009 book, an American Booksellers Association Indie Next pick, and a New York Times bestseller. Her stories have appeared in many of Canada’s most respected literary journals. She holds a BSc (Honours Biochemistry) and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario and is a founding member of conservation organization Friends of Niagara Falls. Born and raised in Niagara Falls, Ontario, she now resides in Toronto

Kim: Welcome to What Women Write today, Cathy. An element that touched me profoundly in The Day the Falls Stood Still was your theme about spiritual connections between individuals and having complete faith in things you can not see. I often found myself nodding and weeping because you explained the unexplainable. These sections came across as very personal. Was there an inspiration behind Tom’s connection with his grandfather?

Cathy: My much-loved father died as I approached the end of the first draft of The Day the Falls Stood Still. The depth of my grief was astounding to me, as was my inability to grasp the concept of mortality. Where was my father? Was he really gone? Why was he gone? Why had he spent seventy-four years on this earth? Was he still with me? Did I need concrete proof? I will not pretend for a moment that I figured any of this out. What did happen, though, was that my grief-ridden struggle with what I believed found expression in The Day the Falls Stood Still. As I wrote, I was seeking for myself the same unshakable connection that Tom had with his long departed grandfather.

Kim: I was stunned to learn that you have a degree in biochemistry and an MBA. Most writers I know, myself included, cringe at the idea of anything involving math. What made you turn to writing?

Cathy: I’m often asked if I grew up wanting to be a writer, and the answer is a definitive no. I spent my teenage years disgracing myself in high school English, often getting upwards of twenty percent deducted for spelling mistakes on exams. When it came time to head off to university, one of the criteria I used for selecting courses was not having to write—that is, spell—a single thing. I did manage to finish undergrad without writing a single essay! I spent the bulk of my non-writing work life at IBM, at first in finance and then in technical sales.

Despite much evidence to the contrary, my creative leanings were evident throughout my teenage years, in both my serious pursuit of classical ballet and my burgeoning abilities as a seamstress. Once I began working, I attempted, I think, to satisfy my creative yearnings by enrolling in string of continuing education courses, always something with an artistic bent. Finally I hit upon creative writing, and right from the very first class, I was smitten. I was home.

Kim: Tell us a little about your writing process. Do you do all your research up front, or is it an ongoing venture? Do you outline or make character sketches? Do you whip out a first draft in a few months and then edit, or re-write compulsively as you go?

Cathy: Before putting pen to paper, I spent four months researching The Day the Falls Stood Still, a task that was purely pleasurable. Even so, while I was writing, I was constantly turning back to the history books. I did not make an outline and had only the vaguest idea where I was heading with the book. I finished the first draft in a year and a half and then spent the next two and a half (!) rewriting it. I think the degree of rewriting the book required was at least in part due to my lack of an outline. I am working on another work of historical fiction, and, this time around, I spent time plotting the book up front. Fingers crossed that I’ve avoided some of the pitfalls that kept me rewriting for so, so long.

Kim: I’ve read you have three children. How do you balance writing and family time?

Cathy: While I was writing The Day the Falls Stood Still finding balance was reasonably easy. I wrote while my boys were at school and my husband at work, finishing up at 3:29, in time to run across the park and pick my boys up from school. I rarely wrote on weekends, other than jotting down the odd note when something I wanted to incorporate into the book occurred to me. Now that my book is out there in the wide world, I give readings and talks and interviews. I post on blogs, tweet, update my facebook fan page, and attend book clubs, in person or via skype. I am working on a second book and, out of necessity, have made a rule that I must get four hours of writing under my belt before I can turn to the other million things I should be doing. With much of the publicity happening in the evening, my own reading for pleasure has suffered and my family sometimes gets the short end of the stick. My boys are 12, 14 and 16-years-old now and getting more independent every day. (Sigh.) I think, even two years ago, I could not have managed what I do now in terms of publicity.

Kim: I’m struck by how beautifully that landscape becomes a character in itself within many books by Canadian authors – such as Niagara Falls in your novel, or Lake Superior in Jane Urquhart’s The Underpainter, or Newfoundland in Donna Morrissey’s books. Canada has produced some great literature, yet many Americans aren’t familiar with writers from north of the border other than L.M. Montgomery, Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro. Our readers are always up for reading a good book – do you have any recommendations?

Cathy: I adore every writer you mentioned. Other Canadian favourites include Elizabeth Hay (A Student of Weather, Late Nights on Air), Carol Shields (The Stone Diaries, Republic of Love), Emma Donoghue (The Sealed Letter, Room) and Helen Humphreys (The Lost Garden, Coventry).

Kim: Can you tell us about your involvement with the Friends of Niagara Falls?

Cathy: With the arrival of the casinos in Niagara Falls, Ontario came myriad new high-rise hotels, most within a stone’s throw of the falls. The result–an expanse of concrete and glass extending downriver from the Horseshoe Falls. That wall is slated to infiltrate the seven acres of green space surrounding Loretto Academy, the stately, 148-year-old convent school that sits atop the bluff at the Horseshoe Falls, and from where Bess Heath, in The Day the Falls Stood Still, glimpses prayers drifting heavenward in the mist above the falls. Loretto was sold to a hotelier, who plans to replace the treed grounds of the property that today frame the falls in nature with three towering buildings, one a whopping 57-storeys, more than three times the height of the falls. The idea of high-rises forming the backdrop to a natural wonder of the world does not sit well with me. The sanctity of the place, I feel, must be preserved. I’ve become a founding member of conservation organization Friends of Niagara Falls. Our first task: stopping the high-rise development planned for the grounds of Loretto Academy.

Thank you for stopping by today, Cathy. The Day the Falls Stood Still is available at bookstores everywhere.

Photo credits: Cover art for both the hardback and paperback versions of the novel were taken from the author's website. Author photograph taken by Marion Roes. Niagara sketches were done in 1900-01 by Katie C. Niles, my great aunt. I own the originals.

The accidental life of a book reviewer

By Julie

When the six of us started What Women Write, we had no idea what new directions the blog might take us at times.

Little did I know that when I jumped on the chance to interview Quinn Cummings for our first author interview and subsequently, several other authors, whose publicists then kindly sent me copies of books to read before interviews or offer as prizes for drawings that I'd end up on the mystery list.

Now, as a member of that mysterious list, it's not unusual for my doorbell to ring, and when I answer it or send one of the kids, there's nobody there. But it's not a neighborhood trickster playing Devil on the Doorstep, or as my kids call it, Ding Dong Ditch. No, it usually means a package has been dropped by the door by the friendly UPS, FedEx, or U.S. Postal Service delivery person.

"Did you order anything?" my husband asks, a semi-worried look on his face due to my mostly-in-control book-buying habit.

"No, did you?" I respond, more thrilled than worried about the book-buying habit he's recently acquired.

We look at the kids, and of course, they have no money, so they didn't order anything either. I search my brain, trying to remember if anybody's publicist promised me an advance review copy to read before I do an author interview. Nope.

"Must be one of your mystery books," my husband says. And it usually is.

Sometimes I eagerly rip into the package to see what the book fairies sent me. Sometimes I'm busy and set it aside, only to discover it a few days later waiting patiently to be noticed on the kitchen counter. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised to find a book that looks interesting and engaging. Sometimes I'm completely baffled at why such a book might have been sent my direction.

But in general, I've enjoyed reading several books that might not otherwise have registered on my radar. Even a few of those baffling ones.

I don't usually have time to read every one, much less review them or interview the author, but I thought I'd give a shout out today about several I've enjoyed recently.

I've seen Laura Moriarty's name many times over the last few years, thinking how compelling her covers are, reminding myself I should grab a copy of one of her novels and give her a try. A few months ago, the newly released paperback of While I'm Falling showed up on my doorstep.

The upside-down girl on the cover caught my eye. I read the book fairly soon. I ended up really liking this story that was a bit reminiscent of Lorrie Moore's A Gate at the Stairs, alternately loving and being downright annoyed with Moriarty's characters, usually because I saw myself in them one way or the other. I'll definitely read more by Moriarty.

Nearly a year ago, I received a copy of The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan. Coincidentally, a few days later, Kim was drawn in by the cover at the bookstore and raved about it after she read it. I'm not sure why it took a year for me to pick it up and read it, but I took it along on my vacation to Colorado in August. I was fairly mesmerized in the reading moments I was able to steal by this sad, yet hopeful story. If you're interested in historical fiction set in the last century or so, you'll probably enjoy Buchanan's novel about a family whose life centers around the history of man's attempts to harness the power of Niagara Falls.

Now, if you know me well at all you would have laughed, too, when the book fairies dropped off a copy of Make it Fast, Make it Slow. Yes, it's a cook book. I'm not completely opposed to cooking, but I'd be a lot happier about cooking if it came complete with a staff to shop ahead of time and clean up for me after I make a big mess. But it's also true I have to cook for my family on a regular basis.

We've ended up using quite a few of Stephanie O'Dea's slow cooker recipes, and the majority of them have been pretty tasty and usually quite simple. I have to hand it to the author. There are only so many ways to stack ingredients in a crock pot, and she's done a nice job of coming up with some new and interesting recipes that pleased my family's adventurous palates. Check out O'Dea's blog, A Year of Slow Cooking, to get an idea of how things work, and her website for more recent news. Looks like she has her eye on my clutter habit now. Uh oh.

Most recently, I picked up Open Country, the second installment in Kaki Warner's Blood Rose Trilogy. Now here's an interesting tale. I rarely read series books. And on the rare occasion I do, I NEVER, EVER, NO NEVER read them out of order. So I wasn't thrilled to receive book two of a series.

And if that hadn't sealed the complimentary copy's fate of being forever consigned to the very bottom of my TBR (to-be-read, in reader/writer jargon) pile, the fact that it's western romance should have. I have nothing against this genre at all, it's just not my usual thing unless I have a really good reason to read it. Like my BFF just had her first western romance novel published. Or, as actually happened to me a few years back at my very first writer's conference, Linda Lael Miller made a lasting personal impression on me with her generous encouragement of a rookie aspiring writer, and I rushed to get an autographed copy of one of her novels at the conference's book signing event.

Sometimes, though, timing highjacks us and turns us in new directions. In the midst of my recent illness, I needed to read something besides my ordinary fare, which tends to the darker exploration of families caught in circumstances beyond their control. I plucked Warner's book from the bottom of the pile a few nights ago. I've been pleased to discover I was able to jump right into book two though I'd never seen or heard of book one.

Warner does an excellent job of bringing the reader up to date quickly without spoiling the first book. I'll likely keep an eye out for Pieces of Sky. And though Open Country follows the unbreakable rule of good fiction – get your characters into trouble fast and lots of it – it's written with humor and spunk. I'm finding it to be a relaxing and enjoyable read. Just what the doctor ordered.

A few duds have made their way onto my doorstep. We won't talk about those. Dear book fairies, let my silence speak volumes about a: my utter and complete disdain for the product, or b: my lack of time to even crack open the cover. You choose.

And as long as the benefits of being on this mystery list outweigh the negatives (for example, I start getting so many books, I can't see the forest for the trees, as I learned sometimes happens to those us on this mystery list), I'll get a little twitter in my heart when the doorbell rings and I find a little surprise on the front porch and hope for the best.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received copies of these book from the publishers in the hope that I would review them on What Women Write. I was under no obligation to review them, let alone give a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 225: "Guidelines Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."