Writer's Challenge V

"It's doubtful that anyone with an internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction."
— Jonathan Franzen

JAN: My son told me about this quote and I just had to hunt it up and use it. Because its so TRUE. Email is my downfall.

Email and Hurricane Earl. I'm writing this Friday, in advance of Earl, in case we lose electricity or cable connection. I also had guests come today, so I confess, I've been vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, moving deck furniture and bikes into the basement, filling containers with water and restocking at the supermarket and the liquor store before we are all ordered off the streets at 2 p.m Also found the evacuation center and if I'm going to be honest, must admit I stopped by the beach to check out the big waves.

Pretty cool.

Anyway, upshot of the deal is that I haven't written a word today. In part that's also because I've done as much as a I can on both my novel and my non-fiction book proposal until I get home -- which is Tuesday. But tomorrow, if there is electricity post-Earl on Martha's Vineyard, I vow to go back and fuss with my synopsis just to keep my head in the writing game.

OKAY, IT"S TOMORROW: SATURDAY.

Earl was such a bust, the winds didn't sweep away the whiffle ball inadvertently left on the deck. But I did get to write first thing this morning today. I did it by writing in my bedroom before I even came down for coffee with my house guests. Every just thought I overslept.

I am so dying to get home to my office, my printer, and my research materials, that I just called and made my car reservation earlier off the island.

How's it going for everyone else?? Are you thwarted by weather, Labor Day weekend celebrations or have you already moved onto September and the post-summer work ethic?

Amy MacKinnon

Many of us first heard about Amy MacKinnon when the Boston Globe ran a huge piece about her and her writing group, women on Boston’s South Shore (visit The Writers' Groups blog) who were all working on getting their first novels published. Amy had left her career as a political aide 13 years earlier to be at home with her first child. Then about eight years ago she started to write. At first it was essays for newspapers. She took classes at Grub Street. She wrote 15 pages of her first novel the day she heard Jonathan Franzen, author of “The Corrections,” say in a radio interview that fiction writing was fun. That first novel remains unpublished, but #2 was the charm—she sold “Tethered,” to Random House and it’s just out this month.

Amy, welcome to Jungle Red!

JR: I was so taken with Clara Marsh in "Tethered," so convinced that she really was an undertaker from the way you rendered her, preparing the dead for burial. and you're not an underaker, right? So how did you pull that off?

AM: My uncle is an undertaker in Whitman, MA where the story is set -- and he's a born storyteller. I simply sat at his knee and listened to his stories. It helps that I'm endlessly curious about death.

JR: Under the riveting story line, there's a lot of though about faith and loneliness. Did you consciously write about that?

AM: The main theme of this novel, and every other one I intend to write, is the exploration of faith: in one's self, in another, in a higher power. We write our deepest yearnings, don't we?

JR: Yes, our deepest yearnings, and I’d add our deepest fears. The novel takes on a sort of fugue-like progression, and yet it's a page turner. Seems like a contradiction in terms. How did you achieve that?

AM: Clara is a deliberate, broken woman who hovers in a netherworld between life and death, believing in neither. I tried to create a sense of surrealness, of otherness with her observations, while allowing the action to move the story forward. Thanks for noticing.

JR: How on earth did you find the time to write this?

AM: Though I have three children and was working part-time (plus pets, household chores -- yeah, we have the traditional roles here too-- and family obligations), I wanted something of my very own. Crafting my obituary clarified exactly how I want to live out my remaining years. So I stopped waiting for my turn to come, set my alarm for four o'clock, and started writing. It's important to dream and then to move forward with it.

JR: Love that: “I stopped waiting…set my alarm…and started writing.” We should all put that on our computer monitors. Was this your first novel, and can you talk a little about how it changed as you continued writing and rewriting.

AM: My first manuscript was rejected by 73 agents and was recently deleted from my hard drive. With “Tethered,” I ignored Hemingway's advice to write you know and decided to write what I want to know. Having that curiousity propelled me to explore the subject and characters more deeply, making it a far more interesting read.

As far as revisions went, ugh! When I first submitted it to agents, it was written from three points-of-view. After I signed with the brilliant Emma Sweeney, she said it's really Clara's story and suggested I write it from her perspective only. It took months for me to wrap my head around that, but I'm glad I did. Nine months later, she submitted it to editors and ten days later she held an auction.

JR: At auction! Wow. That’s a writers’ dream. Can you tell us a little about your amazing writing group?

AM: I am blessed to have these three women in my life: Lynne Griffin, Lisa Marnell, and Hannah Roveto. Each is extraordinary in terms of their craft and feedback. We usually meet every two weeks, where two people submit twenty pages for constructive critique. The feedback is professional quality, given with kindness and unfailing support. I owe each of them a great debt. Lynne recently sold her debut novel Life Without Summer (St. Martin's, April 2009), and Lisa and Hannah will soon follow with sales of their own.

JR: What advice do you have for emerging writer?

AM: Believe.

JR: Okay, now for the Jungle Red quiz...
Miss Marple of Hercule Poirot?

AM: Hercule Poirot

JR: Katherine Hepburn or Audrey Hepburn?

AM: Katherine Hepburn

JR: Sex or violence?

AM: Violence

JR: Pizza or chocolate?

AM: Chocolate

JR: Daniel Craig or Pierce Brosnan?

AM: Mmm, Judi Dench

JR: First person or third?

AM: Depends

JR: Prologue or no prologue?

AM: No prologue

JR: Making dinner or making reservations?

AM: Definitely reservations

JR: Tell us four things about you that no one knows. Only three can be true. We'll search for the fraud.

AM:
1) After the birth of my first child, I died, was revived, put on life support, and was comatose for a day.
2) I have an uncanny ability to look inside of people and know their dark sides.
3) I thrive on confrontations and conflict.
4) I'm the most adventurous eater I know. Eat your heart out Anthony Bourdain.

JR: Oooh, I think I know I think I know... Thanks, Amy! And BTW, just read your August 19 blog on The Writers Group about running into Richard Russo at the downtown Borders, also signing books. You titled the blog, "I am a dork" -- and boy can we all relate!!