DEBORAH CROMBIE: We are so happy today to have Anne LeClaire, the best-selling author of The Orchid Sister, visiting us! She has a fascinating question, and I can't wait to hear everyone's responses.
ANNE LECLAIRE: Do you always read the author’s acknowledgements? I do. I appreciate the public recognition
that it actually does take a village to get a book not only written but on the
shelf.
Often the author is generous and thoughtful in
thanking those who have been invaluable in her research and supportive in her life. I chose the pronoun deliberately for in my
admittedly unscientific survey, it’s usually women who express their gratitude
– often running on for pages as they thank their publishing team, their agents,
writers’ groups, family, friends, people interviewed during the research phase
or who answer those questions that pop up during the course of the writing.
Doctors, scientists, law enforcement, lay people of all ilk, even friends who
have offered support by watching her children, providing a hot meal or a space
in which to write.
Men? Not so
much. They thank their partners and professionals who provided expertise in
other fields, but I can’t remember an instance where one male author thanked
someone for bringing over a casserole or taking the children off for the day
while he finished the last pages of the first draft. I’m curious as to the
reason for this, but that is a topic for another day.
I suppose if we really thanked all the people who
mentored us along the way, offering support and help, answering the hundreds of
queries, reading drafts at various stages, not to mention other authors whom
have influenced us, it could prove a volume unto itself. No author works alone.
Although she has been dead for many years, I always
wish I had mentioned Dot Winski in my
acknowledgements. She was the cook in a four-room school where my mother was a
principal and taught first grade. The basement
cafeteria was comprised of an oven, refrigerator, and long counter which
doubled as a prep area and service space where the students would grab a tray and
then carry their meal back to their classroom to eat. Without question it would
not be legal today. Off to the far side by the furnace was a card table and a
couple of chairs where Dot, a large-bodied Polish woman, would drink coffee and
smoke when she wasn’t cooking or washing dishes.
When I was on vacation (I had a different school schedule
than my mother had) I would spend hours in the basement with Dot. She was a high
school graduate, a passionate reader and a born story-teller which was what
drew me to her at first. It was also what made me trust her enough to confide
in her that I wrote short stories, ones I showed to no one. She wanted me to read them to her and when I
did, she always responded enthusiastically, encouraging me to write more.
I went off to college in Ohio and my mother moved to
another position in another state and I lost touch with Dot. But when I think
of early influences, people who believed in me and gave me permission to follow
my dream of becoming a writer, I think of her. I regret I never told her that.
Who do you acknowledge? Was there a Dot Winki in your
life?
DEBS: Yes, I do always read author's acknowledgements, but it had never occurred to me that women tend to thank a village. Now I'm going to be looking at every book I read by a male author! As for a Dot Winki, mine would be my grandmother, who not only taught me to read but to love reading, and who encouraged all my aspirations. And I'd add Miss Schwann, my teacher in both third and sixth grade, who shared her enthusiasm for learning.
How about you, REDs and readers?
The
Orchid Sister: Set
on Cape Cod and the myth-shrouded Yucatan coast of Mexico, the novel is “full
of sisterly love and the power of women.” Two sisters – Kat, who is fighting the
idea of aging and Maddie, who is afraid to love – are caught up in the
dangerous obsession of a fanatical doctor in a clinic deep in the Mayan
jungle.
Anne LeClaire is the author of ten
best-selling novels, an award-winning memoir, Listening Below the Noise, and
a children’s book, Kaylee Finds a Friend.
She teaches workshops both
nationally and internationally on writing as well as on the practice of
silence. Anne lives on Cape Cod.
