Q. Your protagonist, Lane, owns a bed-and-breakfast called the Cloister House. Her favorite room there is her writing room, in the northeast turret. We’re reminded of Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own.” Why is this room—both actual and metaphorical—so important to a writer? Do you have a room of your own? Do you have one space where you like to create, or can you do it in different places?
A. These days, life comes at you full blast twenty-four/seven. There are so many distractions: TV, with its twenty-four-hour news cycle, the infectious lure of social media, cell phones, e-mail, and always, always an endless list of things that need doing. Having a place that’s yours alone, a kind of sanctuary where you have at least some command over what comes into that space, offers a small sense of control and helps set the tone for creativity. I’m fortunate to have an actual office, which I just redecorated, as a matter of fact, but I can usually write anywhere—the back porch, in the car, at the beach, sitting cross-legged on my bed with an old movie playing in the background. As long as there’s no music. Music gets in my head and I can’t hear anything else.
Q. There are three main characters in The Wishing Tide: Lane, Michael, and Mary. Was one of them easier to write than the others? Or harder to write than the others? Did you have a favorite character?
A. I think Mary was the easiest for me to write. Perhaps because she came to me first, and almost fully formed as a character. Her story informed the rest of the novel and set the pace for the entire story. It took several stabs to get her voice right, but I always knew who she was and what she’d been through. I also think she’s my favorite character in the story. I love her strength and endurance, and also her unique brand of wisdom, which seems to allow her see and know all things.
Q. The setting of Starry Point is fictitious, yet it’s so detailed it feels real. How did you create this setting and why did you feel this book needed to be set here?
A. For me, there’s something very healing about the sea. I’m always calmest when I’m near the water, and it’s where I tend to run when I feel stressed or blocked, so I suppose it felt like a place Lane would go to heal after her marriage ended. Also, I liked the symbolism of the sea ebbing and flowing, giving and taking. It plays nicely with Mary’s losses, and with her ultimate healing. I put a lot of time into building my settings because, for me, when setting is done well it actually becomes a character, a living, breathing piece of the story, until you can’t imagine the story taking place anywhere else.
Q. For several of the characters in this book, there’s a disjunction between their dreams and their lived reality. Do you think this is somewhat inevitable as we age and get tossed around on life’s waters? Have you had to combat issues that made you sympathetic to the problems your characters faced?
A. I think very few of us wake up at forty and find that we’re living the life of our dreams. We cherish those dreams early on but rarely chart a course to get there. Life gets in the way. We need to be responsible, make a living. But I also think, as we reach our later years, there’s time for second chances. The kids are grown, the pace of life slows, and it’s possible to finally chart that course and go after those dreams again—but only if we want them badly enough. I empathize very much with Lane, with the disappointments of losing a baby and giving up a writing career due to criticism and lack of support. But here I am, chasing down my dream. Life can be tumultuous, even downright hard, but the human spirit is incredibly resilient.
Q. You’ve now written two novels, The Secrets She Carried and The Wishing Tide. How were the experiences of writing them different? Was one more challenging to write?
A. I started writing The Secrets She Carried after being laid off from a draining but very lucrative corporate job. I was terrified but determined, and so I dove in. Unfortunately, it was a complicated story with a dual timeline, and it never occurred to me to work from an outline. Needless to say, I had more than my share of false starts. It took me two and a half years to finally nail it. With The Wishing Tide, I was under contract, which meant I had an actual deadline. False starts weren’t an option if I was going to get the manuscript in on time. So I learned how to outline. Once I had a clean, precise story arc, the actual writing went like a dream. I finished in six months.
Q. At the end of the day, what do you hope readers take away from this story?
A. That it’s never too late to live a good life. That just because life threw you a few low blows and knocked you off your pins doesn’t mean you have to stay there. You can keep fighting and eventually get to a better place.