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| "Writing is mysterious..." - Kate Whouley |
We are excited to welcome author Kate Whouley to Author Exposure today. She released her second book, Remembering the Music, Forgetting the Words, earlier this month. It has received a great amount of attention and is, in fact, on the Indie Next Great Read list for September. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy our conversation. You don't want to miss the great opportunity at the end!
Your second book, Forgetting the Words, Remembering the Music, is available now in bookstores. It is a memoir about your relationship with your mother as both her daughter and caretaker. Following the release of your first book, you mentioned in an interview with Shannon Goheen that you were working on a fiction project. Did you continue working on this fiction project alongside writing Remembering the Music, Forgetting the Words? Please share with us a little bit about your writing process.
As a writer, I am inspired—first and foremost—by character. An understanding of character leads me to motivations, behaviors, stories. I began working on Cottage for Sale because I wanted to capture the images and voices of the builders, housemovers, tradespeople and townspeople who became the “village” it took to move that cottage. I can trace part of the inspiration for the novel you mention to a music theory professor who introduced me to the life and work of Nadia Boulanger, a remarkable 20th century musician and teacher. Decades after that introduction, Miss Boulanger found her fictionalized way to me. But before the novel could see print, I was confronted with another real-life character: my Mom. At first, I thought she might play a small part in another nonfiction project I was sketching. I should have known my drama-directing Mom would settle for nothing less than the starring role in Remembering the Music.
Your first book, Cottage for Sale, Must be Moved, is a delightful memoir about the year you spent moving a cottage onto your Cape Cod property. What role does humor play in your books?
I hope it makes people laugh!In Cottage for Sale, I’m working with a bit of a comic premise: single woman moves house. Humor helps to carry the plot along and allows me to grow serious and philosophical on occasion—without taxing the patience of readers. In Remembering the Music, the storyline is something closer to tragic. The book has more heft, and for me, that means it requires at least an equal amount of humor for leavening—some of it dark humor, some bright and light.There were funny moments in my journey with my mother, and I wanted to be sure those were in there. We tend to get all serious when the word “dementia” enters a room. My mother, even suffering with memory loss, had a great sense of humor and a deep, uninhibited laugh. In the telling of our story, I hope I’ve managed to elicit at least an occasional giggle from her now untethered spirit.
Remembering the Music, Forgetting the Words is on the Indie Next Great Read list for September. Independent booksellers and reviewers alike are all abuzz about this book and have been suggesting it to book club groups. On your website, you encourage readers to contact you if they are interested in inviting you to participate in their book club discussion. As an author of two memoirs, what has your experience been like at book club meetings—discussing your life story?
Book groups are great, and I’m so happy that some groups find my work worth reading and discussing. But you’re right; it is different when the character’s motivations under discussion are real, rather than imagined—especially if the “character” happens to be Kate. It can be disconcerting, but it is always enlightening! Most book groups I’ve visited—either in person or by phone— enjoy talking about some of the themes in my work—independence and gender in Cottage, for example—and quizzing me on the story behind the story. Many book groups have writers as members, and I always enjoying sharing notes on the writing process.
How has your journey to publishing your second book compared to that of your first book?
It does feel different the second time around! I am perhaps more detached, more confident in my work, and less concerned with how folks respond to it. (Though of course, I hope readers will connect with the book!) With this one, I feel honored to be published by Beacon Press, a Boston-based independent house with a rich history, impressive list, and noble publishing mission.
It's fairly uncommon for an author to write back to back memoirs. Why was it important for you to write two memoirs?
I believe that stories have their own timing and their own desires. I didn’t plan to write or publish back-to-back memoirs. Writing is mysterious, and I approach every project as an act of discovery. You begin, and you keep at it until you understand what you are writing. Then, you set the story free to become the book it has to be.
Want to learn more about Kate and her books? Check out these links:
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ATTENTION: This giveaway has been extended. It will close at midnight on MONDAY, OCTOBER 3rd.
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Libby is the book review editor and chief contributing writer for the What's Next? series.
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