When did you write your first book and how old were you?
As odd as this sounds, my writing journey began with the breast biopsy I had at 48. That incident incited my twin sister and me to launch the search for our birth relatives so that we could attain the family medical history denied us due to closed adoption’s stringent statutes. As I plunged into my adoption search, everyone I talked with about the unfolding events said, “You’ve got to write that story.” At 52, I enrolled in writing courses. Ten years later, I published my first book, Twice a Daughter, the story about my five year adoption search and reunion.
Does writing energize or exhaust you? Or both?
Writing is a bunch of things all at once and sequentially. It is impatience and fear and angst and frustration when getting started on a blank page, new chapter, or short piece of writing. It is mental fatigue and pure exhaustion during the editing stages. But after a work is polished and submitted, there is relief, satisfaction, and pride.
Have you ever considered writing under a pseudonym, and why or why not?
When I was getting started with my debut memoir, I was worried about telling the story and how it would affect the people involved if I chose to publish it. For months, I considered publishing Twice a Daughter under my birth name. But as other pieces of mine were accepted in various publications and periodicals, I scrapped the pseudonym idea. I was developing a late-in-life career and giving a fictious person the credit for my first book didn’t feel right any longer.
How important was professional editing to your book’s development?
The best money I ever spent on my writing my second memoir, Twice the Family, was hiring a professional editor to help in the development phase. She not only kept me true to the premise and themes, but she offered areas to insert through-threads and deeper narrative reflection. This front-end advice made the publishing process go quicker and smoother.
What do the words “writer’s block” mean to you?
For me, dealing with commitments and issues of everyday life create a sort of “writer’s block.” I’ve come to realize that I slip out of the “stuck” spot once I clear ornery tasks and obligatory events. Once the nagging background noise is gone, I slip back in front of my computer and the ideas that had refused to flow become unlocked. One of my favorite tricks or “quirks” to jumpstart a writing sessionis to precede it with a 20-minute meditation.
How did you come up with the titles for your books?
My memoir titles, Twice a Daughter and Twice the Family, come from lines within each book. They are derived from my being a twin and an adoptee. My sister and I are our parents first children and thus an instant family.
How long did it take you to write your books?
I have written four books: two memoirs, one collection of essays, and a children’s book scheduled to release in spring 2025. My first book, Twice a Daughter (She Writes Press, 2021), took ten years to write and publish, but concurrently I was writing the essays that found their way into my second book, Belonging Matters (Muse Literary, 2023). Twice the Family, my second memoir and the prequel to the first book was the hardest book to write because of the subject matter and timeline. Writing that one took three years from conception to manuscript submission.
Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
When Twice a Daughter released in May 2021, readers wanted to know what happened before my adoption search. Specifically, what was it like to grow up as an identical twin and an adoptee. I hope they find that Twice the Family delivers.
What part of your recent book did you have the hardest time writing? What part of the book was the most fun to write?
My second memoir, Twice the Family, was the hardest to write. The most challenging section were the chapters that dealt with my youngest sister’s sudden death. I was sixteen when our family faced that traumatic event––five decades ago––so piecing it together meant teasing out stubborn memories and collaborating with family: my twin sister and my mother. Crafting those difficult chapters involved revisiting a time that was full of grief and loss. The easiest and most fun chapters come at the book’s close when I meet, fall in love with my husband, and we begin building our own family in a different way than my parents had done.
If you’re planning a sequel, can you share a tiny bit about your plans for it?
My first book begins with my husband demanding I search for my birth parents, while my second book ends with our work-life romance and marriage. I’d like to craft a trilogy about the third stage of my life: losing my husband to cancer, dealing with that loss, and the struggle to adjust to a new sense of identity and belonging.