A Watershed Year (41 page)

Q. What led you to a story about adoption?

A.
I have a number of friends who have adopted children, and I’ve been privileged to witness how their families have adapted and grown in ways that are different from my own but no less beautiful. I’m inspired by the bravery of the decision to bring a child into a family and create a bond that’s every bit as strong as a biological one.

Q. How did the story take shape? How long did it take you to write it?

A.
The story took shape in fits and starts over a period of three to four years. I wrote a complete draft in 2004, not really knowing
how the story would end. Over the next few years, I rewrote extensively and reshaped the plot, adding and subtracting details along the way. Even after the novel won its category in the William Faulkner–William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition in 2006, I continue to edit and add to the story. I wish I could say it came to me in one piece, but it was a very arduous and circular process.

Q. Are the characters based on anyone?

A.
Other than Harlan, whose essential nature is similar to that of my late friend, and Nana Mavis, who is based on my unforgettable grandmother, Deloris Walsh, the characters are not based on anyone in particular. On the other hand, I can see pieces of myself in pretty much every character. I have Lucy’s obsession with categories and Cokie’s exasperation at what it takes to raise children in today’s society. I have Paul’s pragmatism and Mat’s impatience. It may sound contradictory, but I’m none of them and all of them.

Q. Tell us about your writing process — where and when do you write? Do you listen to a certain type of music? Do you work from outlines?

A.
I write mainly in the morning in a small office surrounded by books that inspire me, but my writing time is not my only work time. When I go for a run, I skip the iPod and think about my characters instead. I jot down notes everywhere I go, and once I solved a plot problem in the middle of a sit-up. I didn’t use an outline when I wrote
A Watershed Year
, but I’m trying to use one for my next novel. Unfortunately, I keep rewriting the outline.

Q. What kind of research did you do for this story?

A.
I did extensive research on the saints, on the adoption process, and on Russia. I have a whole shelf of books devoted to topics I needed
to learn more about. I think my background as a newspaper reporter and copy editor served me well. At different points in the writing process, I interviewed a doctor about how Harlan’s cancer would have progressed and a court clerk about the technicalities of adoption.

Q. Have you traveled to Russia? Why did you choose Russia as the country Lucy adopts from?

A.
I haven’t traveled to Russia, but I’ve always been intrigued by that country, and I hope to see it someday. I wanted Lucy to complete the adoption in one trip, so that limited the places I could choose from, even inside Russia. I decided on Murmansk because it’s not as well known as other Russian cities, and it provided more of a blank canvas for letting the story run where it needed to go.

Q. What themes in this story do you hope will resonate most with readers?

A.
I hope readers will wonder how they might have behaved if they had been in Harlan’s circumstances, and I hope they will appreciate how Lucy grows as a person when she takes responsibility for Mat’s future. Beyond that, I just hope they enjoy the story.

Q. What are you working on now?

A.
I’m working on a new novel about a financially strapped weekly newspaper editor and her two siblings, both of whom are also in financial distress. The newspaper editor helps take care of a woman who has lived most of her life in an iron lung after having polio as a child. They story is mainly set in upstate New York, which is where I grew up, and it involves a cast of characters with the best intentions who make some pretty terrible decisions. I’m in love with it right now, but I’ll probably rewrite it half a dozen times before it’s ready for an audience.

questions for discussion

• How would you define the role of the saints in Lucy’s life?
  
• In what ways did the time frame of the story, pre–9/11 to several months after the start of the war in Iraq, impact what was happening in Lucy’s life?
  
• Should Harlan have confessed the depth of his feelings for Lucy before he died? How do you think Lucy would have reacted?
  
• How would you have dealt with Yulia and her unconventional approach as an adoption agent?
  
• What do you think of Harlan’s decision to discontinue his cancer treatment, even though he was getting better?
  
• What do you think the wallpaper for Mat’s room symbolized?
  
• How did you view Mat’s initial indifference to Lucy? What do you imagine he was thinking?
  
• Did you sympathize with Vasily? Do you think it was right that Mat stayed with Lucy, or do you think he should have gone back to Russia with Vasily?
  
• Did you believe Vasily’s explanation regarding the source of Mat’s scars? Why or why not?
  
• Was Louis as innocent as he seemed regarding Lucy’s academic article?
  
• Given the emails and the audiotape under the dining table, do you think Lucy could receive more messages in other forms from Harlan?