Who is the Enigmatic Renia and Her Sister?
Hi everyone, as we get closer to the release of The Forgetting Flower, I thought it would be fun to do an introduction for a few of the characters. First up is my protagonist, Renia, and her sister Estera. Renia Baranczka is a young woman who grew up on the outskirts of Kraków in Poland. She comes from an intact…
The Characters and Their Music in The Forgetting Flower, Part 1
I have always loved music. When I was little, I loved pop music for its catchy hooks. Then when I was a teenager, I loved rock music for its cool riffs. As a young adult, I was into alternative before my love later deepened into jazz and classical music. I was a musician myself for a while (drummer) and worked…
Why I Wrote a Novel About a Tree That Sings: Part Two
In Part One of this series, I wrote about how my affection for trees and the idea of plants making vibrations inspired me to write Song of the Tree Hollow. Today I’ll address the other piece of the puzzle: the sudden experience of my cat dying and coming back to life.
Why I Wrote a Novel About a Weird Apple: Part 3
During these last few weeks, I shared two posts about the origins of my novel Harvesting the Sky. The first article covered how I merged issues of an emotional past with plants and the second, my inability to eat apples and subsequent fascination with them. This week I’m posting the final segment of this origin story with the book’s first chapter.…
Why I Wrote a Novel About a Weird Apple: Part 2
Last week, I wrote about the origins of my novel Harvesting the Sky. How my own emotional journey found its way into my protagonist, how I developed a protagonist who was a composite of plant people I knew, and why I decided to set the story in Paris. While I had all of that worked out, I hadn’t decided what my protagonist botany professor…
Might and Main Monday: Ann Patchett
Writer Ann Patchett says it all in this quote about the creation of art and the importance of forgiveness. It’s from her article, “The Getaway Car,” reprinted in This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage. Forgiveness. The ability to forgive oneself. Stop here for a few breaths and think about this because it is the key to making art, and…
Why I Wrote a Novel About a Weird Apple: Part 1
For years I resisted the idea of writing fictional stories about plants. I had a day job, which entailed helping people design and maintain their gardens, and I had a night vocation, which was writing stories about careers I might have wanted in a different life: professor, antiques dealer, etc. I’d written my MFA thesis story about an ethics professor…
