Margaret Sullivan dines with politicians, rebels, and spies. She is an admired journalist with the Chicago Tribune publishing under a male nom de plume. Her unscrupulous husband is a prominent attorney and power broker with aspirations of his own. They are well-connected members of Chicago’s 1880’s Irish elite.
On her trip to Ireland to do research for a
book she is writing, Margaret meets a charming one-armed Irish rebel named
Michael and finds herself attracted to him and his ideas for liberating
Ireland. While traveling through the stone-walled back roads of the island,
Margaret sees for herself how the poor are treated. She breaks her vow never to
get involved, and soon questions if she can ever go back to her old superficial
life in Chicago again. Overcome with her new found emotions and strong desire
to help, Margaret finds herself easily convinced by Mrs. Delia Parnell that
women can be just as crucial in the fight for Ireland’s independence as men.
Back home in
Chicago Margaret publishes articles hoping to gain support in America for
Michael’s cause. That is until he is arrested. Desperate, she turns to her
jealous, devious husband for help...but he has a hidden agenda of his own. To learn more go to www.for-the-love-of-ireland.com
1. If you could work with any other author, who
would it be and why?
Tony Morrison comes to mind because she is a
master at indirect storytelling.
However, I wouldn’t want to emulate her.
My style is very different from hers; I just admire her ability to
create mystery. Many people find her work
hard to read because it can be confusing at times, whereas my writing style
tends to be more direct and easier to understand. However, I like to include poetic prose in my
protagonist’s introspection.
2. What would be a typical working day for you?
When and where do you write?
I get up at 6:00 am in the morning, pour a cup
of coffee and go to my office, sit down in front of the computer and write
until 9:00 am. Then I have breakfast,
shower and do my yoga at home, meditate and maybe walk the dog. I write until lunch, eat at my computer and
around 4 pm I think about what to make for dinner. After dinner, I write until 10 pm.
3. What is the hardest part of the writing for
you?
I enjoy the story world, and that becomes my
real world while I’m creating. I think
keeping up my friendships is the hardest part for me. I don’t want to bore everyone with my latest
scene, so I have to find other things to talk about.
4. When and why did you first start writing?
Like most writers, I started when I was young
writing silly stories about imaginary friends.
At the age of 21 I owned an antique shop, and I use to tell stories
about the objects in my store. I think
that was when I started developing my interest in historical fiction. I have written my whole life and have boxes
of stories and unfinished novels. I
didn’t get serious until 3 years ago when I decided go to school and learn how
to become a better writer.
5. How did you come up with the idea for the story
in your book?
I was researching the Irish in Chicago for
another novel. I was looking
specifically for ties to rebel activities in Ireland. I found a wealth of information on an
assortment of individuals and the deeper I dug the more I became aware that
they were connected. My novel is based
on the lives and events of some of these individuals. In real life, my protagonist Margaret
Sullivan was a popular journalist in the 1880s that had to hide her gender so
that she could have her articles published.
Margaret also happened to be married to a man with a volatile temper
that was the president of a secret Irish-American organization known as the
Clan na Gael. I imagined what it must
have been like to be in her shoes balancing her career and her desire to help
Ireland while at the same time being in love with someone other than her
husband.
6. Are you a big reader? If so, what are you
reading now?
Books are my greatest weakness, and I devour
several a month. I read various books of
popular fiction for my book club, but most of the time I read non-fiction. Right now I am working on my next novel that
takes place in Paris at the World’s Fair in 1889. So, I have books about the fair and various artists
along with other books about the lives of some of the flamboyant characters who
were in Paris at that time.
7. Do you have any advice for other aspiring
writers?
Buy some good books or take a few classes on
the technics of writing and learn how to construct a story. If you don’t know what a story arch is, you
will get stuck perfecting scenes that don’t move the story forward. Learn the difference between telling and
showing. In the beginning, most new
writers tell too much – then they did this and then they did that, and then that
happened, - instead of letting the reader discover what is happening by
imagining they are there. Always make
the reader curious so they will turn the page.
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