| Interviewer Christopher Seufert sat down with | | | | Boston. I had this carload of dogs and sort of |
| author Nancy Geary in between | | | | the last minute stuff that hadn't been |
| promotional events for the release of her latest | | | | packed and a brand new baby. I showed up at |
| novel "Being Miss Alcott." Latest | | | | the closing, and I just... I don't know, |
| release and information about Nancy can be | | | | it was very weird driving off the Cape that day. |
| found at Seufert: So you're teaching a class on | | | | It felt like I was really saying goodbye |
| how to write your first novel?Nancy Geary: Yes, | | | | to something. I think there was something about |
| at the Cape Cod Writers Conference.CS: You've | | | | Chatham and the house that we |
| written four books and you're on your fifth now. | | | | were in. It's just a very special, wild place.I |
| What's the difference | | | | remember, once the furniture had been moved |
| between writing a first novel and writing | | | | out I had something called a |
| subsequent novels?NG: Well, the idea of the | | | | champagne and Similac [A brand of baby |
| "Writing Your First Novel" class, the way I teach | | | | formula] party and invited people over just |
| it, focuses | | | | to say goodbye. Someone at that party said to |
| on the choices that you need to be aware of | | | | me, "You're never going to live in |
| when you're getting started. We spend a | | | | such a nice place or in a nice house like this |
| day discussing first person versus third person, | | | | again." And it's true. It was a very |
| which kind of voice is better for the | | | | special house in a very special place. So I do miss |
| tone that you want, outlining a plot, which I think | | | | it.There really is something about driving across |
| is incredibly important, the | | | | the bridge and smelling that salty air |
| themes of your book, and dialogue... So I think | | | | for the first time, and the moment that you roll |
| there are various issues that are not | | | | down the windows.CS: So you are also beginning |
| so particular to a novel. A novel is like any | | | | your fifth novel right now?NG: I've just started, |
| ambitious project. If you don't have it all | | | | although it's kind of interesting because I entered |
| organized in your thoughts before you get | | | | into contract |
| started, what's going to happen to these | | | | with my new publisher without them even seeing |
| students is what happens to most people- they | | | | a proposal. So I've been working |
| start and don't finish. And so, the | | | | on a novel but they haven't even seen it. I'm |
| ultimate goal of my class is to prepare the | | | | going to meet with them in September |
| students to see their book through to the | | | | and see if they actually want the one that I'm |
| end.CS: Tell me about how you made the | | | | working on or whether we'll come up |
| decision to leave your job as a lawyer, and to | | | | with a new idea.CS: This one is along the same |
| move to the Cape to begin your first novel.NG: | | | | lines?NS: As Being Mrs. Alcott. It's certainly not a |
| Being a lawyer was taking 100 percent of my | | | | sequel, it has a younger heroine and |
| time and I just didn't feel like it | | | | totally different issues and it's set in Westchester |
| was 100 percent of me. And there was this | | | | where I live now but it's not a |
| burning sense that I had something to | | | | suspense.CS: So it sounds like it will be interesting |
| say, that I had this story to tell, even though I | | | | to see if you core readers are mystery |
| wasn't quite sure what it was at the | | | | readers or Nancy Geary readers.NG: I'm hoping |
| time. I'd grown up thinking that if I work really | | | | they're Nancy Geary readers, though we'll see.CS: |
| hard and I keep trying, then | | | | Can they predict how changing genres like that will |
| everything's going to have a happy ending. But, | | | | effect the book sales?NG: I don't think they know. |
| after my dad died I suddenly had | | | | I was at a Book-Span party and a man from |
| this sense that, "My god, every moment is so | | | | Barnes & |
| precious, everyday is so precious." I | | | | Noble, who is a big buyer for them, said, "You |
| just couldn't see myself staying a lawyer and | | | | know, you're making a huge mistake |
| never trying this.Financially there were huge | | | | because they won't know how to shelve you!" |
| issues, and that's why I gave myself two years. I | | | | On the other hand, the Barnes & |
| said, "If | | | | Noble editors picked Being Mrs. Alcott as their |
| I haven't made it as a writer within two years | | | | favorite read and that was a huge, |
| I'm going to have to go back to being a | | | | huge deal. I figure we'll see what happens. I think |
| lawyer." So it was confined. I admire people who | | | | this is the direction I want to go. I |
| have written manuscript after | | | | couldn't be a lawyer when I really wanted to |
| manuscript and keep on writing after being | | | | write, ultimately. I just can't write being |
| rejected. In fact, sometimes I think | | | | worried about where I'm going to be |
| those are the real writers because they're | | | | shelved.Photos for this article can be found at and |
| internally driven. They're not writing for | | | | freely used.- Nancy Geary Bio -"I was born in |
| any sense of commercial success or public | | | | New York City. Other than a year at boarding |
| acknowledgement. But for me, because I | | | | school when I was |
| was giving up so much and I was allowing myself | | | | constantly homesick, I was educated in |
| limited time, it was either going to | | | | Manhattan and graduated from the Spence |
| work or not work, and it was a huge risk.I think | | | | School, an all-girls school on the upper east side. |
| that in this society your career becomes so much | | | | Because my parents were |
| of who you are. I remember | | | | divorced, I split my summer vacations between |
| when I quit my job, people would ask me what I | | | | Southampton, New York, where my |
| did for a living, and I would say | | | | father had a home, and Manchester, |
| "Nothing." I didn't say "I'm a writer." I didn't know | | | | Massachusetts, where my great-grandmother |
| what I was at all because I wasn't a | | | | lived.I graduated magna cum laude from Brown |
| lawyer anymore. Those first couple of months | | | | University in 1987 where I studied |
| were some of the scariest months of | | | | American History and "Law, Ethics and Public |
| my life. But once I got to school and started | | | | Policy." My honors thesis on AIDS in |
| meeting other people who were trying | | | | the pediatric population won the Minnie Helen |
| to write and I found a community of people that | | | | Hicks prize. I then went to Harvard |
| were trying to do the same thing | | | | Law School where I represented indigent |
| that I was, it got easier on a day-to-day basis. | | | | defendants through the Harvard Defenders |
| But in the end it really wasn't until I | | | | program, taught constitutional law at a nearby |
| signed a contract that I felt like I could say I was | | | | public high school, and was a |
| a writer. Then I felt more | | | | teaching assistant for an undergraduate ethics |
| comfortable about who I was.As for Cape Cod, | | | | course.After graduating cum laude, I spent four |
| the reason that I moved down to the Cape was | | | | years as an Assistant Attorney General in |
| simply that it's a | | | | the Criminal Bureau of the Massachusetts |
| much more beautiful place to live and work | | | | Attorney General's Office. I initially did |
| creatively. My husband was a lawyer up | | | | appellate work, but later prosecuted public |
| in Boston so I was going back and forth a lot, | | | | corruption, insurance fraud and financial |
| but for me to work down here was | | | | crimes. I also spent six months in the Lowell |
| such a gift. I was able to get up in the morning | | | | District Court as part of the Urban |
| and walk my dogs on the beach and | | | | Violence Strike Force prosecuting primarily drug |
| it was a real source of inspiration. It's perfectly | | | | and domestic violence cases. I had |
| quiet in a way the city never is. It | | | | the chance to work with a wonderful group of |
| was really very, very peaceful.CS: Why | | | | assistant district attorneys and |
| specifically did you decide to use Chatham as the | | | | dedicated police officers, including one cop who |
| setting for your latest | | | | pursued a fleeing felon on a |
| novel?NS: There was a very deliberate reason | | | | tricycle and caught him! As difficult as the work |
| for choosing Chatham with the book. Even | | | | was, the days were exciting. Lowell |
| though everyone says it's so scenic I think | | | | District Court is still the scene of my most vivid |
| Chatham is really very wild. When you | | | | legal memories, both successes and |
| walk on the beach and the wind and the salt in | | | | failures.I went into private practice briefly at a |
| your face... I remember just coming | | | | large Boston law firm before quitting my legal |
| back feeling totally exhilerated. I wanted that kind | | | | career to try to write. I enrolled in several |
| of natural turmoil for what the | | | | graduate seminars, participated in |
| heroine's experiencing. This is why I choose | | | | workshops on various aspects of writing, wrote |
| Chatham for this book specifically. My | | | | lots of short stories and read |
| other books weren't set here.CS: Now that | | | | constantly. Then one day on a vacation in Turks |
| you've moved away to New York, did you | | | | and Caicos, the idea for Misfortune |
| actually makes trips down to | | | | came to me. I couldn't sleep and scribbled notes |
| visit certain locations again or was this mostly | | | | in a travel guide and on pages of |
| drawn from memory?NG: Mostly drawn from | | | | my day planner. I completed the book about a |
| memory.CS: Really? When did you first move to | | | | year and a half later and, in the |
| the Cape?NG: My husband and I started coming | | | | process, came to think of Frances Pratt as a real |
| to the Cape together. We sort of ended up | | | | friend. Misfortune was published in |
| here by accident. He had had a huge case in | | | | 2001,Redemption in 2003, Regrets Only in 2004, |
| Singapore and he'd been gone for two | | | | and my latest novel, Being Mrs. |
| months. And so when he came back I made a | | | | Alcott will be released in July 2005.I live in |
| reservation at the Chatham Bars Inn | | | | Westchester County with my son, two Labrador |
| for four days of vacation. We were down here | | | | retrievers, and two rabbits in |
| and it was the middle of winter and it | | | | a house built in 1790. It has crooked floors, |
| was so beautiful. We were walking around and he | | | | uneven walls, and a basement that fills |
| said, "Why don't we just go into a | | | | with water every time it rains, but we love it. I |
| realtor's office?" The next thing we knew we | | | | teach creative writing at the Northern |
| were down here every weekend and | | | | Westchester Center for the Arts and am |
| Chatham was part of our life . We first bought | | | | currently at work on a new novel."Author and |
| our house in '93, I was here full time | | | | interviewer Christopher Seufert runs ( Chatham, |
| by 1998 and then I moved in 2001. It was very | | | | Cape Cod's Online Guide, and |
| sad to go. I will never forget the day | | | | |
| that we had the closing. My husband and I had | | | | ( Chatham's Online Store. |
| separated and he had returned to | | | | |