AN INTERVIEW WITH PATTI LACY

Patti Lacy is the author of An Irishwoman’s Tale, her debut novel, which has been receiving rave reviews.

Welcome, Patti, I’m so glad to have you with us this month.

Thanks, Deborah. It’s a blessing to be here.

Patti, you’re a master storyteller. I even become engrossed reading your Web site content. Can you share with us what you’ve done to reach this level of writing as a debut novelist?

I appreciate you saying that, but I really have so much to learn. My family moved about when I was young, and I attended different schools every year until Grade 7. Books befriended me, Beautiful Joe always wagging his tail and encouraging me, Nancy Drew deputizing me and putting me on her cases. Perhaps I picked up the rhythms of the written word. Once I determined to write for that Audience of One, I devoured writing books, hired a good editor, and wrote, wrote, wrote, wrote, wrote…An Irishwoman’s Tale probably had forty or fifty rewrites and morphed from nonfiction to fiction, from first person to third person…
 
I like how you say you’ve pursued writing ever since kindergarten, when you started reading. You’ve never had an urge to write a story throughout the years before reaching this point?

Deborah, I never remember writing anything but some lousy poetry and a few love letters to unattainable boys.

Who are some of your favorite authors, classic and current?

The list would be a hundred pages long! Bookshelves line our den, my room. Stacks of books clutter every conceivable table. But I’m not as bad as my dad, who stacked them in the guest bath, where towels should have gone.
Dickens, Cather, deMaupassant, Doestevesky, Stegner, Kingsolver…
In the CBA, here’s a few authors on my shelves: Rivers, Austin, Martin, Lewis, Lessman, Lang, Kirkpatrick, Samson, Tang. 
A new author that I’m wild about is Kim Edwards, who penned the Memory Keeper’s Daughter and a wonderful little book of short stories.

Patti, please tell us about An Irishwoman’s Tale.

When God saved Mary, an impetuous Irishwoman, He pulled her from a mire of terrible mistakes—substance abuse and scars inflicted by not one, but two sets of parents. In spite of His redemptive work, Mary’s first memory still haunts her—an old oaken table, moon-shaped faces guzzling bitter tea, cups and cups of the steaming stuff, asking what’s to be done with the little eejit.

It takes the encouragement of Sally, a gregarious Southerner transplanted in Terre Haute, to propel Mary back to the rocky cliffs of her beloved Ireland; that and her youngest daughter’s fondness for alcohol, a habit which threatens to rip the tapestry of an idyllic life that Mary has so carefully woven for her family.

In a harrowing adventure which spans two continents and culminates in a rescue scene on storied Irish peak Croagh Patrick, the two middle-aged women dredge up secrets that have been buried for decades. By the conclusion of An Irishwoman’s Tale, Mary glimpses God’s perfect plan for her life and is ready to face, with His help, her present, past, and future

An Irishwoman’s Tale is based on a true story. Is your protagonist, Mary Freeman, much like the real-life Mary?
           
Most definitely. That fact really helped a novice writer with the character sketch. I could just visualize my best friend’s curly red hair, her way of clearing her throat when she’s nervous, her bouncy step, and write it down.

Did your friend, Mary, ever find her birth mother?

Ooh, I don’t want to give away too much of the story. Can you ask me next year?

I’ve read your news about current projects. All of the stories sound unique and amazing. Are they all based on the lives of people you know, or have become acquainted with?

Deborah, you really prepared for this interview! I’m impressed! Yes, I collect stories, mainly from women I meet. When an image captures my heart and won’t let go, I have the seed for a story. In my second novel, it was the image of two little girls, one black, one white, playing through the spaces in a chain link fence because their parents wouldn’t let them be together.

For My Name is Sheba, the book I’m working on now, I read a newspaper article about a woman sent to a Home for Unwed Mothers in the 60s. After giving birth to her daughter, she wasn’t allowed to see her, wasn’t allowed to even touch her. As she rode back to the home, where the staff awaited, ready to give her daughter up for adoption, Mom got to hold the infant for the first—and last—time. “Please go slow,” she begged the cabbie with the heavy-lidded, sympathetic eyes. “I have six minutes to give a lifetime of love to this baby.” Miraculously the ride stretched into ten minutes. Then she gave her away and didn’t see her for decades.

After reading the article, I Googled the woman and found her phone number, then told her that I wanted to fictionalize her story. She was a bit reticent but called me a week later and gave me a heartful of memories through three telephonic interviews and several e-mails. The information went into a new file, titled third book. Soon I heard another story, this one of a young man. I put it in the same file. Like a puzzle, the pieces soon begin to fit together and formed the basis for my third novel, My Name is Sheba.

Is there anything else you’d like us to know about An Irishwoman’s Tale?

That God worked miracles to get Mary and me over to Ireland for a research trip and revealed Himself mightily during an amazing five-day journey. Unexpected strangers showing kindnesses and telling amazing stories. A harrowing climb up Croagh Patrick. Mary really did leave me and I really did lose my coat.

What can we expect to see from you next, Patti?

I’m working on a series, Spanning Seas and Secrets, My Name is Sheba being the first story. A Chinese friend has moved in with us for a couple of months and has helped me sketch a fifth novel that I’m VERY excited about. It involves a child mathematics and science prodigy of the Chinese system, a baby left by the Yangtze River, and a childless American pastor and his wife.

One last question, Patti. On your Web site, you joke about you and your husband being wacky Southerners living in Normal, Illinois. Why do you call yourselves wacky?

We just don’t fit the mold of how we perceive Midwesterners act. We walk around outside in our sock feet, save worms who are wriggling about desperately, stuck on the pavement after a rain. We forget to wear our coat on a winter day when the sun’s beaming warmth into our house, fooling us into thinking it’s mild when it’s two below zero. With a Southern state of mind, we’re trying to find a way to live up here in “Normal.”

Thanks so much for taking the time to chat, Patti. It’s been lots of fun.

So far, this has been my favorite blog!

To learn more about Patti Lacy and her books, visit her Web site at www.pattilacy.com.

To win an autographed copy of An Irishwoman’s Tale, click on my Contact page, and type “drawing” in the comments box. The deadline to enter the contest is September 24th.

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