Established in 2018, TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books.
Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in 2-3 sentences?
Which character did you most enjoy creating? Why? And,
which character gave you the most trouble, and why?
I had an easier time creating Mary Esther’s character
because, in the beginning, she was less familiar to me. I never knew my own grandmother
as a well, able-bodied person, a person who wasn’t addled by years of outdated
psychiatric treatments. She was never able to relay stories of her youth or
motherhood or how she’d felt as a patient in a state hospital. That lack of
knowledge gave me free rein to create a fictional character with her own hopes,
dreams, preferences, fears, doubts, and life experiences without the
overwhelming influence of a non-fictional individual.
Corinth, however, was a much harder character to develop. As a medical student in the early 2000s myself, it was more difficult to distance my own character traits from hers. Like Corinth, I battled low self-confidence and uncertainty during those formative years, and I wanted to reflect those struggles in Corinth’s character without simply reflecting who I was twenty years ago. I wanted a character that was without a doubt not me, so that I could create space to write as honestly as possible. I intentionally imbued Corinth with character traits that were different from my own, and forced her to make choices I never would have made in order to distance her from the influence of my own personality.
Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.
The biggest lows for me as a writer are rejections, which I
received a slew of in my quest to find an agent. Naturally, there are only nos,
and lots of them, before receiving the long-awaited yes. A handful of
those rejections, the kindest ones, came as politely curt emails. However, most
were no reply at all. The non-answer of silence stung and made the eight-month
process of querying agents demoralizing. My high occurred when my novel was
chosen from the slush pile (it does happen!) by literary agent, Heather Carr. Another
high was my experience working with both her and my editor, Margaret Kelly. Their
editorial recommendations were top notch, and they were the best cheerleaders,
offering incredible moral support to me as a first-time author.
What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?
Pay attention. A writer’s job is to notice, to see
connections in the world that others might not, to observe details, to listen
closely to the cadence of natural conversation, to closely observe the habits
and mannerisms of the people around us. I once had a teacher, poet Nickole
Brown, who asked the class to observe an apple for ten minutes. We looked at every
detail—the varied shades and texture of its skin, its shape, its weight. We
were invited to taste it too. She asked us to smell the base of the apple, that
part of the fruit with the strongest scent, the spot where it had grown from
the tree’s aromatic flower, something none of us had ever done. Nickole’s
exercise was a lesson in mindful attention. Writers need to view the world with
eyes that are both curious and discerning. We must pay attention, which is even
more important now in the distracted age of screens and smartphones. We need to
collect the particulars and idiosyncrasies that color the world so we can tell
a story with details that will hook and enchant our readers and hopefully offer
them a fresh perspective.
My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?
Throughout the book, both characters trudge through multiple
downtrodden moments. They suffer periods of depression and experience
heartbreaking betrayal, but, despite not planning it during my pre-write, both
women also manage to find moments of agency. As I wrote, I realized that the human
character, whether fictional or not, always strives toward self-preservation,
empowerment, and hope.
My novel, But For Fortune, stems from the idea that each
person, given a different set of circumstances, whether familial support,
socioeconomic status, or place of birth, could lead a very different life. The
novel explores the idea that despite our best efforts, any number of variables might
upend good intentions.
My dad was a fan of 1960s folk music, and one of his
favorite singers was Joan Baez. As a kid, I remember listening to her version
of Phil Ochs’s song, “There But For Fortune,” on the dashboard tape deck while
my dad drove me to and from church and school, on errands, and on family road
trips. The song taught me at an early age that nothing in life can be taken for
granted. The lyrics reminded me that it’s by luck I didn’t live in a war-torn
country or that I wasn’t the person sleeping in an alley in the rain. The
song’s refrain There but for fortune, go you and I was so formative to
my worldview that it inspired the title of my novel and continues to inform a
practice of gratitude and empathy.
Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)
A classic Appalachian meal is soup beans and cornbread. Soup
beans, essentially pintos cooked with pork for flavoring, can be served with
toppings like sliced onions or chow chow, as well as with sides like collard
greens and fried potatoes. Personally, I don’t need the add-ons. I prefer my soup
beans simple, with only a piece of cornbread crumbled into the thick broth so
that it becomes more like a mush than a soup. My favorite cornbread recipe is
from a woman who, though we weren’t related by blood, was a grandmother figure
to me. I called her Miss Betty. She had the biggest, warmest heart—her home was
always open and ready for company, she cleaned the church building in her spare
time, she made the tastiest coleslaw and fried chicken, and she greeted me every
time with a kiss on my cheek that left a pink imprint of lipstick behind. I was
always delighted when I visited her and spotted a round loaf of cornbread on
her kitchen counter whether it was still warm from the oven or left over from last
night’s dinner. I have a printed recipe of her cornbread recipe, stained from
my years of attempts to replicate it. There isn’t much measuring or precision
to it: Add enough Mazola corn oil to cover the base of a cast iron skillet.
Heat it until you see steam. Mix milk with cornmeal and flour until it looks
like gravy, then pour it in the hot skillet. Transfer the skillet to the oven
until the cornbread browns on top. I’ve had varying levels of success, but as
much as I try, my cornbread never tastes quite as good as Miss Betty’s.
(A similar recipe can be found at: https://chunkyinkentucky.com/classic-southern-cornbread/)
*****
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: www.erinmillerreid.com
ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK:
https://www.kentuckypress.com/9781985904781/but-for-fortune/
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