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