Ask the Author: Jeanette Baker
Answered Questions (7)
Jeanette Baker
Hi Teri. I've always had a connection with Ireland. My family hails from Counties Kerry and Galway. Names like O'Flaherty, Shea, Knightly, Griffin and Ormond are all represented on my family tree. I love the lilt in the voices of Irish people, the friendly way they have of carrying a conversation and the politeness of their children. I love the music and the food, especially their butter and cream and scones. There is also a dark side to Ireland, the Magdalene laundries and unmarked graves of abandoned babies that has finally come to light. Ireland is also horse country. There is nothing more beautiful than watching elegant thoroughbreds, their heads rising out of the mist, exercising on the flat plains of the Curragh in County Kildare.
Jeanette Baker
All novels are a tiny bit autobiographical. HANNIE RISING came about due to my mother's Alzheimers, her love for dogs and the timeliness of a combination of factors; the death of my husband and the economy which has resulted in many adult children coming home to live just when their parents are ready to enjoy a degree of independence.
Jeanette Baker
Reading the writing of others, reader comments and queries, fan mail, suggestions that intrigue me, an unusual character or event. Actually, anything at all.
Jeanette Baker
I'm tackling the scourge of forced adoption in Ireland. My story moves between the woman given up and her birth mother.
Jeanette Baker
Read, read, read, not only in your own genre, but everything else, too, newspapers, cereal boxes, biographies, etc. etc. etc.
Jeanette Baker
The hours, the wardrobe and the travel deductions.
Jeanette Baker
I find that rereading what I wrote previously usually works best as well as leaving a note to myself about what I'll write next before ending for the day.
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