Ask the Author: Susan Kietzman
Answered Questions (13)
Susan Kietzman
Hi Eileen,
Thanks for writing!
I love this area, so it's really fun to set books here. Because I change things here and there, though, I give the towns in my novels fictional names.
And I'm so glad you read books by Connecticut authors. We are thankful for your support, as well as your willingness to share our work with others. I hope you are enjoying Every Other Wednesday!
Thanks for writing!
I love this area, so it's really fun to set books here. Because I change things here and there, though, I give the towns in my novels fictional names.
And I'm so glad you read books by Connecticut authors. We are thankful for your support, as well as your willingness to share our work with others. I hope you are enjoying Every Other Wednesday!
Susan Kietzman
When the boat capsized, her body was flung into to dark icy ocean. When she surfaced, she could just make out the fin of the great white shark before he was upon her.
Susan Kietzman
I like your question, as the books we read take us all over the world. In fact, I think some people read books specifically to experience other countries and cultures. I read books for story and character - and one of my favorite characters (and books) is Olive Kitteridge. I had the opportunity lately to watch the four part mini-series based on Elizabeth Strout's book, so I was able to see where Olive lived and immerse myself in her world. And while I often like the book better than the movie, I greatly enjoyed this visual representation of Olive Kitteridge, especially Frances McDormand in the role of Olive and Richard Jenkins as her husband Henry. And so, I would go to Maine and spend time at Olive's house, drive by the school where she taught, have a cup of coffee in the diner by the sea, and walk along the coast that was such an integral part of who she is.
Susan Kietzman
Summertime is a very productive reading time for me. I'm not always that productive in other areas of my life, which is why I can devote more time to books - I allow myself more time to read. Perhaps this is because I take vacation time in the summer. And part of vacation is reading under an umbrella at the beach or on my shaded front porch.
I'm currently reading The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead; it's an important story and he tells it both beautifully and honestly. Next up is Elizabeth Strout's Anything is Possible, followed by Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries. I heard author Kory Stamper interviewed on the radio and was intrigued. My husband gave me these two books for my birthday. My mother gave me The Muralist by B. A. Shapiro, so I'll read this, too. After this may come The Little Locksmith, a memoir by Katharine Butler Hathaway. It's a book that has been on my to-read shelf for a while, and I think it's time has come. I may also read a book that a friend or family member puts into my hands and says, "You must read this."
I'm currently reading The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead; it's an important story and he tells it both beautifully and honestly. Next up is Elizabeth Strout's Anything is Possible, followed by Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries. I heard author Kory Stamper interviewed on the radio and was intrigued. My husband gave me these two books for my birthday. My mother gave me The Muralist by B. A. Shapiro, so I'll read this, too. After this may come The Little Locksmith, a memoir by Katharine Butler Hathaway. It's a book that has been on my to-read shelf for a while, and I think it's time has come. I may also read a book that a friend or family member puts into my hands and says, "You must read this."
Susan Kietzman
I was just thinking this morning about one of the mysteries in my life - the disappearance of our cat, Ollie. He has been gone for 2 and 1/2 years. In my head, I know he's gone. But, on some days, I hold hope in my heart. And this is because he has disappeared before - for 2 and 1/2 years. But he was young and wiley then. When he disappeared this last time, he was 14 years old.
I haven't written a mystery, and I haven't written (much) about household pets, but I am intrigued by the notion of something/someone disappearing without a trace.
I haven't written a mystery, and I haven't written (much) about household pets, but I am intrigued by the notion of something/someone disappearing without a trace.
Susan Kietzman
I wonder if you are asking about my favorite fictional character. If you are, you need to know there are more than one, a lot more. Some of the fictional characters from books I read when I was younger have stayed in my mind: Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, Holden Caulfield, Nick Carraway, Atticus Finch, mostly boys and men. As I've grown older, it's the women who linger: Olive Kitteridge, Sethe, Marie Commeford, Eilis Lacey, Megan Cartwright. In general, my favorite characters are very much like real people - conflicted, scared, strong, uncertain, emotional, capable of growth. Who's your favorite?
Susan Kietzman
Is this juicy enough?
Susan Kietzman
Yes, I do. Whether or not it will be next in the cue or the culminating work of my career, I don't know. But I will write this book.
Susan Kietzman
I have two places I usually write. One is at my kitchen island, sitting on a backless stool and looking out at the Mystic River. It's a bright, wide-open cheerful room that lends itself, I think, to a free-flowing thought process. Sometimes the kitchen gets hot in the summertime, and so I retreat to the living room, the other place. There, I write at my grandmother's desk and face a wall instead of a window. On the wall is a watercolor of Connecticut marshland and some writing advice by Ian McEwan.
Susan Kietzman
I'm currently working on the outline for my next novel. (My fourth novel, Every Other Wednesday, will be published in May 2017.) I know what I want to write about, and I know my two main characters. But I need to fill out the story and bring in a few more characters to support to the two primaries. Doing the outline for a novel seems to happen more in my head than on the computer. So, even as I write to you now, I'm working on it!
Susan Kietzman
Write. You can think about writing, and you can talk about writing, and you can want to be writing - but you need to actually do it on a very regular basis to become a writer.
Susan Kietzman
I try my best not to let it happen, meaning I keep writing even when I know it's not what I necessarily want to say.
Susan Kietzman
My mom and her two sisters share a cottage on the Connecticut shoreline. I have been spending time there every summer since I was born. I knew at some point, I would write about it. This family cottage is as much a character in my latest novel, The Summer Cottage, as the humans who inhabit it!
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