Good morning! Today we’re taking a short break from my own blog tour (whew) to welcome one of the members of my Girlfriend’s Cybercircuit, Joanne Rendell. Joanne’s first book, THE PROFESSORS’ WIVES CLUB, has just been published by NAL/Penguin.
Joanne has had a fascinating road to publication, starting out with a Ph.D in English. (Interesting to me as another recovered potential academic!) You’ll enjoy reading the article on her website about her first job-hunting visit to the Modern Language Association convention and how she ended up hunkered down in her boyfriend’s apartment, thinking about writing a novel instead of networking. In her new novel THE PROFESSORS’ WIVES’ CLUB, NYU faculty wife Joanne Rendell tells of four professors’ wives who risk everything to save a beloved faculty garden. Joanne has stopped in today to answer some questions about the new book.
ROBERTA: Welcome Joanne! Dr. Rebecca Butterman, the protagonist in my advice column mysteries, is a clinical psychologist (like me.) If your protagonist made an appointment to talk to Dr. Butterman, what would that first session be like? What deep dark secret or problem would she be there to discuss and how much of it would she tell?
JOANNE: There are four main characters in The Professors’ Wives’ Club, so I’ll answer for just one: Mary Havemeyer. Mary is an esteemed writing professor at Manhattan University. She’s also married to Jack Havemeyer, a dean at the same school. The successful couple have been together for nearly thirty years and have a grown up daughter.
If Mary came to see Dr. Butterman, she would probably be reticent to talk at first. She’s used to keeping her feelings to herself and over the last few years, she’s become a master at disguising one very dark secret: her husband’s violent temper. Since Jack’s father died a few years back, he’s changed dramatically from the sparkly and relaxed History professor she once knew and loved. Jack has become an ambitious and ruthless dean. At home, his newfound temper has sometimes turned physical. Mary has never told a soul, not even her daughter, and thus confessing Jack’s abuse to Dr Butterman would be tough. But probably also a relief. She might even confess her secret plan to leave Jack at the end of semester and move to San Francisco (the tickets and new lease are hidden, but waiting, in her underwear drawer).
ROBERTA: Sounds so interesting! Now a question for aspiring writers…At the times you fall victim to writers block, what’s most likely to be going on in your life? What gets you out of the woods and back on the writing path?
JOANNE: When I get writer’s block, it’s usually because I haven’t really thought out where my story is going next. I work on chapter outlines for my books before I start. But these outlines are pretty rough because I’m usually itching to get into the writing itself. However, I always come to a point when the writing just isn’t flowing and I realize that I have to go back to my outline, sharpen it up, and work out exactly what’s going to happen.
Sometimes I get writer’s block when I’m hungry too. The solution for that one is simple. Although I have to force myself toward the fruit bowl, instead of those nut and M&M mixes where I have a bad habit of picking out all the M&Ms and leaving all the stuff that is good for me!
ROBERTA: If you were magically transformed into your protagonist for a day, what would you most look forward to experiencing? And what might you dread?
JOANNE: I’ll answer this for another of my characters: Sofia Munoz. Sofia is a real firecracker. She once worked as a talent agent at a huge Hollywood agency and therefore is used to dealing with big egos and people with no conscience and ruthless ambitions. It is Sofia who leads the fight against Dean Havemeyer and his plans to demolish the garden.
I would enjoy having Sofia’s feistiness for a day. I’m a nervous nelly in comparison and it would be nice to experience such guts and confidence, especially when dealing with impolite or nasty people. I’m one of those people who thinks of the witty comeback five minutes after someone has been rude to me. With Sofia, there’s no delay!
I suppose her feistiness would scare me a little too. I have no desire to ever spend a night in jail, but Sofia will organize protests, stop oncoming bulldozers, and argue with cops if it means saving her beloved garden and standing up for her friends.
ROBERTA: thanks for stopping in! Joanne was born and raised in the UK. After completing her PhD in English Literature, she moved to the States to be with her husband, a professor at NYU. She now lives in a student dorm in New York City with her family. The Professors’ Wives’ Club is her first novel. Joanne’s second novel will be released by NAL/Penguin next summer (’09). Read more at her website.
Happy fourth and fifth of July–hope everyone had a great weekend! This was my masterpiece–a light yellow sponge cake covered with whipped cream and sliced fruit. The blueberries came right out of the garden and the raspberries from the farmer’s market.
Except for weeds, we always enjoy volunteers in our garden. We count on the cilantro reseeding and for years, we’ve harvested tomatillos without ever planting them. This summer we watched a vine snake out of the compost pile and shoot tendrils into the briar patch behind the garden. Today, I noticed a tinge of orange in the bushes. And this is what we found nestled in the pricker brush–six feet up! So here’s wishing you an early happy Halloween.
(And please no comments on the funky hairstyle–I was pulling my hair out with rewrites this afternoon.)
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