Author Archives: Theresa

Dispatches from the Writing Life #23: Nonfiction November and an Update on Revisions

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Across the vast interwebs, this month has been designated as Nonfiction November. Please celebrate in a responsible manner.

I’ve been delighted and relieved to have been pulled out of my nonfiction reading slump with two excellent books that are coincidentally rather related to each other.

I’m about halfway through Keri Leigh Merritt’s excellent biography, An Inconvenient Woman, about the white Southern writer and civil rights activist Lillian Smith.

And I’ve just begun the group biography of the women who made the 1963 March on Washington, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Marcia Chatelain and titled How Bright the Path Grows.

If women’s history isn’t your thing (gasp!), maybe you’ll find something intriguing in LitHub’s November nonfiction recommendations.

Meanwhile, I continue my own journey of producing a new work of nonfiction—the story of another inconvenient woman. I’m still dealing with chapter five revisions. The opening paragraph has survived, as has the original length and contents of the chapter, more or less. And I think I’ve put Harold Ross in his proper place, so that’s all good.

But I ran into an issue with what I thought would be a brief character sketch of one of Jane Grant’s friends who was also a member of the famous Algonquin Round Table. I was once again reminded about the necessity of triple-checking (and more) sources, which is why finishing a book takes me so long.

From the start, I’d been uncomfortable with relying too much on the most recently published biography of Jane’s friend. The main reason was the lack of citations in the book. While it contained a bibliography, there was no way of knowing exactly where the author got their information and how they used it. (I don’t want to name names because this isn’t about criticizing another biographer, especially because the decision about citations is often made by the press.)

The biographer included a piece of information about the friend’s life that, based on my knowledge of the historical time period, didn’t quite ring true. I couldn’t directly trace the biographer’s source because of the lack of citations, so I had to find some sources on my own.

Jane’s friend, while well known in their own lifetime and still historically important today, left behind no extant papers, so I couldn’t contact an archive to find a particular collection. I settled for historical newspapers, which indeed yielded a few articles from the time period that seemed to clear up what had been nagging at me.

So far, so good.

But after taking notes from the articles and letting the information percolate for a while, I realized that the contents of the articles also didn’t quite ring true. (That history Ph.D. sure comes in handy sometimes.) I tracked down further information from what was printed in the articles (reporters and editors do make mistakes) and finally came up with an explanation that makes sense based on deeper dives into additional contemporary and historical sources.

That all took at least a week, and in terms of chapter five it translated into the addition of a few sentences. Is it an earth-shattering historical correction? No. Does it, in the end, help in any way to explain Jane’s life more clearly? I think it does, so I am satisfied with the time and effort. The writing life can get very exciting.

What Else I’ve Been Reading

I addition to the nonfiction I’ve mentioned above, I’m currently mesmerized by Katy Simpson Smith’s novel The Maltese Version.

I had a hard time with the beginning of Kate Atkinson’s Our Noble Selves, but since I love her work so much, I stuck with it longer than I typically would have. For me, that paid off, mostly because I liked the main character and found the situation he got into both quirky and appalling.

Fiona Mozley’s Awake Awake kept me turning the pages on the strength of the narrator’s voice. But at the end my only thought was, What the hell was that?

What I’ve Been Watching

The best thing continues to be the new season of The Great British Baking Show, closely followed by The Diplomat, both on Netflix. The second season of BritBox’s Ludwig has started off well.

We finished Neagley, the Reacher spinoff on Prime, and liked it well enough. I think the characters, especially Neagley, deserve a stronger plot. Cooper & Fry on BritBox was okay but I thought it had several plot problems. And Tommy & Tuppence, also on BritBox, was enjoyable. Netflix’s The Gentlemen was good, and we will probably watch the second season.

What Else Is Happening

Bowling, of course, with its usual ups and downs, but now with my very own, very groovy, bowling ball.

Thanks, as always, for reading. See you next time.

Dispatches from the Writing Life #22: Chapter Five Revisions

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September blew by in a big hurry. A huge part of that was because of traveling: first to a lake house in northern Minnesota, then to a wedding in Las Vegas. And those were back-to-back trips, taking us to places that seemed the total opposite of each other, leaving me with a sense of geographical whiplash. Both were nice, though, and the wedding was so, so wonderful.

All that traveling didn’t leave a whole lot of time for writing, but I have moved on to revising chapter five. Slowly, of course. It took me a while to figure out a good opening paragraph, and I think I finally have one. Then I had to decide if the length of the chapter required any adjustment. It’s noticeably shorter than the others, but when I glanced through the next two chapters, I realized that for the sake of narrative flow, chapter five needs to end where it currently does. Of course, when I get to the point of reading chapter six more closely, I may change my mind. But that’s an issue for future me.

Harold Ross figures prominently in chapter five because this is the chapter in which he and Jane reconnect in New York City after the war. I have to rein myself in here and stick to what Jane knew about and experienced with Ross from 1919 to about 1921. (And how Alexander Woollcott complicated matters.) The Grant/Ross relationship is inextricably tied to the creation of The New Yorker. Of course, I know how it all plays out, but there are a couple of more chapters to get through before I can reveal that. So, patience and restraint for now, with perhaps a bit of foreshadowing.

What I’ve Been Reading

Very little nonfiction. The three new books that I want to read haven’t come into the library yet, so I’m very slowly making my way through Richard Russo’s essay collection, Life and Art. His novel, Straight Man, is an all-time favorite of mine, and I’m enjoying these glimpses of his work as a writer.

I’m reading Douglas Stuart’s John of John, which is shortlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize. It carries quite a different tone and mood than Shuggie Bain, which won the prize in 2022. I admire Stuart’s restraint with holding on to bits of backstory until exactly the right moment.

I was absolutely enthralled with Madeline Miller’s novel, Circe, which I took along on our recent travels. I’ve had it on my shelf for ages and don’t know when I would have gotten around to it if we hadn’t gone to see The Odyssey. Circe really deserves a movie of her own. As Miller portrays her, Circe isn’t a minor character.

As I predicted, I couldn’t finish the novel Yellow Pine by Claire Vaye Watkins. Nothing wrong with it; just not for me.

What I’ve Been Watching

The best thing is, of course, the new season of The Great British Baking Show.

Also holding our attention are: Neagley, the Reacher spinoff on Prime; the first season of Netflix’s The Gentlemen; Cooper & Fry and Tommy & Tuppence on BritBox.

Finished Reacher (Prime), Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+), and Netflix’s Nordic police thriller, Blood Sacrifice. I adored this season of Star Trek.

What Else Was/Is Happening

I recently attended my 50th high school class reunion. Not for the 50th time, but rather to mark the passage of 50 years. There were about 200 in the graduating class; about 70 came to the reunion. I still recognized a lot of names, and it was interesting to put faces with them and to hear old stories and new ones. The biggest draw was being able to spend time with my wonderful high school friend who traveled from California for the event. We don’t get to see each other often enough. Our school closed several years ago, so there was no opportunity for on-site reminiscences. But plenty of us still could sing the unofficial school song that starts out: “I go to an all-girls school so pity me. There’s not a guy in this damn nunnery.” Our class motto was the very endearing: Friends once, friends forever.

Back at home a few weeks ago, we saw Coyote vs. Acme, and I enjoyed it very much.

And there has been bowling, of course, with its usual ups and downs. We even found a couple of different places to bowl in Minnesota, which provided interesting experiences. Every alley is a little bit different. But we’re always happy to get back to our usual place. And we’ve finally decided to invest in our very own bowling balls. I may have already decided on this one. How could I not?

Thanks, as always, for reading. See you next time.

Dispatches from the Writing Life #21: Just Write the Paragraph

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While mucking around in chapter four revisions, which have been taking a very (very) long time, one of the things I got stuck on was where to place a new paragraph. That may seem odd, given that this book project is a chronological narrative of Jane Grant’s experiences connected with The New Yorker. The sequential time frame provides the basic structure, but there are always some issues that need to be addressed about a person’s life that cut across different periods of time. That’s what I was dealing with.

The paragraph only needed about three or four sentences, but it involved a crucial part of Jane’s love life that had the potential to spill over, with perhaps some negative consequences, into her professional life. A bit complicated, but not too much.

I don’t want to admit how long it took me to listen to that little voice that kept telling me to just write the paragraph. When I read through the chapter again later, which I know I’ll do at least once or a million times, I can move it if I decide it works better in another spot. But at least it will have been written.

So, I did, and it was fine, and I moved on. (It has not gone unnoticed that the “just write” advice is also applicable to blog posts, but that, as you must have realized, took even longer to accept.)

Another big chapter four revision achievement: applying my usually pretty good sleuthing skills to verify the identity of an officer Jane knew in France. The relationship was fairly fleeting, but it nevertheless revealed something important about how Jane viewed marriage. I needed to know something more about the man in question. I didn’t have much to start with, but it was enough to eventually match signatures on two different primary source documents.

Now I’m hoping that my next blog post will reveal some lofty views of chapter five revisions.

What I’ve Been Reading

I really enjoyed two mysteries: The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke and Blunt Instrument by Amy Bloom. I especially enjoyed Bloom’s because I’m always here for a good academic murder mystery.

Tana French’s excellent The Keeper is less (much less) a mystery novel than an absorbing tale of the complexities of life in a small, rural Irish village. There’s more conversation than action, so the drama simmers until French delivers a real yikes of an ending. And Ann Cleeves (we refer to her as Anne of Cleves) also dealt a yikes ending in Blue Lightning. I’m a big fan of her Jimmy Perez novels and love the Shetland t.v. series.

Two very good and very different historical novels: Land by Maggie O’Farrell (she always comes up with something interesting) and Karen Tei Yamashita’s Questions 27 & 28, about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. While I appreciated that it’s innovative and challenging, I wished that Yamashita’s plot was a bit easier to follow. The subject matter is so very important.

I just started Yellow Pine by Claire Vaye Watkins. I’m not sure if it’s going to stick.

I haven’t been motivated to pick up much nonfiction, but I mostly liked Carolines Bicks’s Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King, a hybrid of memoir—Bicks is the Stephen E. King Chair of Literature at the University of Maine—and literary criticism/history. I also enjoyed Jayne Anne Phillips’s Small Town Girls: A Writer’s Memoir.

What I’ve Been Watching

So much since I last checked in that I’ll try to keep this short rather than exhaustive.

Right now, what I’m enjoying the most is Reacher (Prime) and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+). Saw the first episode of Netflix’s Nordic police thriller, Blood Sacrifice, and it’s intense.

Liked Dark Winds, Mindfully Murder, My Brilliant Career (all on Netflix) and PBS’s new season of Patience. BritBox’s Gone was watchable but ultimately unsatisfying. In the Dark was a bit better, but it needed another season to tie up loose ends. Much more interesting and fun was Ride or Die (Prime). I streamed some good movies: Hamnet, The Friend, Sheep Detectives, Project Hail Mary, and rewatches of MASH and The Big Lebowski.

What Else Was/Is Happening

We went to see the big summer movie, The Odyssey. Our local theater offers $5 Tuesdays (with $2 small popcorn) so it was an easy decision to go. Except for the room-thumping volume, I enjoyed it. I’ve never read any of Homer’s epic, so I only had a general idea of the story.

Then I streamed the 2024 film The Return, with Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes, which I liked a lot more. This does not appear to be a majority opinion. “A weary existential funk surrounds the movie from the beginning and never lifts,” is how Matt Zoller Seitz describes it in his review on rogerebert.com. I must have really been in the mood for existential funk, because I found it fascinating all the way through. It almost made me want to read Homer. Almost.

This Tuesday we’re going to see Coyote vs. Acme. We contain multitudes.

(Kind of how I’ve been feeling with these manuscript revisions.)

Oh, yes of course, there has been bowling, with its usual ups and downs. This most recent week was one of the best I’ve had all summer, so that was encouraging.

Thanks, as always, for reading. See you next time.

Dispatches from the Writing Life #20: Jane Grant is Back in France

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It felt like I was stuck in chapter one (re)revisions on an endless loop. But, of course, it wasn’t endless because one day I did reach the end **and** realized there was nothing I needed (at that point) to go back and fix. So I left it there.

Then I returned to chapter three, the ending of which prompted me, many weeks ago, to take another look at chapter one and chapter two. New revisions on chapter three didn’t take very long this time around—it was mostly a matter of deciding how I wanted to deal with a couple of secondary source information dumps I had added so I could take some books back to the library before they were overdue. I deleted some of that information because it turned out to be unnecessary. The rest I incorporated where needed.

Now I’m back in chapter four, in which Jane is overseas with the YMCA during and just after World War I. Her first job was as a secretary or clerk at Tours, France, work she found dull even though she understood how it benefited the soldiers. She was much happier socializing with them after hours and tried to split her time as evenly as possible between enlisted men and officers. There was much flirting, but Jane wasn’t looking for a serious relationship.

(Jane Grant stayed here when she came to Paris.)

It wasn’t long before Alexander Woollcott, her friend and colleague from The New York Times, arranged her transfer to the Y’s Entertainment Bureau. That brought Jane first to Paris, where she met Harold Ross (and we all know how that turned out), then on to various locations in France and Germany with a performing troupe.

As I mentioned way back in #4 of this series about this overseas chapter: “There is less to weed out, and more to weave in.” (There was also enough stuff to weave in earlier chapters that I had to create a new one, so what was once chapter three is now chapter four.) I’m still trying to track down a source or two that can provide additional insight on the AEF presence in Tours. There will likely be other things like that to weave in, but I don’t know exactly what right now.

What I’m Reading

Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King by Caroline Bicks. This is an interesting hybrid of memoir—Bicks is the Stephen E. King Chair of Literature at the University of Maine—and literary criticism/history. I haven’t read a lot of King’s books (there are so many!), but The Stand is one of my all-time favorite novels, and this is holding my interest, especially as Bicks examines the differences in King’s story drafts.

Karen Tei Yamashita’s unique and challenging novel Questions 27 & 28, about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Stunning.

I finished two excellent books: Jayne Anne Phillips’s memoir, Small Town Girls, and Megan Kate Nelson’s The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier. Highly recommend both.

I also finished Sherry Thomas’s mystery novel, The Librarians, which started off well enough but ended up with an overstuffed plot.

What I’m Watching

Eagerly watching season 4 of Dark Winds, which recently dropped on Netflix, and very glad to know that AMC has renewed it for another season.

In the current watch rotation but proceeding rather pokily are season 2 of The Agency (Paramount+), Waking the Dead (BritBox), Lawmen: Bass Reeves and Mindfully Murder (both on Netflix).

We sped through both seasons of Karen Pirie (BritBox), which was a re-watch for me, but a welcome one after having been to Scotland. It was a nice reminder of how good the series is.

I watched all of Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie as quickly as I could. I liked it a lot. That may be because I’m not a die-hard fan of the original books—I don’t remember even reading them all when I was young. Give me Nancy Drew any time. But I’m a huge fan of Caroline Fraser’s book Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I’m looking forward to the next season of this series.

I finally finished A Place to Call Home (Prime) and found it an interesting iteration of a soap opera.

What Else Is Happening

No bowling during the week of the 4th of July. The alley shut down for a very long holiday weekend. Returning the week after was a little rough on one of us who bowled poorly with the other rolling their highest score ever, in large part due to two turkeys in one game!

It’s hot, hot, hot. I thought Wisconsin’s heatwave had already come and gone, but that was only the shorter first one. This second one is stretching across at least a couple of weeks. And now we’re getting hit with smoke and haze from wildfires further north. Yikes.

And here at Southfork, the loaner cats only have a couple more days with us. It will seem very quiet when they are back in their own home.

Thanks, as always, for reading. Stay cool. See you next time.

Dispatches from the Writing Life #19: When Biographical Subjects (Nearly, Maybe) Collide

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Over the last half of this past week, I had to swap my writing time for interview prep time. There is a documentary in progress on Dr. Mary Walker, Medal-of-Honor-winning Civil War physician and relentless women’s rights activist, and I was asked to talk—in front of a camera—about her life and the book I wrote about it.

I’ve given many presentations about Walker, but most of them focused on her Civil War experiences that led to the Medal of Honor. So, I was especially delighted with the opportunity to talk about her commitment to dress reform and women’s suffrage, plus a variety of other women’s rights issues.

On October 23, 1915, when Dr. Walker was in her early 80s, she turned up in New York City for a women’s suffrage parade. The event kicked off at Washington Square at 3:00 on a chilly but sunny afternoon and continued about three miles along Fifth Avenue to Fifty-ninth Street. Participants (just over 25,000, including 2500 men, according to The New York Times) represented the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the Women’s Political Union, the Women’s Trades Union League, and other groups.  

It was a huge event; to that date, the largest suffrage parade held in the city. Crowd estimates ranged from tens of thousands, to a hundred thousand, to two hundred thousand.

(Suffrage parade, October 23, 1915. Library of Congress. George Grantham Bain Collection.)

I like to imagine Jane Grant somewhere in that crowd of observers. If she was working that Saturday, she may have slipped away from her desk at The New York Times late in the afternoon to watch. Maybe she caught sight of Mary Walker—though it’s hard to believe that the elderly doctor marched for very long. I think about that overlap, two very determined women in the same place at the same time but knowing nothing of each other. Jane, young and at the beginning of her career, not yet realizing how important women’s rights would become in her life. Dr. Walker, near the end of her life, motivated for decades by a deep belief in gender equality.

These kinds of what-if, almost, maybe historical encounters always intrigue me. But now I’m back to those Jane Grant revisions, and who knows what will spark my imagination next.

What I’m Reading

I’m a couple of chapters into Jayne Anne Phillips’s memoir, Small Town Girls, and am finding the writing just lovely. Still reading and admiring historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist Megan Kate Nelson’s The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier.

I’ve started The Librarians, a mystery by Sherry Thomas, which is intriguing so far.

I finished and enjoyed two novels: Virginia Pye’s Marriage and Other Monuments and Ann Patchett’s Whistler. I read Elizabeth Strout’s Things We Never Say in two sittings and have lots of opinions about it.

What I’m Watching

In the current watch rotation are season 2 of The Agency (Paramount+), Waking the Dead (BritBox), Lawmen: Bass Reeves and Mindfully Murder (both on Netflix).

I’m on the final season of A Place to Call Home (Prime). Deep Space Nine (Paramount+) has taken a backseat to this Australian drama.

Finished The Other Bennet Sister (BritBox), The Boroughs (Netflix), Legends (Netflix), and The Pembrokeshire Murders (BritBox), Spider Noir (Prime), and St. Denis Medical (Netflix).

The Other Bennet Sister was pleasant but irritatingly divided into 30-minute episodes. The Boroughs had its solid cast and good premise weakened by an anemic plot. Legends and The Pembrokeshire Murders were both well done. I really fell for the noir vibe of Spider Noir, which was the perfect vehicle for Nicholas Cage. And I’m looking forward to another season of St. Denis Medical.

What Else Is Happening

Weekly bowling had its usual highs (a sparrow) and lows (gutter balls and impossible splits), but it’s still fun.

And here at Southfork, we are cat sitting for three weeks, an elderly brother-sister feline duo. We are entertained.

Thanks, as always, for reading. See you next time.