What I enjoy most about these relationships is the camaraderie that comes from being in the trenches together. Only another writer (or artist) can understand when melancholy takes over your heart, when a deadline threatens to break your spirit, or when a breakthrough thrills your soul. What I have learned from other writers is that this is a journey with ups and downs, that learning never ends and quitting is not an option. We remind each other of why we write, and in doing so, we help each other move forward.
Yet I also cherish the relationships I have with those who do not write—friends, family and loved ones who enrich my life with their presence and affection, and with their acceptance of my chosen path. I am blessed.
Q. You have been writing and touring over the past five years. What is your favorite part of the writing life? What is the hardest part?
A. My favorite part is creating the stories—forming new worlds and exploring my characters’ lives. I thrive on thinking about, researching and discovering the story. Blaise Pascal says, “Things are always at their best in the beginning,” and maybe they are, because I love my story when I first meet it. Yet I also adore getting to the end and in rereading the story, discovering the themes and meaning I wasn’t fully aware of while I was caught up in the journey.
I also value the lessons inherent in any artistic pursuit. Every time I learn something about “craft,” I also discover something about myself and my life (and it isn’t always pretty). Sometimes I believe that I’ve been led to write because I’m so stubborn, I wouldn’t learn some of my harder life lessons any other way. In addition, the relationships that have come from this writing life are amongst the most beautiful I’ve known.
The hardest part about writing is, for me, the editing, the cutting and changing. Although I am always thrilled with the outcome, since the book ends up being better, I liken the process to exercise: I’m glad when it’s over.
Q. You’ve written five novels in five years. How do you stay inspired and energized to continue writing at this pace? What are you working on now?
A. I have discovered that even in a dark and doubtful moment, quitting is harder than continuing. I’m not sure I can explain why this is so—I just know that stopping would quell something significant inside of me. I’m not always energized, or inspired, but I am committed. I believe in the power of story, and so I write. There are days when I am so inspired, I believe I could write a book in a day. Then there are days when I’m not sure I can force myself to sit down at the computer. But on both days, I write.
I can reenergize and reinspire myself by taking a walk, reading a book, listening to the sounds around me, sharing time with other writers, and with those I love. There is a fine line between being led to write another book, and forcing myself to write it. I struggle, as most writers do, to find that balance.
Right now I’m excited to be working on a novel tentatively called
The Driftwood Cottage
. It’s a story about three sisters who run a small coastal bookstore in a summer-retreat town. The summer people arrive every Memorial Day and their stories become entangled in the life of this cottage bookstore. On this particular summer, secrets will come to light, lost love will return and the sisters and the town will never be the same again.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Did you enjoy
The Art of Keeping Secrets
? What parts did you like best? Least? What do you consider the strongest aspects of the novel? The weakest?
2. Annabelle struggles to believe in her husband’s love, but he’s not there to talk to. Are there people in your life, dead or merely gone, with whom you wish you could discuss their true feelings about some past event?
3. Like Annabelle, have you ever faced a situation in which something fundamental about your life suddenly seemed uncertain? Were you able to keep on believing? Why or why not?
4. Do you think most married women worry and wonder whether their husbands have remained faithful? If so, why do you think that is? Do men worry about their wives in the same way?
5. How does Patti Callahan Henry use the gathering of shells in this novel? Do you have a ritual in your own life that has helped you through a hard time?
6. Annabelle and her best friends come to the conclusion that “we all have our secrets.” Do you agree? Do you think we keep secret parts of ourselves from even those we love most? Do you think Knox should have told Annabelle about Liddy and Sofie?
7. Have you lost someone and then discovered something eye-opening—even shocking—about them after they were gone?
8. Mrs. Thurgood tells Annabelle that it’s not about what the reader
needs
to hear, but what the reader
wants
to hear. Do you think people who ask for advice want the truth, or to hear their own preconceptions reaffirmed?
9. Liddy and Shawn both talk about the agony of loving someone who doesn’t return the feeling. Have you ever loved someone who didn’t love you back? How did you handle it?
10. If you were Sofie, would you tell Annabelle and Jake
everything
as soon as they arrive in Newboro? Is Sofie justified in keeping her secrets for as long as she does?
11. Why do you think Sofie was attracted to Bedford? Why does she stay with him?
12. Which is your favorite novel by Patti Callahan Henry, and why?