Last week, we posted Chapter 40 of Jennifer Jamieson Woods’ autobiographical novel No Guarantees.  This week’s post is an interview with the author about writing the novel she needed to write.

Sheila
Jennifer, thank you for sharing the story of writing No Guarantees as well as Chapter 40 from the book for Writing It Real members. Your personal story is a compelling one. I quote from the book’s back cover:

…Jennifer Jamieson Woods spins a tale of love, loss and redemption. From a small town in Ontario, Canada, young Josephine Duckworth follows her sister to Anchorage, Alaska. It is the oil boom of the 1970s, when the men outnumber the women four to one. She falls in love with a true Alaskan man. She moves into his cabin in the woods. After they send two weeks snowed in, she realizes she is pregnant. Although he wants her to have an abortion, she is unwilling.

Let’s leave it there, but Josephine is on a trajectory downward and our hearts are with her as she climbs her way back up. When did you start writing the book? What compelled you to write it?

Jennifer
My book is creative non-fiction in that it is my story, but I made some changes in characters, situations and sequenced it so it flowed. It is written in third-person because I needed distance from this deeply personal story in order to be able to write it. My publishing company considers it a coming of age story.

I started writing this book about 20 years ago. I had by that time birthed a live healthy child, so I had some closure over my previous experience as a young woman, which I chose to share with for Writing It Real readers. I wanted to put the experience into writing. Pregnancy and childbirth are huge topics for most adults, especially those who have children and becoming a mother is pivotal for women. I thought I could speak to them and share my story of how I dealt with my loss.

And truly my story did start as I write in the prologue to my book. Each time I cleaned the toilet I would see the last name of the guy I had the baby with. Sometimes I passed it by and sometimes it took me down the long road of memory.

Sheila
Who is your audience?

Jennifer
My audience is anyone who has had a child. It is also for those who were young adults in the 1970s like me. I have many references to music of the times and clothing styles. I had thought that this book would appeal mostly to women, but I have had men friends read it and they got it. Of course, they are dads so they could relate to the whole childbirth experience. I do not want to deter young women from the joys of motherhood just because it doesn’t always work out. There are no guarantees.

Sheila
What did it mean to you to get the story written?

Jennifer
Writing the story was very cathartic. I felt like the story was no longer just stuck in my heart. It was visible to others. I was very satisfied when I finally did my last edit and knew that it would be published. I also felt vulnerable since this is a very personal story with some pretty raw scenes.

Sheila
What did it mean to publish it?

Jennifer
Publishing to me means that I am done writing this book. That it is time for it to be read by others. My family has had some weird responses and one sister (who is in the book) refuses to read it. Publishing means that I can now officially call myself a writer and go on and write something else.

Sheila
What were the hardest moments in writing the book?

Jennifer
The hardest moment by far in the book was the whole birth scene. My character is given a general anesthetic in order to have an emergency caesarian. It all happens so quickly she has no time to wrap her mind around it. Then when she comes to, her hands are tied, her vision is blurry, and she asks about the baby and is told that he was dead, stillborn. The shock of the whole experience settles in and hovers around her life for a long time. She can’t imagine ever getting over it. Her stillborn baby will always be a part of her story, a part of who she is. The first time I read this part to my writing group I could not continue because I was so despondent and in tears. My writing teacher took the pages from me and finished reading it.

Sheila
How did you work around emotional and craft obstacles?

Jennifer
I allowed myself to cry as I wrote. I took pages to my writing group and got feedback from them. Sometimes I just let the book sit for a while as I ruminated on the story. I took time completely alone and away to finish off the last section. I was unable to write the end at home with my family around. I needed time to myself; time with my own mind and my own memories.

Sheila
Now that the book is out, have your writing life and inner life changed? What are you writing now?

Jennifer
Now that my book is out, I am working on a book of short stories. I have been writing short stories for years and have a number of them. I am going to call the book Short, Shorts.

Sheila
What would you tell others who want to write from personal experience?

Jennifer
When writing from personal experience I think it’s important to just write through the difficult material and then go back at a later time to look at it. I had to push myself to write the tough stuff but then when I went back to it later it wasn’t so bad. I allowed myself to feel the deep feelings attached to those scenes.

Sheila
Thank you for the excerpt from the book and for your answers here. I hope your experience and thoughts encourage other Writing It Real members to pursue their book dreams without delay!