An Interview with Kate Jacobs

Welcome, Kate!  I'm thrilled to interview you again. (I first interviewed author Kate Jacobs last November, right before the release of Knit Two.)  Thank you so much for taking the time to answer some questions.

KJ: Thank you, Susan, it's always a pleasure!


1) Tell us about the inspiration behind your new book, Knit the Season: A Friday Night Knitting Club Novel, which comes out on Nov. 3, 2009.

KJ: Well, this is an exciting month because Knit Two is out in paperback as well as Knit the Season in hardcover. So I finally feel I can talk about the series as a piece, about how each layer fits together. And Knit the Season is more fun, more joyous, than the other novels in the series. Part of that is because it’s a holiday book, and so the backdrop is a happy period of the year. But it’s much more than that. Knit the Season is really the story of hearts completing their healing, and about the positive ways we continue to be influenced by those we have lost. It’s a novel about reflection.

(I felt honored to read and review Knit the Season early.)


2) Some family members (of both sexes!) have become knitters this past year.  Why do you think more and more people are taking up knitting as a hobby?

KJ: Knitting is fun: it can be a great stress-reliever to let your fingers work the needles. Also, let’s not underestimate the satisfaction from finishing a piece made by your very own hands! Finally, there can be a great social aspect to knitting, to connecting with other knitters online or spending time around a table in a knitting shop.


3) How does it feel to publish a fourth novel?   What have you learned from the success of your other novels, The Friday Night Knitting Club, Comfort Food, and Knit Two?

KJ: Well, I dreamed about writing books for a long while. So it’s hardly the case at least for me that I feel, oh, it’s just my fourth book. Instead, I think, wow, it’s happening again! In terms of what I’ve learned from having successful books is that it’s not about writing at all. It’s that what matters most are our personal relationships. I’m grateful to be able to tell stories for a living, but being published just made me realize that I spent too much energy focused on what if and when rather than taking full stock of the blessings I already had in my life in the form of family and friends. There is a reason why I write, over and over, about the need to make relationships a priority.


4) As a best-selling author, what advice do you have for those just starting out?  What were your earliest writing ambitions?

KJ: I wanted to tell stories since I was a very little girl and that hasn’t changed. I was eight in third grade when I attempted my first novel but I spent all my time naming characters and creating family trees. So I never finished and then my nine-year-old cousin, who was my manager, fired me! Now I don’t try to fill a novel with 300 characters. My advice for any writer is simply to believe in yourself and keep writing. Publishing is not an easy world, and it’s fraught with rejection; the very act of writing can be tremendously difficult some days. The only option, though, is to push on.


5) I read that The Friday Night Knitting Club may be made into a movie starring Julia Roberts.  If it does, how involved will you be with the movie?

KJ: It’s thrilling. And I’ll be as available as is needed or wanted and that suits me fine. I’m quite confident Hollywood knows how to make a movie and I look forward to seeing what they do!

(I'm so excited about seeing The Friday Night Knitting Club as a movie and will dash to the theater as soon as the movie opens!)


6) Do people recognize you when you go out?  If so, do you enjoy the attention, or is it intrusive?

KJ: I’ve been recognized on a very few occasions, typically by readers who have been to book signings. One instance I was in an airport after TNNA (The National Needle Arts Show) and several yarn shop owners had heard me speak and popped over to say hello. Another time I was in a restaurant in New York and a woman came up to me and said, "Kate, is that you?". And I had a moment of shock over being recognized. I’m tickled whenever a reader cares enough to approach but it always surprises me. You see, I’m an observer and, in my opinion, I do a very good job of blending in. Which works because I don’t actually want to be the center of attention even though I travel around to all these book signings and telephone book clubs, its all because I want my stories to be the focus. I want to share my stories, and in doing so, I share my life.


7) What can fans expect next?  Is there another book in the works?

KJ: I’m working on a new a novel about relatives and family relationships. With a twist that I shan't give away!

Thanks again, Kate, and best of luck with the movie and your new novel!  Relationships are very important, and it's evident in your books that they take priority.  Kate, I wish you and my readers a warm and wonderful holiday season.  

Special thanks to Lydia from Putnam for arranging this interview.  Comments welcomed.

Knit the Season

Serendipity. It's one of my favorite words. Wikipedia defines serendipity as "the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated". Serendipity is a sprinkle of magic. Some days are transformed by serendipity of the best kind, often in relation to books. One afternoon I found a copy of The Giver signed by the author, Lois Lowry, at a used book shop. This was a book I had wanted to read for ages, and now I had an autographed copy! Sometimes the very books I want to read fall right into my lap.

Such was also the case with Knit the Season: A Friday Night Knitting Club Novel. Craving a cozy, comforting book to curl up with and get me in the mood for the holidays, I was thrilled to learn about Kate Jacob's new book, Knit the Season, the third book of a trilogy. When Lydia from Putnam offered to send me an advance reading copy of the book, I felt honored I'd be one of the first to read it.

About a year ago, I discovered the novels of Kate Jacobs. My husband gave me The Friday Night Knitting Club as a birthday gift, because he knew my blog focused mainly on books by women writers. I read and reviewed The Friday Night Knitting Club, and was also lucky to interview Kate Jacobs. This was my first interview with an author. I read the second book in the series, Knit Two, soon after it came out last November.

Knit the Season takes place a year after the second book. I need to be very careful here not to say too much, because I don't want to spoil any of the books in this series by revealing too much. The same lively characters are featured, Dakota, Georgia, Catherine, Gran, James, Peri, Anita, and the rest of the cast. The holidays are coming up (just as they are for us), and James wants to take his family and Catherine to Scotland to visit Gran, who's in her nineties. But Dakota has a conflict, and must decide between career and family. There are also many changes for these characters as they mature a bit and realize what's important in life. Of course, knitting is still a leitmotif, and the Manhattan knitting store, Walker and Daughter, continues to thrive. Friendships between characters have ripened, and there are romances and even wedding plans. Knit this all together (sorry, couldn't help it) and you get a thoroughly charming and enjoyable novel.




















My youngest daughter and I baked Gran's Scrumptious Shortbread, a recipe featured in Knit the Season. We spent an evening mixing up the dough, cutting the shapes, baking them, and, of course, sampling them. We added lingonberry jam to the centers of the circular cookies. Together, we had a taste of the season ahead.

Special thanks to Lydia for sending me this book. Knit the Season will be available for purchase on November 3, 2009. Please stay tuned for another exclusive interview with Kate Jacobs!

Comfort Food

Recipes found in books that are not cookbooks have extra appeal to me. They seem more special somehow, and more worth trying, perhaps because they're not expected, as opposed to having page after page of recipes (although many cookbooks are wonderful, and the photographs can be rather enticing). When my daughter was in second grade, we read a story together called Jalapeno Bagels in which there was a recipe for "chango bars", and we had to bake some, because they sounded (and taste) so good!

In The Friday Night Knitting Club and Knit Two, author Kate Jacobs offers a few tempting recipes, including "Dakota's oatmeal, blueberry, and orange muffins" and "maple apple muffins". Trying out the muffin recipes in these books will add another dimension to my reading experience of them. I haven't yet read Comfort Food, also by Kate Jacobs, but I've learned that it's the story of Augusta Simpson, a famous cooking celebrity on the Food Channel. Augusta, who's called Gus by everyone (this author often gives her characters off-beat, unisex names), is about to turn fifty-years-old, and starts to question who she is and what she has done so far with her life on a personal and professional level. Somewhat surprisingly, I read that this book doesn't have any recipes in it, although it talks a lot about food, especially Spanish food; perhaps the author thought it would be too predictable to include recipes in this book and wanted to focus more on the storyline. Still, my guess is that reading Comfort Food makes you head for the kitchen or out the door to a favorite restaurant. But let me return to my discussion of recipes in non-cookbooks or unexpected places. Here, I present a recipe in an unlikely place, in my blog about books, after a little background information.

I came up with this recipe for miso soup because I wanted my vegetarian daughter to be able to enjoy it again. I found three problems with the fresh paste, instant miso soups on the market. First of all, I couldn't find anything vegetarian--they all have fish in them. They also have MSG and a lot of sodium in them. I thought I could do better, so I asked the advice of friends and some family members, and also searched on the web. The result is my recipe for vegetarian miso soup, below.



Vegetarian Miso Soup ~ A Healthy Comfort Food
Serves 4

Ingredients:
5 cups of water
1 teaspoon shredded dried wakame seaweed, broken up
1 dried shiitake mushroom
1 tablespoon of extra-firm tofu, strained, and chopped into tiny rectangles
2 to 3 green onions, sliced into small pieces
1/3 to 1/2 cup of miso paste, depending on taste (I prefer an organic dark miso paste that I order from the Asian Food Grocer in San Francisco.)

Directions:
Bring water to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer seaweed and shiitake mushroom in the water for at least 20 minutes. The longer you simmer the seaweed, the less "fishy" the seaweed will become. I leave the top partially on the pot, to allow steam to escape, and keep the heat on low.

After simmering, remove shiitake mushroom, slice up, and return to the broth or "dashi".

Add sliced green onions, tofu, and smallest dash of soy sauce, and continue to cook for 5 to 10 minutes.

Gently mix miso paste in a bowl with about a cup of the dashi, then add to soup pot and simmer uncovered for a couple of minutes on very low heat before serving. (Do not boil miso, because that destroys the flavor and healthful properties of miso, which is a superfood.) Soup is best enjoyed steaming hot.

As with any recipe, vary amounts of ingredients to taste. You can get creative and add small amounts of other things to your miso soup, such as edamame and sliced baby corn. To make miso soup for one, use about 1 cup of water, two teaspoons of miso paste, and reduce other ingredients as well.

Becoming Finola

Finally, it's cold enough to wear the scarves I crocheted a few winters ago. After reading The Friday Night Knitting Club and Knit Two by Kate Jacobs, I appreciate my handmade creations more than ever. Though imperfect, they've got a bit of me woven into them, and I love wearing something I've made. But right now I'm wearing something else around my neck. It's a necklace, a pendant, with a small silver charm on it, that I purchased from a new-age catalog while in an optimistic mood. One side of the charm has Sanskrit characters on it, and on the other side is the English translation, "Fearlessness". You may wonder what this has to do with anything. Don't worry, I'll get to the connection soon enough.

I've just read Becoming Finola by author Suzanne Strempek Shea. I decided to read this novel from an author I'd previously never heard of, because my good friend, Eriko, a breast cancer survivor (and one of the most energetic, upbeat people you'll ever meet), told me she'd read Songs From a Lead-Lined Room: Notes--High and Low--From My Journey Through Breast Cancer and Radiation by this author, who's also a breast cancer survivor. Interested in learning more, I searched on the author's website for possibilities, and then looked on amazon for her work. I ordered Becoming Finola, because the premise of this novel--a woman who goes to Ireland and adopts a new identity, that of the legendary Finola O'Flynn--intrigued me. Without giving away too much of the story, here's the basic premise of the book. Sophie, a 30-year-old single American, accompanies her friend, Gina, to the remote, seaside village of Booley in Ireland. Gina has generously paid for the three-month trip for both of them, and has even bought them each a travel wardrobe. Gina has just suffered some recent losses and believes that Booley, rainy and mystical, is the place for healing. But the day after they arrive in Booley, Gina unexpectedly heads back to America, and insists that Sophie remain in Booley, in the cottage of Liam and Finola (who has left). Sophie does stay, blends in with the locals, and begins to work in Liam's craft shop, stringing bracelets which prove to be irresistible to the tourists. She makes one-of-a-kind bracelets with charms and beads, and puts labels on them that say things such as "gratitude" and "life" and "self-esteem". And that's the idea behind the pendant I'm wearing. Even though it doesn't really give me courage (who am I anyway--The Cowardly Lion?) it reminds me to face life fearlessly, or at least more fearlessly. In the book, Sophie a.k.a. Finola invents the powers that the labels on her bracelets suggest, but the wearers believe they are now empowered by the "magic" bracelets from Booley, and therefore, they are. This is the magic of belief. As customers in the shop, mostly tourists, assume that she's Finola, Sophie doesn't correct them and in fact soon adopts Finola's identity as her own. Sophie, who is now known as Finola, receives many letters thanking her for the magical effects of these handmade bracelets. (These letters from the customers are great fun to read!) Sophie realizes she's actually becoming the legendary Finola (whom everyone in the village has a story about), taking over her role in the shop and elsewhere, living in her home, wearing her clothing, and offering new words of wisdom.

While reading this book I had to slow down to appreciate the abundant humor in the author's sentences. I won't spoil the book by telling you more; I'd hate to have to add a "spoiler alert" to this post. But I definitely recommend that you read Becoming Finola and find out what happens. And although I've never really desired to be anyone other than myself, if I had to be someone else, it would be a toss up between Finola O'Flynn and Angelina Jolie.

Knit Two

"It's the friends you can call up at 4 AM that matter."
~Marlene Dietrich

Don't worry, friends, it's unlikely that I'll actually call you at 4 AM. I chose this quote because it dramatizes the importance of having good friendships, a central theme in Kate Jacob's new novel, Knit Two, and also because in the book friends do call each other at all hours of the day and night; they are truly always available for each other. Knit Two is the sequel to the novel The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. Last month, I was fortunate to post an exclusive interview with this very gracious author, who has just come out with her new novel. Knit Two celebrates something near and dear to the hearts of girls and women, friendship. True friendship. (The fairer sex is also the more social sex. Or at least we approach friendship and bonding differently than males.) Reading Knit Two made me think about the role of friendship in my own life, and recall the friends I've had over the years, starting in the second grade with my first best friend, Patricia. She was Argentinian with red hair and green eyes. We met while looking into the window of a pet shop, both admiring the irresistible baby rabbits, chinchillas, and kittens for sale. After that meeting, we walked home from school together daily and became inseparable best friends. Gradually, I got to know her family and she got to know mine. Since Patricia, I've had numerous best friends over the years, as well as many other good friends, and place a high value on friendship.

In Knit Two, the characters from The Friday Night Knitting Club--Dakota, Anita, Catherine, KC, Peri, Lucie, Darwin, and others--form new bonds as they continue to see each other, knit, and share experiences that bring them closer to each other, including a trip to Italy for some of them. Men are not completely overlooked in Knit Two; there's a concerned father, a wedding in the works, a passionate romance, as well as male-female platonic friendships. But the book does center more on women, and their many roles are explored: friend, businesswoman, wife, daughter, mother, and sister. Knit Two encourages girls and women to bond together, and also to follow their individual dreams and ambitions.

Knit Two is the perfect contemporary novel to get cozy with on a cool night, a cup of steaming tea or cider by your side, with an afghan wrapped around you. Preferably hand-knitted.

A Conversation with Kate Jacobs

 
I can't believe my luck!  Best-selling writers tend to be extremely busy people, so I'm very grateful that Kate Jacobs, author of The Friday Night Knitting Club and Comfort Food, took the time to do this interview with me via email right before the release of her new book, Knit Two.


1) Kate, my first question is which blog post title do you prefer, A Conversation with Kate Jacobs, or An Interview with Kate Jacobs?  Or something else altogether?

KJ: Whatever works for you, Susan! Either title is just right.

(As you can see, I chose the first title, because Kate Jacobs is remarkably personable.  I felt as if we really did have a conversation, because her emails to me were so warm and friendly.)

2) Were you influenced by any particular (women) writers as a child? 

KJ: Well, I certainly loved to read! But I’m not sure I was influenced so much in writing style as in my awareness of the world and of ideas. That’s the great magic of books. Now I was a library kid growing up – I’m from a small town and there often wasn’t even a bookstore in town. And my mother is a big reader and we would often go together. When I was a little girl, I adored Anne of Green Gables – though that’s rather a prerequisite for a Canadian girlhood – and I also vividly remember a novel called From Anna by Jean Little. I essentially read everything I could get my hands on and continued doing that as a I got older, devouring everything from dramas to thrillers to Westerns to literary fiction. When I was an older teen, the novel that just hit me was So Big by Edna Ferber and to this day I often reflect on that novel, with its themes about the nature of success and the importance of creativity.

3) Are you on a writing schedule?  Do you write every day?

KJ: I intentionally do not write every day. My overall process is that I write, and then I recharge. So I prefer to go through periods where I’m thinking and absorbing and reading and being social, and then go through stretches of time where I stay in and wear pajamas and am just focused on the story all the time. I write in bursts. That said, I am always working on a story even if I’m not always doing that work at the computer. Also, I tend to write early in the morning or late at night, blocks of time when the house is quiet and I won’t be distracted. I love distractions! If my deadline is looming, I will definitely be sorting laundry or baking. It’s some combination of procrastination and stress relief.

4) Do you drink coffee or tea while writing? (As a tea guzzler, I had to ask this!)

KJ: I do enjoy a good cup of tea. I just love a nice cup of English Breakfast with a little lactose-free milk and sugar. Or homemade iced tea; that’s great. And a cookie tucked in somewhere. However, my real secret is that I love bubbles. Carbonation, to be precise. So I drink a lot of sparkling water and -- my big vice – nice, cold glasses of Pepsi. (My husband is a Coke drinker, btw.) I try to limit my soda in general, so no pop for me if I’m not typing. But the last few weeks of working on a book are just long, long hours and I exist in an endless Pepsi haze. It’s both glorious and awful – delicious but too much sugar and caffeine all at once.

(Kate, I've recently discovered lemon-flavored San Pellegrino, Limonata. It's transcendent!)

5) Do you listen to music, or prefer silence while writing?

KJ: Both – but not at the same time. I typically prefer to work in silence because I can concentrate. It’s especially nice when my dog Baxter snoozes under my desk and so I can just hear his little breaths. However, there are moments when the characters and I need a little buoying up -- it could be a sad scene or I could just feel frustrated with the story. And so I’ll put on some perky instrumental background music.

6) What advice do you have for aspiring writers, especially women?

KJ: Believe in yourself. Ignore the naysayers. Keep at it. Tell the stories you feel you want to tell and are driven to tell. And just keep putting one word after another on the page. That’s the only way you’ll finish your manuscript!

7) You lived in NY for ten years.  I grew up in NY, and feel as if you captured something very real about NY life and the cozy yarn shop which becomes an oasis for these women.  Did you enjoy living in NY?  Which experiences did you most enjoy?  What did you dislike about NY?

KJ: Well, initially I hated New York! Too busy and too loud. Overall, it was a big change from growing up in Canada. But then, once I’d made friends, I really began to get a sense of home. That was important. And after awhile I simply couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. I didn’t always enjoy living in a small apartment, especially once I got married and my husband moved in with all of his boxes. What did I love? The restaurants. The people. The access to indie movies. The noise. I never sleep so well now as when I hear sirens and traffic, which is funny because that’s what drove me insane when I had first arrived. Of course, life is full of surprises, and change is always around the corner. I thought I’d never leave the city and now I live in southern California (because of my husband’s work). And you know what? I like warm weather. I like the people. And I love having my own washer and dryer which we were never able to have in our Manhattan apartment. So every experience has pluses and minuses.

8) Your new book, Knit Two, is coming out on Nov. 25, a sequel to The Friday Night Knitting Club. Was it harder or easier to write the sequel? 

KJ: Different. Just different. Writing is always hard and it can also be wonderful. On the one hand, it was a joy to return to the characters of The Friday Night Knitting Club – to Dakota and Catherine and Anita and so on. On the other hand, I had to stay true to who they were – the past experiences, how they looked, etc – and that requires a certain discipline. But, without question, I loved writing Knit Two. I intentionally made it soothing and upbeat, because I wanted to balance out some of the emotion from FNKC, and also because it just felt right. I am so excited to share this novel with readers; I can’t wait to go out on book tour in Dec. and Jan.!

And I can't wait to read Knit Two! Thank you so much for doing this interview, Kate! 

Comments are welcomed.

The Friday Night Knitting Club

"Choosing your wool is dizzying with potential: The waves of colors and textures tempt with visions of a sweater or cap (and all the accompanying compliments you hope to receive) but don't reveal the hard work required to get there."
~The Friday Night Knitting Club, Kate Jacobs

After reading this brilliant book by Kate Jacobs, I'm ready to take out my crochet hook (because I don't knit) and get to work again. While I don't know of any cozy yarn shops nearby such as the one in the book, Walker and Daughter, even Michaels (a craft store for those who don't know) has a dazzling array of yarns in all colors, which inspire creativity. I'd like to find some really gorgeous cashmere yarn and get started on some Christmas gifts.

In this novel, which was published in 2007, knitting is presented as a creative, empowering, calming, and uniting pursuit, rather than an expression of the supposed domesticity of women. In The Friday Night Knitting Club, the characters are believable--not perfect--and you care about them and want them to succeed. Each one has her own story (or in a few cases, his own story), so we may understand why they are the way they are. They also change and develop throughout the story. Thank goodness a sequel to this book, Knit Two, will be out on Nov. 25, because I want to know what happens to this close-knit (couldn't resist) group of friends. I hope it doesn't sound corny, but they've become my friends, too.

Stay tuned for an exclusive interview with Kate Jacobs, author of The Friday Night Knitting Club, Comfort Food, and her new book, Knit Two!

Message in a Bottle, Embroideries, and The Friday Night Knitting Club

Friday night I watched Message in a Bottle, the movie based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. Now I've seen all four of Sparks' books which have been made into movies. This movie was a bit slow to takeoff but eventually does. The setting is supposed to be the Outer Banks in North Carolina, but apparently this was filmed in Maine. (I prefer a bit more authenticity, although the scenery is stunning. ) Of course, the movie is another romantic drama, ignited by love letters in bottles washed ashore which lead to a new romance. I thought Paul Newman's performance as Dodge Blake, the crusty father, was outstanding, and Robin Wright Penn's as Theresa Osbourne was also quite good (she has a remarkable crying scene). Kevin Costner's acting in Message in a Bottle was low-key but believable as Garrett Blake, the widower paralyzed by the loss of his wife.

Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi arrived in my mailbox sooner than expected--on Saturday--and I read it on Sunday. It's a graphic novel and doesn't take long to read. This is definitely a book for mature audiences only, preferably women. It's outrageously funny, and quite candid about marriage and the sex lives of Iranian women, who're often caught between tradition and modern times. The contents and illustrations are absolutely hilarious. Marjane Satrapi is also the author of a comic book style autobiography comprised of two books--international bestsellers--Persepolis and Persepolis 2.

I also had the opportunity to start the book The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs on Sunday evening, and am already very taken in by this book. (I just learned that Kate Jacobs has a new book due out on Nov. 25, Knit Two, obviously a sequel to The Friday Night Knitting Club.) Let me start by saying that I don't knit, nor do I desire to, although I do crochet (I was obsessed with crocheting scarves a couple of winters ago but that's a story for another day). Anyway, the action takes place in Georgia's knitting shop in NY, Walker and Daughter, where customers form an informal knitting club that meets regularly. As a former New Yorker I can easily picture the shop, customers, and characters who come by for more than yarn--for help with their knitting, as well as coffee and cookies, conversation, and companionship. This is the type of book to read on cool evenings, snuggled up indoors with a steaming beverage. I'm looking forward to spending time in this manner soon.