2017
What do you strive to make your readers feel when they read your books?
Caroline Court: Empathy. I also like them to feel they have been entertained.
Where does your interest in your writing topics come from?
CC: From the lives of people whose struggles I think are under-addressed and from conflicts that people can relate to.
What inspired you to become an author?
CC: I always liked writing even as a kid. But once I started teaching, I didn't have much energy left for my own writing- until my mother developed Alzheimer’s. Navigating her decline and residency in a nursing home was daunting. Just to keep my sanity, I started writing a personal journal. I kept it up for years. That journal is as thick as a city phone book. I saw such a low standard of care and an absence of skill in the treatment of patients with dementia; and most importantly, I saw a need for patient advocacy. So those issues are the essence Mum, Alzheimer’s and Me: Staying Alive.
If real events inspired your first book, why didn’t you publish it as nonfiction?
CC: Too fearful of litigation. I was concerned, and advised, that I could be sued; nursing homes have teams of lawyers, and they represent the nursing home, not the residents. Also, at the time I wrote the book, my mother was still alive and I was afraid of repercussions for her.
Sounds cynical. Are you?
CC: No. I am not a cynic, but I am a realist. My eyes are open.
What is your second book about?
CC: The next book Rescuing Park Ranger Billie follows the Billie character from the previous book as she rediscovers a life of joy. It is set in a local park, Fox Brook Park, in Brookfield, Wisconsin. I was a ranger there and what a host of characters I met.
Do you have any strange writing habits?
CC: I guess the fact that I write when I don’t have to seems strange to some people.
What authors have inspired you?
CC: Authors of classics whom I didn’t appreciate in high school and college, but I do now, and contemporary writers who really get at the essence of issues like Tim O’Brien in his Vietnam novels; I’ve read all his books at least once.
Best advice for aspiring writers.
CC: Just do it. That may sound overly simple, but it’s the hardest part. Taking writing classes and joining writing groups is fine for finding camaraderie, but just talking about writing doesn’t make it happen. Get words on paper.
What does your writing process look like?
CC: Revision, revision, revision and being open to completely changing course midstream. Sometimes the best ideas emerge during the writing. I try not to over plan and lock myself into an outline. I also like to get feedback from a variety of readers during the process.
Favorite part of the writing process?
CC: Feeling satisfied with what I've written and being finished, of course!
What is the hardest part about publishing?
CC: So far my publishing has been self-publishing. That isn't hard. Marketing is much more challenging especially for someone who prefers being behind the scenes.
What’s next for you?
CC: I’m working on a third novel, My Most Amazing Adventure: 1965-1966. The narrator is a likable and funny teenage girl growing up in the 60’s. It's challenging enough to be a teenager, part child, part adult; add to that the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, feminism, unrest on a variety of fronts and intolerance for people who don’t conform. The 60’s era was like a coming-of-age for the country. I think a lot of readers, especially boomers, will relate to it.