BABBLING BOOKS

Tigerlily · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 2:28 pm Post subject:

Thank you for answering my questions Ami. I'm so pleased to hear you're going to develop the character of Miss B further. I would love to read more about her. I love folklore.

I used to sneak into my parents' room when I was small to look through my dad's leather folder from his National Service days in the 1940s, and my mum's handbags both of which were crammed with photos, receipts, record books, midwife check ups. My parents were late 40s when I was born in the 70s, so I loved looking at what they'd kept from their younger days. So I find anything with a scrapbook style appealling, and keep my own boxes of ephemera for my daughter to 'stumble' across one day. I imagine working with the book designer was exciting.

Your great-great grandmother sounds fascinating and I'm looking forward to reading your next book.

I wish you all the best with it and are glad you're having fun on here!

Glynis x

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Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

Tigger · Enjoys Books Joined: 07 Jun 2007 Posts: 51

Tigger · Enjoys Books Joined: 07 Jun 2007 Posts: 51

Oh I like the idea of a book about miss B as well, how exciting.

I really can't think of anything witty or intelligent to ask either...lol

sirg1006 · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 3:58 pm Post subject:

Hi Ami! Thanks for joining us!

I love the Willow Book. Do you know if any of the homeopathic remedies and techniques Miss B and Dora administer in The Birth House are still used today? Where did you find inspiration for the Willow Book?

D

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I'm an auntie! Kelvin

Ami

Hi Mandy,
Thanks for the question -
I suppose all of us have probably heard about or known of a family like the Ketch's in our lifetimes. For me, I wanted to show the devastating effects of poverty on the rural poor and how hard life can be for those who live on the outskirts of an agricultural and/or seaside community when the economy is rapidly changing. For Scots Bay, Nova Scotia - there was an enormous shift during the WWI era - this community that had been a busy shipbuilding village, was now finding the work for the men was drying up. Families, like the Ketch's - with no good land to farm and no boat for fishing, found themselves in tight situations. In Brady Ketch's case, he turned to drink and abusing his wife, making life all the worse.

Even in my own youth, I saw this happen to a certain extent when a close friend's father lost the family farm. While the Ketch's aren't based on any particular people I know, I would say that their situation is inspired by things that have happened over and over again to the rural poor. (a part of the population we all too often ignore or simply aren't aware exist.)

As for the other characters - there are bits and pieces of those I know in some of them. Maxine is named after and is much like my father's sister - a vibrant, outspoken woman I often heard stories of but never had the chance to meet. There's even a bit of myself in Dora...I was such a bookish, weird girl!

Also, I had the great honour of visiting with and interviewing the adopted daughter of the real midwife who once lived in my house. In many ways, this beautiful elderly woman and her mother's story became the inspiration for Dora and Wrennie.

A.

Ami

Hi Heather,
Thanks for the kind words about The Birth House!
My love of historical research and dusty old books has led me to two new projects...
I think I might have already mentioned my next novel, The Virgin Cure in another post - but yes, it's another work of historical fiction about women. (1870's NYC, women medical students fighting for recognition and a place in the field of medicine.) The title is a reference to a nightmarish myth that had traveled around the world - that a man could be cured of Syphilis by deflowering a virgin. Tragically, we are seeing this same myth acted out in some parts of Africa today in relation to AIDS. So, for me- writing this book is a way of showing that our past isn't all that far from the present.

I'm also working on a stage play that is set in the same time period. It's called Jerome, and is about a man who was found on the shores of Nova Scotia in 1863. His legs had been amputated and he either could not/ or would not speak. He was taken in by an Acadian community and lived the rest of his life (another 50 years) without ever revealing who he was or where he had come from. To this day, his life is still a mystery.

A.

Ami · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 10:51 pm Post subject: Writing practice and web sites

Hi Annie,
The book went through a few different drafts before it settled into The Birth House. (the first draft was pretty rough and very different from what's in print!) But each draft was important and I consider each stage of the writing process vital to the whole of my writing. (I have a little card on my desk that says: No writing is ever wasted.)

Writing The Birth House was a fairly organic process. Initially I didn't have an outline or really know where the story was headed. This helped in achieving the "scrapbook" feel of the narrative. When I was about 2/3 the way through, I realized I needed to plot things out to the end or I'd be writing the book forever.
Without giving too much of the plot away, I do remember the idea of Boston looming large at that point and arguing with myself that it was a big risk to go there. I knew it was a risk I needed to take for the sake of the characters and the book and I'm glad I did it...but I sure didn't see it coming when I started writing!

Thanks for checking out the web site - my husband will be so pleased!
He's my designer for both http://www.thebirthhouse.com and http://www.amimckay.com.
We began working on the web sites before the book was even published, so my publishers were pretty thrilled that they were already in place. It's something we enjoy doing together, so I've had a pretty painless path when it comes to creating web content. It can be time consuming, but I schedule in an update once a month and then it's done. I have a monthly newsletter, web updates, and a blog - and I have to say, it's a terrific way to keep in touch with readers. They have all been so wonderful to me, and it's important to me to be able to connect with them. (I just wish I had more time to answer emails!)

My writing time has been a bit spotty this past year - festivals and readings can really throw me off track. I'm currently trying my best to settle into a more regular writing routine. I can usually write for about 3 or maybe 4 hours at a time and then I'm wasted. If I'm really on a roll, I'll get in two of those 3 hour writing sessions in a day, but most days I just get in one writing session and then I'm off to do laundry, cook dinner, weed the garden, read some books for research, and play with the boys. I'm very lucky because my husband is the first one to remind me when I'm not getting in enough writing time...he knows I'm much happier when I write. (As Miss B would say, "When Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.)

Annie...I'm guessing there's a writer in you?

A.

Ami · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 11:00 pm Post subject: Scrapbooks and dreams

Hi Tigger,
Thanks for your comments and for letting me know that your mother-in-law enjoyed it as well! (Please send her my best - I guess it goes without saying that midwives have a special place in my heart.)

The idea to create a literary scrapbook pretty much came from the way I was gathering information and research as I wrote the novel. Also, as a child, I was always fascinated with old clippings, journals, photographs etc. and would often raid my grandmothers and my mother's things to search for "treasures."
As I collected stories from the women around me (the older women in my community and from midwives as well) I realized that we (as women) tend to pass along our wisdom through stories and through little bits and scraps of ideas. I'm always finding notes I've written to myself in my pockets - things a friend told me to look for, or a recipe someone passed along.
With these things in mind, I decided I wanted Dora's story to be told in the same fashion.
It was wonderfully fun to piece together the old adverts and remedies alongside the journal entries and fictitious news articles I had written.

A.

Ami · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 11:04 pm Post subject: Another novel in progress...

hi Jo,
Glad you joined in the chat and I hope you enjoy reading The Birth House when you get to it! (So many books, so little time...)

I'm currently working on my second novel. It's quite a challenge - mostly to find the time and to give myself enough patience as I write. The first novel was pretty much an experiment that wouldn't go away. This time around I know what I'm getting myself into, and I'm doing it anyway!
I must be mad...
A.

Ami · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 2:40 am Post subject: thoughts on birth

Hi Glynis,
Good questions...
It was my second pregnancy (shortly after I moved into the house) that sparked the conversations about the old midwife with my neighbours.
Essentially, I wound up coming at the novel and my understanding of midwifery in Canada from two different periods in time - the past and the present - all at once.
While I was finding out about the history of midwifery in Canada, I was also investigating the current status of midwifery in Nova Scotia. Also, as I learned more about the things Mrs. Steele (the midwife who had lived in the house) stood for, and the sense of community, wisdom and caring she fostered with every child's birth, I began to wonder how we had strayed so far from that in contemporary childbirth experiences.

Dr. Thomas, the OB in the book, is based on various well-documented real-life accounts of obstetrical practices from the time period in North America. In researching the history of midwifery in both Canada and the US, I found that on the whole, the medical establishment was very much against midwives and did its best to eliminate midwifery all together. They actively campaigned against midwives (through the system of women's clubs and the legal system) and taught that the medicalized model of childbirth was superior in every way. Sadly, this caused midwifery to practically vanish.

For my second child's birth, I sought out a well-trained and well-respected Nova Scotia midwife and had a home birth (in the Birth House

. My family doctor was very supportive, so I felt that I experienced the best of both worlds. (my first birthing experience had been in the States and was filled with interventions and left me feeling like I had little to say in the whole process...)
It's my hope that The Birth House might nudge the "past to inform the present" and help bring about conversations between women (and women, midwives, doulas and doctors) to try to foster better communication and better birthing experiences.

As a side note, when I had my second son, midwifery in the province of Nova Scotia was a-legal, meaning it wasn't illegal, but it wasn't supported by the provincial government. The midwives had no rights within hospital walls and midwife assisted births were not covered by provincial health care. I'm happy to say that this is now changing! A Midwifery Act has now been passed so that midwifery is legislated by Nova Scotia and hopefully soon it will be covered by the health care system, giving women as many options in childbirth as possible.

A.

Ami · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 2:51 am Post subject: The Willow Book

Hi D.
The remedies, folklore and so on for the Willow Book came from many different sources. Some came from the margins of my mom's old cookbooks, ones that had been handed down through the family. Other gems came from neighbours, friends and texts pertaining to herbalism and native plants of Nova Scotia. Some of the entries should probably be left to the historical record

Others are still viable and in use -
Sage will dry up your milk if you're breastfeeding.
Raspberry tea is a wonderful tonic for women.
Cabbage leaves can certainly cool breasts inflamed with mastitis.
Also, the methods used by Dora and Miss B. to turn Ginny's baby are still sometimes used today as well.

I have to add that I'll be forever grateful to my Canadian editor - she was the one who thought it would be a good idea to actually place notes from The Willow Book at the end of the novel. I just loved putting it together and to me, it almost feels like a little present saved for last.

A.

Ami · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:06 am Post subject: For Lisa

Hi Lisa,
here's some advice that was given to me by another writer when I first started out -
"Write the story you'd like to read."

In other words, don't worry about what other people are writing, or where the "market" is, or what's hot right now. All those things are subject to change. Write for yourself first and you'll create something that you'll be pleased with and proud of.
I was terrified when I realized that I was writing a novel! It becomes something like a love affair - you're crazy about it at first, then you have days where you hate it and want to break up, then you go running back to it, crying, wondering how you ever thought to let it go.
Writing a novel is a deliciously insane pursuit. hope I haven't terrified you!

Only one book?
Eeek...
I'd choose The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. (Especially since I could daydream that Joe Fiennes had penned them all. Thank heavens for Shakespeare In Love...)

A.

Ami · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:09 am Post subject: Ronnie

Hi Ronnie,
thanks for reading!
I really appreciate your comments.
A.

Ami · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:15 am Post subject: Blog Tour

Oh wow, I hadn't thought that there wasn't a year on the dates for the blog tour on the web site...
The Wise Women Blog Tour actually took place last summer - but I think you should be able to get to all the posts via the web page at The Birth House.com.
It was a fantastic experience and I should probably set another one up some time.
Let me know what you think of it.
Thanks again for hosting me here at Babbling Books. The questions were full of insight and fun and I hope to stop back again soon.
Hope you all have a lovely end to summer.
Here's to books, babbling, and tea with mitts!
Ami McKay

MissMuppet · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 6:17 am Post subject:

I coulnd't resist and started The Birth House last night, now I have 2 books on the go... nothing unusual there! I'm already enjoying it a few chapters in!

Tigerlily · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 10:40 am Post subject:

Wow I really enjoyed Ami's visit, weren't her answers fascinating and isn't she lovely? I feel we've been visited by royalty

I can't wait for Virgin Cure and more about Miss B. Can't believe what a dunce I am wishing her well for the blog tour that happened a year ago.

What am I like?

Thanks for taking part. I'm sure you found it fun and interesting too.

Enjoy the book Jo!

Gx
_________________
Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

heathera · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 2:38 pm Post subject:

I really enjoyed all those Q & A's with Ami McKay. She seemed really lovely and it was good of her to take time out and visit us here. I can't wait to read more from her when it's available.

Thanks Glynis for organising this!

Heather. x

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Currently Reading:

The Moonlit Cage - Linda Holeman

1001 Book Challenge:
2009 - 4
2008 - 14
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annecater · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:30 pm Post subject:

Thanks Glynis for organising this. It was great to be able to ask questions and her answers were really interesting.
Thanks again x

lisa2062 · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 5:37 pm Post subject:

I also enjoyed the Q & A's with Ami, loved her answer to my question regarding which book would she take on a desert island. She came across as a very down to earth woman, and it was kind of her to take the time out of her very busy schedule to answer our questions.

Look forward to seeing who will be answering our questions next

Lisa x
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Currently Reading - Want to Play? By P.J Tracy (again)

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MandyJ · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 6:51 pm Post subject: Ami McKay

That was great - thanks for organising! Makes reading the book seem extra meaningful...

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