Today's Chat with Sarah features Jeannie Nicholas author of Kalayla which will be book of the month in September 2020.
To view the official review, click here.
To view the book on OBC bookshelves (and get a jump start on reading it), click here.
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1. How did you get started on your writing journey?
I grew up living in stories. My grandmother used to tell my mother, “Make Jeannie get her nose out of that book and come eat.” The house was a quiet one, no siblings, father deceased, three generations of women: my grandmother, my mother and me. I first fell in love with fiction and read every book in any series: Black Beauty, Little Women, Nancy Drew (books from the good old days) and then added biographies of exceptional people: Manolete, Isadora Duncan, Babe Ruth.
2. When you write, do you write alone or surrounded by people?
There is too much going on in my head with the characters to be able to write unless I am in a quiet space, which usually means alone.
3. Let's talk about your book, Kalayla. It's a multi-generational story centered around three women. Would you consider this chick lit?
If you define “chick lit” as a story only of interest to women, that wasn’t my intention. Kalayla has strong male characters (admirable or not) and they are enormously important in the story—be they Maureen’s deceased husband, Kalayla’s friend Kieran, or Lena’s husband. That said, the book does revolve around the stories of women who are distinctly different from one another in age and experience (Kalyala, 12, her mom, Maureen, age 30, and Lena, their landlady, 72.) Men are not THE story, but Maureen’s and Lena’s relationships with the men in their lives are absolutely key to the story.
4. The reviewer states that you did well at bringing each character to life. How were you able to make them all realistic and separate?
The characters do have distinctly different voices and points of view. When writing I needed to listen to one of them and mute the others except during conversations between them. Since each of the three was equally determined to tell her personal story, I decided it would be of help to the reader to know who the narrator was before beginning a chapter. The result is that each chapter has the narrator’s name, general date of events plus a simple chapter descriptor.
5. The reviewer also discusses important themes that were included like racism. How important was it to you to cover topics such as these? Also, motherhood is another important subject covered. Did you draw on your own experiences with family to write these sections?
I didn’t start out with any need or plan to cover a particular topic or theme. The characters led the way: Kalayla came first, a bi-racial pre-adolescent roaming city streets during the summer. Next came Lena, an old lady who noticed Kalayla everywhere in the neighborhood, always by herself. And finally, Kalyala’s mother Maureen, a waitress at the café across the street from their apartment building.
I filled in gaps by asking questions such as:
Was Kalayla alone by choice and if so, why?
Why did the old woman wear only black and (at her age) live on the 4th floor in a building with no elevator?
Who was Kalayla’s father and where was he?
How did the three characters get to know each other?
As the answers came, the themes of racism, motherhood, abuse, sexuality all emerged and are present as a backdrop for the story. Motherhood plays a more prominent role because Maureen faces the daily challenge and complexity of raising Kalayla on her own. Their tempestuous mother-daughter relationship triggers uneasy memories and regrets in Lena about the way she raised her own four boys. At some point while raising their kids, many mothers like Lena and Maureen, ask themselves: What could I or what should I have done differently? And what do I do now?
6. What's in your future? Are there any more books in you?
As to future writing, Kalayla ended with open possibilities and it is increasingly clear from the chatter in my head that all three women have more to say about their lives. So that’s where I am now, listening mulling, reading.
I like to end on some fun questions if you don't mind.
7. Two story house or one level?
I’ll take a two story house as long as the front door opens to ground level making it easy to touch the earth and the second story looks out on nature—trees, fields, a pond, whatever.
8. Coat weather or swimsuit weather?
It’s four seasons for me anytime: buds opening, trees in full bloom, a multi-colored leaf carpet, snowflakes piling up. Mountains, oceans, deserts, rain forests, all of them have unique and special beauty.
9. What's your favorite meal?
Favorite meal might have any of these ingredients: crunchy almond butter, grilled salmon, garden salads, potato chips, banana split, hummus and veggies, zucchini bread, popcorn. Oh, and jello topped with cool whip.
10. Who's your favorite author?
Reading has always been a never-ending, always changing buffet for me. Any particular writer or topic might be an indulgence for a time and then restlessness sets in. My interests are eclectic. I continue to love a series such as Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels and I’m annoyed at George R.R. Martin for letting TV producers co-opt his Song of Fire and Ice series while he dallied writing the (apparently) final volume, A Dream of Spring. I’ve explored energy healing from Roslyn Bruyere to Anodea Judith, psychology/life insights from Jung to Wayne Dyer, spiritual life from Pema Chödrön to Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo, popular fiction from William Kent Kreuger to Stieg Larsson.
