For those of you who were unable to attend our Author Series with Susan Kushner Resnick on Saturday, the author has been kind enough to “recap” some of what she talked about during her presentation (below).
Susan’s new book is called Goodbye Wifes and Daughters, and it tells the stories of the local families who endured the tragic Smith coal mine disaster in Bearcreek, Montana, in 1943. She’s also the author of Sleepless Days: One Woman’s Journey through Postpartum Depression. She’s been a journalist for 25 years, and her work has appeared in The Best American Essays, the New York Times Magazine, Boston Magazine, salon.com, Parents Magazine, and Utne Reader.
Please tell us how you came up with the idea for Goodbye Wifes and Daughters. What was it about this subject that compelled you so?
The idea actually found me, while I was on a family vacation in Montana. It was serendipitous. I didn’t even want to go to Montana, but found myself in the town where the coal mine disaster took place in 1943 and I couldn’t believe nobody had written a book on the disaster. I was drawn to how tragic and emotional the story is.
What form(s) did your research take? Please share a highlight/example from your research phase.
My research involved trips back to Montana from Massachusetts, many phone calls, Freedom of Information Act requests for documents, “normal” requests for documents, and hours of reading Montana newspapers from 1943, both to read about the event itself and to get the flavor of the community I was researching. Because I couldn’t read them all while I was in Montana, I had the largest research library there send microfilm of the papers to my local library. They would come a few reels at a time and I had to do all my reading in the library, though I’m not sure how I was supposed to read them at my house. I don’t have a personal microfilm viewer! It was fun and surreal to immerse myself in the world of Montana ’43 all day, then leave the library to re-enter Massachusetts 2006.
And did you come up against any difficult obstacles while conducting your research?
The most challenging thing was deciding to center the book around one woman, making plans to interview her extensively in Montana, flying there and having her refuse to let me into her house. Though she had told me lots of personal things over the phone, she must have felt it was too painful to talk to me in person. I cried on her front lawn, which was covered with snow because a blizzard had just passed. I didn’t have dry shoes. But I regrouped and found other families to feature. That woman is still a character in the book, just not the only one. Her name is Margaret.
At what point did you know you were finished researching?
I started out knowing how the book was going to end and, because it’s non-fiction, knowing what would happen in each chapter. So, I knew what I needed to flesh out those chapters. I wasn’t finished until I had enough material to make each chapter complete.
What were the logistics of working on a book about a Montana coal mine disaster while you were living in Massachusetts, and how did you manage them?
A couple of long trips to Montana, which involved spending a lot of my own money and driving across a giant state by myself. The latter was a great experience. I also have a phone plan that covers calls all over the U.S. And I got used to talking to sources on their time zone. A woman I’d been trying to track down for months finally called me from California at about midnight our time. I was asleep when she called, but I couldn’t risk losing her, so I took the phone into the hallway and wrote notes on a tiny notepad.
Please describe your writing process for this project.
It went in spurts: first an outline, then three sample chapters with which I lured an agent, then writing and polishing the proposal, then actually writing the chapters. I wrote them sequentially, and rewrote each until I was satisfied before moving on to the next chapter.
How long did the actual writing of the book take?
Two to three years.
How long did it take to find an agent to represent this project?
I’d say a few months. I didn’t get too many rejections before my agent took me.
And how long did it take to find the publisher?
Longer. My agent sent the proposal out to about 10 big publishers. They all claimed that they really liked it but didn’t see a big enough market for it. This is a very standard rejection response. I suggested that my agent approach The University of Nebraska Press and they took it right away.
Also, you made the comment that you believed so strongly in the book that you intended to publish it no matter what -- even if you couldn’t go the agent/publisher route. Can you talk a little bit about this?
When I started the project in 2005, self-publishing wasn’t as accepted as it is now. But I decided if nobody wanted it, I’d go that route. That decision took a lot of pressure off. I wasn’t going to let others’ opinions dictate whether the story got told. It was kind of like deciding you'll have a baby alone when you’re 35 if you aren’t married.
Please share with us a short list of your favorite books, both fiction and nonfiction.
One of my favorite recent fiction books is The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. I also love A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway, and anything by Anne Tyler and Lionel Shriver. For nonfiction, I like This House of Sky by Ivan Doig, The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon and The Circus Fire by Stewart O’Nan. I have to admit, I don’t read enough. Between writing and parenting, reading time gets pushed to the bottom of the priority list.
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