Made in NH– Authors: Kathleen Murphy Lockwood
By Amy Ray
Kathleen Murphy Lockwood’s memoir, Major League Bride: An Inside Look at Life Outside the Ballpark, details the triumphs and tribulations of family life within Major League Baseball. It exposes the all pervasive pressure that accompanies the privilege of competing in America’s National Pastime and spotlights the inner strength of the major league wives who support each other during the long road trips.
Kathleen will be signing her book at the Rye Public Library, 581 Washington Road, Rye on Thursday, June 18th from 6 - 8 p.m. She’ll be a featured author at their Beach Reads Book Fair.
Amy Ray: What inspired you to become a writer?
Kathleen Murphy Lockwood: As the mother of 5 children with varying degrees of both minor and major medical problems I spent way too many long hours sitting in sterile hospital waiting rooms. I felt I needed to focus on a more creative way to spend my bed-sitting time. Once I started to concentrate on the areas of random joy in our lives and began to write some of the incredibly strange happenings down, the stories seemed to just flow.
AR: What is the most challenging aspect of writing for you?
KML: TIME MANAGEMENT. As the mother of 5 and the grandmother of 3, it's always a challenge to focus on my own writing rather than on my children's needs.
AR: There are many typewriter fans here at the Writers’ Project. How do you write: computer, typewriter, longhand, dictation…?
KML: I write my ideas out longhand and then move on to the computer for the first edit. On days I go directly to the computer, I find I get caught up in editing and lose my creativity.
AR: Plotter or Pantser? (Do you plot ahead of time or fly by the seat of your pants?)
KML: I usually start off with a concept of what I plan to write about, but as a rule the stories take on a life of their own and lead me down long forgotten random paths.
AR: What was your path to publication: agent with traditional publisher, small press, indie publishing or self-publishing?
KML: I published Major League Bride with an educational publisher. While I am pleased with the final product, I wish I had more control over the cost.
AR: How long did it take you to get from your initial inspiration to the finished product?
KML: From committing to the project until publication, about 5 years.
AR: How do you market your books?
KML: I mostly market through postings of Facebook, LinkedIn and word of mouth. I do have a blog, but I admit I do not spend enough time updating.
Note from AR: Kathleen will be signing her book at the Rye Public Library on Thursday, June 18th from 6 - 8 p.m. at the Beach Reads Book Fair.
AR: Do you have a favorite motivational saying?
KML: Be resilient and stay positive. My children are most likely tired of my most steadfast advice: You cannot control events, you can only control your reactions to those events.
AR: Are you working on a new writing project?
KML: Yes. I am working on a memoir/manual on how to talk to your children about breast cancer. More than 20 years ago, I survived an aggressive form of breast cancer with the help and support of my family and community. At the time my children were 3, 7, 10, 13 and 16. While I thought I did a pretty good job sharing with them what I was going through, my children have differing ideas. I have been working now for a few years on combining my own research and experience with the insightful feedback of my children.
AR: What book are you reading now - and - is it on an eReader or a traditional book?
KML: I just finished a hard copy of John Feinstein's, Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life in the Minor Leagues of Baseball. While my memoir covers life in major league baseball before and during the economic challenges of free agency almost 40 years ago, it appears as though many of the psychological challenges on family life remain the same today.
Amy Ray’s book, Dangerous Denial, is a Silver Falchion nominee in the category of Best First Novel: Thriller/Mystery. Ray also has a short story in the New Hampshire Pulp Fiction anthology, Love Free or Die. She lives on the seacoast and is a longtime member of NHWP.