Author: Kathryn Clark

ISBN: 9781469904337

Publisher: Create-Space

Today, Norm Goldman Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com is pleased to have as our guest, Kathryn Clark author of Echoes of the Moon.

Good day Kathryn and thanks for participating in our interview

Norm:

Please tell our readers a little bit about your personal and professional background.

Kathryn:

I grew up near Cape Cod, Massachusetts and attended high school at Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Mass. It was here that I developed my love for the power of the written word, mentored by English and Creative Writing teachers. Attending University of Redlands in California, I began to question the origins of the subject matter I was learning. The answers led me back to the primary sources: Herodotus, Aeschylus, Plato and Aristotle.  I transferred to the University of California at Berkeley to pursue my Greek studies in earnest. It was here that ancient Greece became modern for me and shaped my understanding of the world. Professionally, I have worked at Columbia University for fifteen years while raising my children, but I never lost my love for Greece.

Norm:

What motivated you to write Echoes of the Moon and when did you decide you were ready to write the book? As a follow up, why do you believe people will be interested in reading your memoir?

Kathryn:

As I was living through the events in the book, I kept feeling that these experiences were far more than just mine; that these experiences were universal; that they were happening to me in such a condensed time period for a reason. I have always loved to write. I have always wanted to write a novel. When these two thoughts kept coalescing in my head, I knew it was time to write this memoir. I think people will be interested in reading my memoir because it speaks to what we all will eventually experience in life. It is a story of becoming and the symbols which permeate our lives. It is an inspirational journey.

Norm:

Please describe your creative process before sitting down to write Echoes of the Moon.

Kathryn:

I always write in my journal before retiring for the evening and the thoughts that I write swirl throughout the night - sort of on the back burner, if you will. Over a period of time they began to form into a coherent whole. It is then that I sit down to write.

Norm:

How did you come up with the title Echoes of the Moon? What does it mean?

Kathryn:

At the end of the memoir, when I heard a voice while staring at the full moon on Syros, the title came to me. I believe that if we are quiet and listen to our surroundings, we will hear all that is in nature and her echoes. 

Norm:

Was writing your memoir a form of personal therapy and did you learn anything from writing your book?

Kathryn:

I know that while some people may believe that writing is a personal form of therapy and perhaps it is, I wanted to explore the events which led to my understanding of the universality of spirituality, the commonness of life and death and each of our uniqueness in the face of it all. I wanted people to understand and believe in the silver lining of what may seem like  sad and depressing times.

Norm:

What was the most difficult part of writing your book?

Kathryn:

Writing the book was fairly easy. It was editing the memoir to streamline the events to show how one can grow and become a more whole person by remembering their past and at the same embracing the unknown.

Norm:

What is your philosophy of writing?

Kathryn:

To never think of your audience: to be ruthlessly honest: to get into the character you are writing about, heart and soul: to be vulnerable to the written word.

Norm:

Where can our readers find out more about you and Echoes of the Moon?

Kathryn:

Follow My Book Blog  and you can follow my Echoes of the Moon Blog

Norm:

As our interview comes to an end, is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered?

Kathryn:

I think one of the themes of my memoir which is overlooked is the importance of going to the primary source as much as possible: to experience first hand and not to look at things through another lens: to trust your own instincts. The narrator returns over and over again to Greece to visit the archeological sites and explore them first hand. The narrator's son wants to visit Italy after studying Latin for six years. I think a person can learn so much from returning to a primary source and to experience the richness of it.