It’s always nice to support a local author, and that’s just one reason why I am very happy to welcome Oregon author Kathleen McCleary to the giveaway today. Please help me welcome Kathleen!
Introducing Kathleen McCleary
Kathleen McCleary grew up in Michigan but after living in Oregon for 12 years considers herself a native Oregonian. She graduated from Williams College with a major in comparative religion. She went on to law school, where she quickly figured out that she never wanted to be a lawyer and dropped out to become a bartender. She finally found her niche in writing, and has worked as a writer and editor for a variety of newspapers and magazines.
Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Ladies Home Journal, More, and Good Housekeeping. She has written three novels: House and Home; A Simple Thing, which was recently nominated for the Library of Virginia Literary Awards in fiction; and Leaving Haven.
When she’s not writing, Kathleen teaches writing. She has taught as an adjunct professor at American University, and is an instructor with Writopia Labs, a non-profit that teaches creative writing to kids. She has also worked as a barista in an independently owned coffee shop, and a bookseller for Barnes & Noble. She enjoys crafting things and has, over the years, learned how to knit, hook rugs, sew, carve wood, make dovetail joints with hand tools, blow glass, and make butterscotch pudding from scratch. She is fascinated by remote places and has visited Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, Alaska, the San Juan Islands, the Appalachians, and the Adirondacks. She currently lives in northern Virginia with her husband and two daughters.
Learn about House And Home
Ellen Flanagan has two precious girls to raise, a cozy neighborhood coffee shop to run, terrific friends, and a sexy, if irresponsible, husband. And she adores her house, a yellow Cape Cod filled with quirky antiques, beloved nooks, and a million memories. But as her eighteen-year-roller-coaster marriage heads toward divorce, she’s about to lose it all–her house, her husband . . . and her sanity.
Set in the gorgeous surroundings of Portland, Oregon, Kathleen McCleary’s funny, poignant, curl-up-and-read debut strikes a deep emotional chord and explores the very notion of what makes a house a home.
Learn about A Simple Thing
How far would you go to protect your children? Would you do it at the expense of your marriage? How far would you go to protect yourself?
For Susannah Delaney, the answers lie thousands of miles away, off the northwest corner of Washington state. When Susannah discovers her young son is being bullied and her adolescent daughter is spinning out of control, she moves them to remote Sounder Island in the San Juans to live off the grid for a year. Susannah hopes to save her children from the risks they’ve encountered at home, and to come to terms with her own haunted past. But the move threatens her marriage to the man she’s loved since childhood, and her very sense of self.
For Betty Pavalak, who first moved to Sounder to save her own troubled marriage, the island has been a haven for more than fifty years. But Betty also knows the guilt of living with choices she made long ago and actions that cannot be undone. The unlikely friendship between Susannah and Betty ignites a journey of self-discovery for both women that brings them both home to what they love most.
A Simple Thing moves beyond friendship, children, and marriages to look deeply into what it means to love and forgive–yourself.
I asked Kathleen three questions about our giveaway’s theme topic, self-expression:
1. Is self-expression an important part of your life today, why or why not?
I’m middle-aged and am probably better at self-expression than at any time in my life since toddlerhood. I’m more clear on who I am, flaws and all, and more willing to share my self with the rest of the world without the self-consciousness or insecurity or shyness that plagued me when I was younger. So I dance without inhibition at every opportunity, write the truth as I know it in my novels, wear my favorite colors (hot pink) with joy, and admit when I’m wrong. The older I get, the more I understand that we all fail, that our own failings hopefully teach us to be more tolerant of the failings in others, and that if there is one thing that binds us all it is our imperfections. True self-expression is an opportunity for connection.
2. What does self-expression mean to you and how do you do it in the world?
Self-expression means sharing my genuine self with others. That means that when I write fiction I let my characters suffer from anxiety, make silly jokes, grieve, lie, try to do the right thing, despair, rejoice. After my first book came out it was very hard for me to read some of the reviews that criticized the protagonist as “too neurotic” or “annoying”—my characters are, after all, all parts of me. But I’ve come to see how different characters resonate with different people, just as in real life I have friends who “get” me on every level, and others who don’t.
I also express myself through teaching, which I love. I work with kids ages 8-18 teaching creative writing with Writopia, a non-profit organization. I have the chance in teaching to express what I really believe about writing with your whole heart, about stilling the small voices of what others might think, what the critics might say, what friends and family might interpret.
3. How does your self-expression impact the world—your family, your friends, your readers, and everyone else?
I hope my self-expression, through my fiction, allows others to understand themselves and the world around them in a new way, to feel a connection of some kind—with a character, a situation, an emotion. I don’t mean that to sound grandiose; I just mean that the most gratifying part of writing fiction is hearing from readers who say they related to a character, they cried, they learned something, they understood. As for my self-expression through other avenues, my kids wish I wouldn’t dance so much when my favorite music comes on, but they’re learning to live with it.
And Now, Your Turn…
You remember how this works right?
Please read the complete rules at least once!
I ask you a question.
You answer in the comments for your chance to win a book each day.
Please just respond once, even if you make a typo. 
Answer in the comments in 50-200 words (no less and no more to qualify to win one of today’s books).
Describe your perfect home, whether it’s the one you have or not. What makes this home perfect for you?
Ready, set, comment! I will hold the drawing tomorrow and post the results here in my blog.
Thanks for participating in the Writer Mama Every-Day-In-May Book Giveaway!
And thanks for spreading the word. We will be giving away great books by wonderful women authors all month.
View the complete list of authors and books.
View the giveaway Pinterest board.
