Featured Interview With Mary Gottschalk
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I have made a career out of changing careers.
I spent nearly thirty years in the financial markets, in New York, New Zealand, Australia, Euorpe and Mexico.
Along the way, I dropped out several times. In the mid-80’s, at age 40, my husband Tom and I embarked on the three-year sailing voyage that is the subject of my memoir, SAILING DOWN THE MOONBEAM. When the voyage ended, I returned to my career in finance, but dropped out again to provide financial and strategic planning services to the nonprofit community.
In my latest incarnation, I am a full time writer. My first novel, A FITTING PLACE, was released May 1, 2014.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I learned to read before I was in kindergarten, and have rarely been without a book in my hand since. One of the reasons I loved crossing the Pacific Ocean on a small sailboat was that I could read a book a day.
I also began writing at early age, but mostly “with a purpose” — term papers, my college thesis, and client reports. I did not begin creative writing until I was nearly 60.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
This is hard to answer as my preferences have changed dramatically over the years. As a young woman, I read my way through the American literary “canon” (e.g., Steinbeck, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner) and selected European writers (e.g., Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir).
As the years passed, my interest shifted away from fiction toward biography and history. Now, I have returned to fiction, but as part of menu of biography, memoir, history, science, philosophy and almost anything that is thought-provoking and well-written.
I don’t know that any one author “inspires my writing,” but I dream of being able to write as well as Barbara Kingsolver, Sue Monk Kidd or John Irving.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Both of my books reflect my belief that the potential for personal and/or professional growth is greatest when you are in situations that cause you to re-examine your beliefs and values. In my memoir, Sailing Down the Moonbeam, I made a conscious decision to step out of my comfort zone from a professional, geographic and cultural perspective. It changed my life in some amazing ways.
But most people don’t have the option of quitting their jobs and heading off into the sunset. I wanted to write a story that could happen to any woman in any place or time. In my recently-published novel, A Fitting Place, my protagonist, Lindsey, remains in her hometown surrounded by friends, family and her career, but begins to grow in new ways when she is forced out of her comfort zone by changing circumstances.
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