My special holiday guest author is Teresa H. Janssen to chat about her new historical fiction, The Ways of Water: A Novel.
Bio:
Teresa H. Janssen, a career educator, studied history and French at Gonzaga University and has an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of Washington. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in a variety of literary journals, including Zyzzyva, Catamaran, Chautauqua, Under the Sun, and Eastern Iowa Review; and in the anthologies, Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis (She Writes Press, 2022) and Offerings: A Spiritual Poetry Anthology (Tiferet, 2022). She was a finalist for Bellingham Review’s Annie Dillard Prize and won the Norman Mailer/NCTE Award in nonfiction. She lives with her husband on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula where she tends a small orchard and writes about family, the power of place, and social and spiritual issues.
Welcome, Teresa. Please tell us about your current release.
My novel, The Ways of Water, was inspired by my grandmother’s early life during the early 1900’s. Josie Belle Gore is the daughter of a Louisiana train engineer and Texas seamstress. With her itinerant family, she journeys through the boom-and-bust American West and revolutionary Mexico as they follow her father’s work. Josie learns that in her life, two things are constant: the preciousness of water, and her role as the savior of her family.
After unforeseeable events, Josie begins an odyssey that takes her from New Mexico’s Jornada del Muerto to Bisbee, Tucson, Los Angeles, and finally post-WWI San Francisco, suffering betrayal, family separation, and survivor’s guilt, along the way. She comes of age as the American West expands—and as the world reels from a world war, raging pandemic, and the changes they bring. But her roots remain firmly tied to her family, no matter what she faces or where they scatter.
With the help of compassionate friends and relatives, and no small amount of grit, Josie fashions an independent life for herself; and like a river meeting the sea, with nowhere else to run, she must make peace with the past and make good on her promise to the family she loves.
The Ways of Water: A Novel released Nov. 7, 2023 by She Writes Press.
What inspired you to write this book?
I was close to my grandmother. When I was in my twenties, I often asked her about her childhood and wrote down her answers. I was fascinated by her memories of a time long past and her positive outlook, despite so many difficulties. When I decided to write about her early life, I realized that there were many questions I didn’t think to ask, and I would need to fill in much from my imagination. Thus, the story is written as historical fiction.
Excerpt from The Ways of Water:
“Life, like a river, can take some sharp twists and turns. People can shift as much as a water’s course. There are reasons I broke my promises. I want them to be known,” says Josie Belle Gore as she begins her tale.
What exciting project are you working on next?
I am working on a collection of short stories and a memoir about one exceptional year of my life.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I was teaching high school French when I published my first essay in a local college literary magazine. After that I considered myself both a teacher and a writer.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I am now retired, but when teaching and caring for my kids, I needed to write in spurts…whenever I could squeeze in an hour or two. I still tend to write that way, and definitely more in the winter than in the summer. Much of my nonfiction and some of my fiction is based on research. For that, I travel. My most compelling topics are often the result of experiences while traveling or doing stimulating volunteer work.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I enjoy getting ideas for nonfiction and short stories at art and history museums. There, you often see snippets of peoples lives and events. I take notes, go home, do more research, and sometimes end up with a new piece of writing.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be an architect because I liked to draw houses and imagine the people living in them. In a way, fiction writing answers that call, since my writing is often family-themed.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I was honored to receive the following reviews/blurbs in recent weeks. I have also been overwhelmed by the generous and sincere support of many fellow authors who understand the journey of a debut author. With the help of my publicist, I have been able to put together an exciting tour to talk about this story. I am very much looking forward to meeting readers and discussing themes and takeaways during the coming months.
“Janssen writes in Josie’s voice, which allows readers to get to know her as a brave, complicated woman, and witnessing her growth as a confident person is an engaging experience…Janssen creates a believable West.”
—KIRKUS REVIEWS
“…Josie is a sharp, perceptive lead….Nostalgia overlays the eloquent family saga The Ways of Water, in which a girl is hastened toward independence by tragedy.”—FOREWORD REVIEWS
“In the vein of William Kent Krueger’s THIS TENDER LAND, Teresa H. Janssen seamlessly transports readers into an expertly crafted yesteryear of her grandmother, Josie Belle Gore. As the rivers, creeks, and streams flow throughout this land, so too, does Janssen’s narrative, recreating the remote, untamed beauty of a region, and the harsh and oftentimes difficult way of life long-past. Janssen honors her grandmother with this exceptional account of the triumph and bravery of a singular young girl who grows into a woman as she makes her own way in the American Southwest.”
—DONNA EVERHART, author of The Saints of Swallow Hill
Here is a link to my book tour event listing: https://www.teresahjanssen.com/events