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Lone Star Literary Life caught up with her via email, and she shared with us some of her own story.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE: Let’s start with your Texas upbringing. You grew up in San Marcos. Did you ever go to Aquarena Springs and see the swimming pig? A lot of people lament “Old Austin,” but San Marcos was different in the \u201960s and \u201970s as well. The former Southwest Texas State Teachers College, now Texas State University, was known for being LBJ’s alma mater. What was it like growing up in San Marcos?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
ELIZABETH CROOK: Beautiful. I love that place. My mother still lives there, so I make the drive from Austin regularly. I was there last weekend for a family wedding. I-35 has changed a lot and there\u2019s certainly more traffic, but once I hit the downtown square of San Marcos everything feels pretty much the same. There are a lot more people\u2014it’s a city now and was a small college town back then, but it feels like home to me. I\u2019ve written two memoirs for Texas Monthly about growing up there\u2014\u201cDad vs. the Dress Code\u201d and \u201cOur House.\u201d They\u2019re both on my website if anyone is interested in knowing more about what San Marcos was like in the \u201960s and \u201970s. And yes, I visited Aquarena many times\u2014rode the sky ride and the glass bottom boats and watched Ralph the swimming pig from the submarine theatre. I was a little deflated when I realized there were actually successive Ralphs. Apparently only small pigs can swim.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Your father worked for LBJ first in VISTA and later as an ambassador. What was it like being a part of the administration that brought us the Great Society? Did you ever have a calling for public service? How did living in Australia affect your formative years?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
My dad was the national director of VISTA for a couple of years and then ambassador to Australia, which meant we moved from San Marcos to Arlington, Virginia, when I was seven and then to the U.S. Embassy in Canberra, Australia, when I was nine. I was extremely proud of my dad, and the experience of being around the President and Mrs. Johnson and other interesting people in Virginia and DC was formative, if a little intimidating. The staff at the embassy residence in Australia, and the marines who stood guard, were wonderful people whom we grew to love\u2014they were our family the year we were there. My brother and sister and I made tunnels through the hedges and spent most of our time outside on the grounds. I have terrific memories of hiding out in those hedges with thousands of twittering birds.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
But there was also an unnerving aspect to living in the embassy residence. As a chubby nine-year-old I was uncomfortable with myself in the way nine-year-olds often are, so being around so much press and feeling the need to behave well all the time was a challenge. Also the school I attended\u2014Canberra Church of England Girls Grammar School\u2014was difficult and very unlike the public schools I was used to in San Marcos and Arlington. I attended fourth grade and managed to last there until we were given a timed math test of multiplication tables, one through twelve, and counting on my fingers didn\u2019t get me past the sevens. At that point I asked the teacher to take me to the third grade, which she did. A lovely third grade teacher by the name of Mrs. Atchison took me under her wing and got me through the year.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
We had been in Australia for only the one year, and then Nixon was elected and sent us packing.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
As for public service, I admire people who do it, but I don\u2019t have the requisite talents.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When did you know you wanted to write?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
It would be hard to say an age, but early on. My mother read to my brother and sister and me every night for hours on end, and this was a great gift to us. Also, my family comes from a long line of writers and storytellers: schoolmasters, journal keepers, preachers. Stories were valued in our family. Books made up most of our Christmas gifts every year. I started writing (very bad) poetry as a child, and then kept a journal through my teenage years. There\u2019s not a glimmer of talent in those early writings\u2014not a single original insight or inspired turn of phrase. I tried to read some of the passages a few years ago when my mother asked me to get the stacks of journals out of her attic, but I couldn\u2019t get through more than a couple of pages. The entries were just too tedious and of no real interest, even to me. But I like the think the hours of scribbling at least perfected my discipline.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Who gave you your first break?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Jacqueline Onassis. I wrote a novel in my twenties\u2014The Raven\u2019s Bride<\/em>\u2014about Sam Houston\u2019s early marriage to a woman named Eliza Allen. It went through a lot of rejections and rewrites and a very circuitous path until it found its way to her desk at Doubleday. She bought it along with another novel I had just started on\u2014Promised Lands<\/em>. For those interested in what she was like as an editor, I wrote a tribute at the time of her death that\u2019s posted on my website. She was a smart editor, detail-oriented, great to work with, and extremely kind to me.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Your books have delved into some tragic and violent episodes of history and fiction. When you are spending weeks and months in the middle of the writing process, how are you able to compartmentalize what’s happening to your characters versus your own life?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Actually I don\u2019t think I am able to compartmentalize. The fictional story I\u2019m writing and the real one I\u2019m living have to be able to trespass on each other all day long. I have kids, I write at home, and the door to my office is always open. Right now, as I\u2019m writing, I can hear the TV in the other room. My thirteen-year-old Lizzie just came in to help me clip some stickers out of our dog\u2019s fur. I\u2019ve learned to slide from one thing to another. Call it distraction, multitasking, or a sadly diminished attention span\u2014whatever you want to call it, the fact is I don\u2019t have a lot of control over my hourly schedule. That\u2019s not to say I don\u2019t go stomping through the house occasionally shouting \u201cNobody could possibly write under these conditions!\u201d But essentially, I have to accept the conditions. And that means giving up on boundaries and ideas about compartmentalizing. I often think about my characters when I\u2019m with my family, and I often think about my family when I\u2019m with my characters. As for the violence in my books, I\u2019ve discovered that I\u2019m simply not invested in characters who are not in any trouble or danger.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Monday, Monday<\/em>, your novel based on the 1966 sniper shooting at the University of Texas, is mostly about the shooting’s aftermath and its impact on your characters. How would you describe the book, which recently won best novel from the Texas Institute of Letters?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
That\u2019s difficult for me to do. The book deals with a number of different issues, including the central theme of a child secretly given up for adoption in the late 1960s. A reviewer at the San Antonio Express-News<\/em> said the book \u201cexplores the complex messiness of being human,\u201d and that, while it \u201copens with a random, hideous act,\u201d it \u201cthankfully \u2026 isn\u2019t about that moment or the gunman. The shooting sets in motion an entire lifetime of relationships: from an act of violence springs love, friendship, loss, forgiveness and survival.\u201d The Dallas Morning News<\/em> described it as exploring \u201cthe bond among survivors and the ways that seminal events in our lives continue to shape us long after they\u2019re over.\u201d And last week I received the cover image for the Dutch translation and discovered that the title had been changed to “Wie Wij Waren”\u2014translating to Who We Were<\/em>. The subtitle translates to \u201cA bullet changes the course of many lives.\u201d I think that title and subtitle are wonderful, and fit perfectly.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
What’s the hardest part of being a writer? What’s the best part of being a writer?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
The hardest part is finding the time to write. The best part is getting to know the characters well enough to care about them, and then having the freedom to preside over their lives in ways that I can\u2019t do with real people in real life. My characters can\u2019t say or do anything I don\u2019t allow them to. That\u2019s a very cool thing if you think about it\u2014being in charge to that extent, having a say not only in what the people whom you\u2019re spending your time with are doing, but who they actually are. They can\u2019t want anything that I don\u2019t want them to want, or that I don\u2019t want to have to deal with providing them. In other words, it\u2019s a great relief to live in a fictional world sometimes, even if only for brief intervals in the day.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Which Texas writers have influenced you?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
I would have to say the writer with the most influence on my books is Steve Harrigan. He\u2019s not only a great writer but a great friend and a terrific critic. He often raises questions or makes suggestions on my early drafts that cause me to change the entire course of the story. Whole characters have vanished from my manuscripts because he wondered aloud if they were really necessary.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring writers, what would it be?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
I have a hard time stopping at one. I would say, revise constantly. Read your writing aloud to hear what it sounds like. Expect criticism. Look at writing as a craft\u2014not a romantic undertaking. Don\u2019t expect to get it right in the beginning, just try to get it right before the end. Make notes on what you think of in the middle of the night because you won\u2019t remember it in the morning.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
What’s your favorite place in Texas to read a book?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Any porch with a rocking chair, a breeze, and a good view.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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