Marci Nault’s The Lake House has been on my TBR list for some time. First the cover- well it just screams “read me!”- couple that with the plot and well- color me intrigued!

I won my copy of The Lake House from A Novel Review (Thanks, Laura!) and then Marci and I started chatting- and she agreed to be interviewed! So today is the interview with Marci (plus a #giveaway!) and then Wednesday will be an author spotlight.

 

Interview with Marci Nault

Marci, what was the inspiration for The Lake House?

 

I was living in California in an apartment I hated and terribly missing my family in Boston. I had a dream that I found my perfect lake house in Massachusetts and I bought it on the spot without doing any research. When I moved in, everyone was over the age of seventy and had lived there their entire lives. The neighbors would stop over and bring me casseroles and try to set me up with their grandsons. When I woke I knew I needed to write the story.

 

When creating characters, do you find that you base them on people you know or create them from your own imagination?

My main characters come to me. The first time I saw, Victoria Rose, she was standing in a sunroom at night with three candles lit. An old crocheted sweater was wrapped around her shoulders as she swayed to Patsy Cline. I realized that each flame was for a woman she’d lost and that she was grieving. Her pain was so real that in my mind I wanted to reach out and touch her. For months, Victoria would wake me at four in the morning wanting to tell me her story.

Secondary characters have aspects of the people in my life. Molly looks so much like my great grandmother. She was a pillow of hugs and always smelled like lilacs. Bill has traits of my grandfather and Carl my great uncle. But for the most part my characters take on a life of their own and they take me for a ride. I love the adventure of finding out what will happen next.

 

Who is your favorite character in The Lake House?

I love them all and they were so much fun to have in my life, but I have to say Molly is my favorite. She loves unconditionally and wraps everyone in warmth and care. I think everyone wishes they had a Molly in their lives. But Thomas, the old Casanova, was the most fun to write.

 

Can you describe The Lake House in 10 words or less?

Laughter, heartache, friendship, and the need to find home.

 

Marci- tell us about your writing space. Do you have a space or a routine?

I have an office that overlooks a park. My kittens like to sit at the window and watch the birds in the tree. The birds seem to know that the kittens can’t get them and so they come to the window and taunt.

When I need to feel like there’s a world outside my imagination and my house I have three different coffee shops where I work. And unfortunately many of my best ideas come at four in the morning, so I keep my laptop under my bed for these times.

I’m trying to find a routine, and I wish I were a writer who could sit down at the same time everyday and write, but my ideas come when they come. Sometimes they need to stew for a day or two and at other times I work around the clock. There are times I envy the 9-5 jobs my friends have. But most days I’m just incredibly grateful to do what I love.

 

101 Dreams Come True is a project of yours. How did it begin? How many dreams have you completed?

In the beginning of 2008, my life blew-up and continued to hit me hard for six months. Little did I know that it was destroying everything I didn’t need in order to have the life I was meant to live. By June I was sitting in a park in Sonoma, California praying for the pain to end. I was alone, lost, scared, and couldn’t remember the last time I laughed. I began to make a list of the times I was happiest in my life and I came up with about 15 things. Then I asked, “What if I wasn’t afraid? What if money wasn’t an issue? What if I didn’t fear failure? What would I want? How would I live?”

I began to make a list of dreams: live in Florence for a month; become a published novelist with a big publisher; learn to say what I feel without need or expectation; buy my home outright; and laugh so hard with a stranger my sides hurt. When I was done I had a list of 101 Dreams. I looked at the list and thought, yeah right!

 That night I was at a hotel in Napa hanging out with strangers and I ended up laughing so hard my stomach hurt. I went into the restroom and in the mirror I saw the smile on my face and thought, What if?

Since that day I’ve completed 90 of my biggest dreams in life including getting published with Gallery Books an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

 

Marci- what are you working on next? Do you have an idea for a future book?

I’m working on a novel about how our memories define who we are. It’s a love story that takes the main character on a journey through South America. But at this time, there’s been a strong call for a sequel to THE LAKE HOUSE, and I have to admit that I wouldn’t mind revisiting the characters of Nagog.

 

*Special thanks to Marci Nault for agreeing to be interviewed!

 

Marci Nault, author of The Lake House, can be found at Facebook, Twitter, and her website, plus the 101 Dreams Come True website. Marci is steadily working on her 101 Dreams List- and hopes you are too!

 

*Giveaway: 2 copies of The Lake House are up for grabs! To enter: comment and tell me the number of dreams you have for your life. Giveaway is open to US only (sorry!). Enter from August 5th-12th. Contest ends August 12th at 11:59pm EST. Winner will be notified August 13th.