1. Your creativity comes through in many ways—in addition to being an author, you’re also a painter and a woodworker. What kinds of things do you create? Do you construct furniture, or do you make smaller pieces? Or both?
Yes, I’ve always enjoyed the process of creating in more areas than one. When I was younger, songwriting and drawing were my main outlets. I’ve also done pottery, sewn clothes, and I own too much baking paraphernalia to be reasonable. My woodworking ventures include a new tabletop for our island, a couple of barndoors for closets in my house, and several picture frames. I prefer my wood projects to be useful in some way—to discover a need and fill it. Painting I do just to clear my mind.
2. If you could write a letter to your past self, what advice would you give?
Some general advice I’d give my past self would be to not take myself so seriously and to be more flexible. When you’re younger, you think you have to have it all figured out, that the decisions you make about, for example, your career are lifelong, but the fact is, it’s often difficult to predict life even six months into the future. I’ve gone through three international moves, I’ve gotten an advanced degree as an adult that I’ve never used, and I’ve ended up in a career I didn’t expect to have. And each of these changes were more of a struggle than they had to be because I had preconceived notions of how I wanted things to go. Of course, goals and dreams fill a purpose, too, but a good chunk of life is a thrill ride that you’d do best just to get on and enjoy. I wish I’d learned that sooner!
3. You were born in Sweden. What are some places you would recommend that people visit?
Yes, I lived in Sweden until I was twenty-five, and I try to go back once a year to visit family. It’s a gorgeous country with lots of nature and history. You can’t go wrong with a visit in the summer. Hit the very north to see the midnight sun or the south for farmland fields and miles-long, white beaches. Stockholm is great for tourists with its archipelago, abundance of museums, and shopping—plus there are many sights to see in that general area of Sweden within an easy day trip.
4. With all the distractions of family and life in general, how do you carve out time to write, and what keeps you focused?
My kids are teenagers now, and since I’m fortunate to be able to write fulltime when they’re in school, I no longer feel the same level of that stress of carving out time that I did ten years ago. That doesn’t mean focusing is much easier though, so sometimes it helps to go to a café or a library to work, away from housework-type distractions. I do try to set boundaries with my family when they need to step up with chores, our stage-five clinger pup requires attention, or I need them to just leave me alone to get my words done. I also do well when I have a deadline, so I try to set those for myself when no one else does.
5. These Numbered Days deals with some heavy topics. Did you make a conscious effort to balance the dark with the light, or was it an organic part of telling the story?
I would say both. I like writing plots centered on heavy topics, but that have hope at the horizon. Because my main characters usually go through journeys of personal growth, my natural focus as a writer is often on the “lighter” end goal rather than the “dark” situation they are in at the beginning of the story. This helps keep the tone from becoming too morose. But while that part of the writing process is pretty organic, I do take conscious measures in revision to make sure the balance feels right.
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