Posted on May 23, 2023 at 8:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
Today we're interviewing Susie Finkbeiner, who writes historical fiction.
Finkbeiner is the CBA bestselling author of All Manner of Things, which was selected as a 2020 Michigan Notable Book, as well as Stories That Bind Us and The Nature of Small Birds. Her new novel, The All-American, is her ninth one.
Finkbeiner and her husband have three children and live in western Michigan.
SADYE: Which of your characters would you most and least like to trade places with?
SUSIE: I would love to swap places with Bertha, particularly while she played for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. What a special opportunity to trail-blaze while enjoying being part of a team!
SADYE: What have been the most surprising, rewarding, and challenging parts of your writing career?
SUSIE: The very most rewarding thing about this career is the connections I’ve made with readers and other writers.
Being a published author has given me the opportunity to meet such fantastic people I may not have otherwise encountered.
The world truly is filled with wonderful humans, and most of them are readers.
SADYE: What period of history would you most like to travel back to or what historical figure would you most like to meet, and why?
SUSIE: You know, I would love to go back to the 1930s and travel around the country with Dorothea Lange as she photographed folks during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.
The way she told their stories with her snapshots was both beautiful and life changing.
SADYE: What message or theme would you like readers to take away from your work?
SUSIE: We’ve had a rough handful of years, haven’t we? Collectively, individually, etc. We’ve had to navigate strained relationships, financial troubles, cultural and political shifts…so much disruption.
But what I hope readers can remember through The All-American is that there is still so much good in this world. It may be hard to find at times, but it’s there.
SADYE: What advice, as relates to your writing career, would you give your younger self?
SUSIE: I’d tell myself to relax. To not be in such a hurry to get published. To enjoy the carefree days before contracts and deadlines and bad book reviews.
Sure, there is great joy in this career, but the pressures are more than I could ever have imagined. I often long for the pre-published days.
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Learn more about Susie Finkbeiner on her website, where her books can also be purchased; like her page on Facebook; and follow her on Instagram.
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Categories: Author Interview