We're glad to have Maddie Dawson back at CLC today to talk about her latest novel, Matchmaking for Beginners. It sounds like a fun story and we love the cover! TLC Book Tours has one copy for a lucky reader!
Maddie Dawson grew up in the South, born into a family of outrageous storytellers. Her various careers as a substitute English teacher, department-store clerk, medical-records typist, waitress, cat sitter, wedding-invitation-company receptionist, nanny, day care worker, electrocardiogram technician, and Taco Bell taco maker were made bearable by thinking up stories as she worked. Today she lives in Guilford, Connecticut, with her husband. She’s the bestselling author of five previous novels: The Survivor’s Guide to Family Happiness, The Opposite of Maybe, The Stuff That Never Happened, Kissing Games of the World, and A Piece of Normal.
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Synopsis:
Marnie MacGraw wants an ordinary life—a husband, kids, and a minivan in the suburbs. Now that she’s marrying the man of her dreams, she’s sure this is the life she’ll get. Then Marnie meets Blix Holliday, her fiancé’s irascible matchmaking great-aunt who’s dying, and everything changes—just as Blix told her it would.
When her marriage ends after two miserable weeks, Marnie is understandably shocked. She’s even more astonished to find that she’s inherited Blix’s Brooklyn brownstone along with all of Blix’s unfinished “projects”: the heartbroken, oddball friends and neighbors running from happiness. Marnie doesn’t believe she’s anything special, but Blix somehow knew she was the perfect person to follow in her matchmaker footsteps.
And Blix was also right about some things Marnie must learn the hard way: love is hard to recognize, and the ones who push love away often are the ones who need it most.
What is the inspiration behind Matchmaking for Beginners?
This is my seventh novel, and to be perfectly honest, I can’t really pinpoint how or when the inspiration for a new book first flies into my head! It’s like suddenly I wake up knowing a teeny tiny detail—perhaps a character’s name and two tidbits about her situation—and then the rest sort of unfolds over time. I ask her to tell me the story, and she does--haltingly, at first, and then with more certainty as we get to know each other.
In the case of
Matchmaking for Beginners, the first thing I knew was that there would an older woman who was a matchmaker and who had a bit of a magic—a wise person who wasn’t afraid of taking risks and manipulating things to her liking. Her name was Blix, and she sailed into my head like she belonged there. She was delightful company, always urging me to be brave and to tell the story the way I wanted it told. And then Marnie showed up, somebody wanting to NOT be brave, to simply be ordinary, except that her life was turning out to be anything but ordinary. Once those two were onstage, I was just along for the ride. They dictated the story whenever they felt like it. (Often when I was in a sound sleep they woke me up so I could get up and type for them—I know! Very selfish of them, but they knew they were in charge.) Gradually the novel came into being, and it became a novel about I magic, and love, and trusting that the life you’re meant for is right there for you when you open your eyes to it.
What is one piece of advice you'd give to someone wanting to become an author?
This is going to sound like silly, obvious advice, but you’d be surprised how many would-be authors don’t follow it. If you want to become an author, you have to write. A LOT. As in, every day. Write badly. Write gloriously badly! Make yourself a schedule and stick to it. Write on the backs of envelopes, in notebooks, when you have fifteen minutes to wait for somebody. Write when you wake up, and before you go to sleep. Don’t get upset when it doesn’t sound like you want it to. It won’t for such a long time. You’d be shocked to hear how many drafts actual published and successful authors go through before the words sound like they just tumbled out onto the page in perfect order. Take risks. Try out new ways of expressing yourself. Let the crazy come into your writing. Take things out that don’t work. Try it all again. Learn to stay in your chair. That’s the hardest part: staying with it when it doesn’t feel like it’s coming along. Oh, and also read! But only read what you love. Your brain will thank you and the good words you’re reading will imprint there and through some kind of magic, will affect your own brain waves and the way you think about your work.
If you could cast Matchmaking for Beginners as a movie, who would play the lead roles?
This question! WOW. It’s so much fun to think about, and yet I am so bad at playing the casting game. So I asked a bunch of people…and the general consensus was that Lily Tomlin would be a fascinating Blix…and perhaps Shailene Woodley for Marnie. Maybe Channing Tatum for Patrick. Chris Hemsworth for Noah.
What is something you are looking forward to this summer?
Every year our extended family goes to Cape Cod for a week. All of us pile into one house, and we cook lobsters and eat raw oysters (I know, not really wise, but we HAVE TO), and we go to the beach and boogie-board in the stunningly cold water, swim in the pond, eat ice cream every night, take bike rides, play mini-golf. We’ve been doing this for nearly thirty years now, and each year it seems we find more fun there. The best part for me is the early morning walk on the beach with my husband when everyone else is sleeping.
If you could take us on a tour of your town, where would we go first?
The Town Green! I’m a New England transplant, so I’m charmed by the town squares (called “greens”) here in Connecticut, which are gorgeous parks. In my town, Guilford, the green is surrounded by shops, little restaurants, benches, coffee places, bookstores, art galleries, the library…you name it. I go walking there every morning and buy a peach iced tea from the coffee shop, stop in at the library to say hi to my friends the librarians, and then walk down to the town dock, where there are people kayaking and sailing and eating clams and lobsters at the Lobster Pound. It’s a wonderful little town to live in!
What is the last book you read that you would recommend?
Seriously? Just one? Okay, let’s see. The last book I read that made me laugh out loud was
Husbands and Other Sharp Objects by Marilyn Simon Rothstein. Such a delight! But can I also mention a book that took me on a wild ride of twists and turns?
The Good Liar by Catherine McKenzie. But there are also so many others I’d love to mention…books I go back to again and again for inspiration.
Thanks to Maddie for chatting with us and to TLC Book Tours for sharing her book with our readers. Check out the other stops on Maddie's tour.
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Giveaway ends June 26th at midnight EST.
