Reading for pleasure - an encounter with Margaret Sutherland

It took me a long time to figure how to breathe new life into my blog, but it did not take long at all for Margaret Sutherland to respond positively and accept my invitation to be here. Her patience and lovely disposition match her elegant, insightful writing. Prolific and comprehensive, her fiction takes the reader from country towns in Australia to the vast world inside the heart.

Here's how she sees that world:

Hello, Margaret! Tell us a bit about your novels - why do dogs figure so significantly in your recent fiction?

Dogs have been part of my life for several decades. A new dog usually turns up unexpectedly. Jo was a stray, Jessica sat withdrawn in a pet shop cage, Pixie was inherited, Beau was a foster dog, etc.

Most dogs share similar characteristics. They are intuitive, and transparent in showing their feelings. They can be zany and playful, patient and forgiving. They are vulnerable to the vagaries of an unpredictable world. They have deepened my ability to nurture and to play. That’s why my recent romances always include a dog. I draw on what I have learned to love about them.

Why are you writing romances now?

World problems are overwhelming. Romance gives the reader a break from gloom and introduces a note of happiness and  optimism.

You have worked in a number of fields. How do you bring work experience into your writing, if at all?

Yes, as well as publishing about 10 novels and several collections of short stories and memoir, I have worked as a nurse, a mother and wife, a laboratory technician, a bank teller (briefly!) and as a music teacher. I’ve used all these situations in my fiction. I am a writer who keeps close to life as I understand it.

I have worked in hospitals and community settings. My short collection, ‘The Last Party’, deals with life from the birth of a premature baby to the death of a splendid old woman. Short stories were my most popular genre. I cut my teeth on them, and many are republished in my book, ‘A Quintessential Love Affair.’ Some of those stories could have been expanded into novels. For example, my three years of nursing training were condensed into a single story, ‘Particular Friends’, and a full year of living in Papua New Guinea became the setting for a short novella, ‘Dark Places, Deep Regions.’ Of course, these are not autobiographies. They are fiction.

Tell us a bit about teaching music.

It is lovely work. I meet young children, teenagers and adults. Over time, many become friends, who share their lives and even buy my books! It can be sad when pupils move on. I try to be an encouraging teacher. I think that belief in oneself works better than criticism, so I aim for the positive. From the most gifted to the average, every student will benefit from learning to play an instrument. And yes, several music teachers play a role in my stories, especially in ‘The Sea Between’, a historical novel set in New Zealand and Australia during the First World War era.

Are locations as important as a reader might think when reading your title, ‘The Taj Mahal of Trundle’?

Although most of my books do have a carefully-placed setting, in fact the Taj title is pure irony! I just couldn’t find a better contrast than between an imaginary laid-back country town with its run-down shops and flapping awnings, and one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. The title represents the gulf between dreams and reality. It is a story about the migration of an Indian family, the Lals, to Australia, and the adjustments a migrant faces. I am an expatriate from New Zealand myself so the theme interests me. I used the same theme of migration in ‘Leaving Gaza.’

Margaret Sutherland's most recent release

Some authors struggle to find time to write, whereas others seem to be writing all the time. What are you like?

In retrospect, I could have worked harder. When nothing was nudging me to write, I just dropped it and did other things. Mind you, that’s where I found new material. Now, yes, I am working most days on writing matters, but getting to an actual day of writing is very rare. There are the associated duties now. Writing a review, drafting up an interview or blog, social media, reading craft articles, learning some new computer programme or wasting hours with a technical hitch, checking sales, giving a library talk … oh, there’s so much to pull you away from the writing. One just tries to find a balance. I wish I had more time.

What do you read for pleasure?

I read something from the tumbling pile on my bedside table. At the moment, Sol Stein’s ‘How to Grow a Novel’; Robert Macklin’s ‘Dark Paradise’, about the history of Norfolk Island; Chinese Take-Out’ by Ian Mathie, a novel based on the defection of a Chinese biochemist and his wife at the time of Tienanmen Square; ‘That’s Life’, a magazine that takes me back to the days of babies, fashion, beauty, cooking, horoscopes and all the paraphernalia of the young family years … and of course, my trusty Kindle, crammed with goodies, including romances by my fellow authors at Secret Cravings Publishers.

Where can readers see more about your books?

My website has all the information, covers and trailers. www.margaretsutherland.com

Thank you, Margaret, for this brief but informative visit to my blog. It's been an excellent way to revive these pages - and who knows, people might notice what we are both saying and doing in this writers' world.