Ask the Author: Sigrid MacRae
Answered Questions (8)
Sigrid MacRae
A fan letter? Wow, I am thrilled. Thank you so much. And of course I remember Martha Williamson, though I have not heard much from you in the Bulletin lately. I confess to nye being much a a Bulletinizer myself in fact.
Anyway it is wonderful that you (and your husband) enjoyed the book that a friend kindly refers to as AWE. I was lucky enough to be given a motherlode of material; the job was to collate and contextualize it all. No mean feat, if I say so myself.
All the best, and again - thanks!
Sigrid
Anyway it is wonderful that you (and your husband) enjoyed the book that a friend kindly refers to as AWE. I was lucky enough to be given a motherlode of material; the job was to collate and contextualize it all. No mean feat, if I say so myself.
All the best, and again - thanks!
Sigrid
Sigrid MacRae
One answer: Lots and lots of reading. Anything and everything, letters and journals,from family and friends, from the Wehrmachbericht, to Goebbels' and Viktor Klemperer's diaries. Often these yielded only tiny details, but that's where non-fiction lives. In the case of diaries - once personal slant is taken into account - dates, notes on weather, the people's mood are invaluable. Bibliographies in serious works of history can yield great sources. Wm. Shirer's "This is Berlin", dated broadcasts from Berlin until war broke out (edited by Noel Rae) was invaluable. Together, they all added up to the crazy patchwork.
I'm curious about the timing of your family's relocation to repopulate Germany, but glad you got a look at what things were like.
I'm curious about the timing of your family's relocation to repopulate Germany, but glad you got a look at what things were like.
Sigrid MacRae
By reading, thinking, noticing life and people, walking the dog -- anything at all.
Sigrid MacRae
It doesn't leave much time to anguish about trivia.
Sigrid MacRae
A novel, about -- what else -- life's complications!
Sigrid MacRae
Work on something close to your heart, something you really care about. It will make the writing eaeier and is sure to engage far more readers in the long run.
Sigrid MacRae
Two troves of letters, those of my young father whom I never knew, and those of the young mother whom I new only as an indomitable survivor, a refugee, hardened by loss, war, and hardship. Both gave me astonishing pictures of people I had not known. It was up t me to find out how life and history shaped them, and where that left me.
Sigrid MacRae
Take the dog for a walk; then get over it.
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