Joanna FitzPatrick
Author Interview - Joanna FitzPatrick
Author of The Artist Colony
Part mystery, part historical fiction, this engrossing novel celebrates the artistic talents of early women painters, the deep bonds of sisterhood, the muse that is beautiful scenery, and the determination of one young woman to discover the truth, to protect an artistic legacy, and to give her sister the farewell she deserves.
Author Interview - Joanna FitzPatrick
Author I draw inspiration from: It depends on whether I'm reading for pleasure or working on a new novel. For pleasure, an Agatha Christie mystery or any other entertaining, plot-driven page turner. Otherwise I go to authors, like short story writer Katherine Mansfield, who has something to teach me about the written word and to remind me with their strong voices why I work so hard to be a good writer.
Author Interview - Joanna FitzPatrick | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book: For sheer reading enjoyment I read in bed with a cappuccino nearby. A safe, impenetrable space where I can enter the author's world and forget my To Do list. For close readings, which is part of my writing practice, I sit in my writing room with pen in hand so I can take notes.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. I'd spend our "close" time together convincing Anna that no man, including her gorgeous lover Count Vronsky, is worth killing oneself over. I'd tell her to ignore the social proprieties that force a strong, self-willed woman like herself into suppression and depression. And before the elevator door is wedged open and we are set free, I'd let her know that I would like to change the last chapter of her life by pulling her back to safety at the train station. Her act of self-sacrifice broke my heart.
Author Interview - Joanna FitzPatrick | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: I was standing in the wings of a concert hall. On stage was a band I represented. They were performing in front of five thousand enthusiastic fans. It came to me in a sudden flash that the musicians were having much more fun than I was being their artist manager. In that revelatory moment, I decided to drop out of the music biz, go back to school, and become an author.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: Hardback when I am reading in bed for pleasure. Paperback when I am in my writing room marking it up with highlights and notes.
The last book I read: The Pelton Papers, Mari Coates. A deeply sensitive novel based on the life of the early 20th Century painter Agnes Pelton whose spirit and underappreciated work Coates brings back to life. An ill-fated life of missed opportunities. Even after her death, when a retrospective of Pelton’s work was to be exhibited at the Whitney in New York, the lockdown happened, and the museum closed. But none of Agnes Peyton's disappointments stopped her from creating art, which you can see online at the Whitney. An inspirational read.
Author Interview - Joanna FitzPatrick | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer: Both. A fountain pen when I am scene-making. A computer when I am researching my historic subjects that I then put in my scenes.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: Dorothy Gale, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum. Dorothy has all the attributes I like to encourage in myself. Personality: positively cheerful in spite of her difficult journey. Compassionate: she gathered straw and stuffed the Scarecrow back to life. Integrity: She didn't let Oz get away with his manipulations and deceptions even at her own peril. Grateful: She knew "there was no place like home."
Author Interview - Joanna FitzPatrick | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: Actress. When I was a child, I wanted to play Hamlet's Ophelia. Her soliloquy before she takes her life is so heartrending. I finally did play Ophelia and also Piglet in Winnie the Pooh. My experience as an actress has been an asset in my writing. I often slip into the roles of my characters and perform their parts.
Favorite decade in fashion history: 1920s. After women had earned their right to vote they threw away their corsets, bustles, binding underclothes, padding and somber, heavy fabrics, cut their hair trestles, and shortened their skirts. Through fashion, women expressed their liberation and many generations later, Cyndi Lauper, carries on the baton with belting out "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."
Place I’d most like to travel: My writing room in a small village in southern France. For two years now I've been unable to return to my second home. I miss my friends, the cheese and wine, the language, the culture, the lavender fields, but most of all I miss that room of my own where I start all my new novels.
My signature drink: Manhattans when I have the blues and need an elixir. Margaritas when I feel like dancing. Cosmopolitans when I'm feeling fanciful.
Favorite artist: My favorite artist changes every time I go to a museum or gallery and am introduced to a new artist, and then there are the talented women artists in the 1920s who made art even though they were told by a famous art critic that "to create a child is the greatest aspiration in a woman's life."
Number one on my bucket list: Write my next historical novel.
Anything else you'd like to add: Gratitude to Ashley Hasty for offering me a platform to speak from my heart about my favorite subject: writing. I love your questions!
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Author Bio: Born and raised in Hollywood, I naturally gravitated toward a career in the entertainment biz rather than educational diplomas. I went from secretary to screenwriter, to giving Bette Midler her first driving lesson, to artist manager, to record company executive. I then took the proverbial road less traveled and returned to school to become an author: BA at Suny Purchase; MFA at Sarah Lawrence College. My thesis SHA NA NA, LIVE FOR TODAY was based on my own adventures as a Hollywood hippie. The 10th Anniversary Edition of my first novel, KATHERINE MANSFIELD, recently received the bronze INDY award in historical fiction, of which I am very proud because I did the entire project on my own. My second novel, THE DRUMMER'S WIDOW, was drawn from my career as an artist manager. My current novel, THE ARTIST COLONY, an historical mystery set in in 1924, tells the tale of a young painter who comes to Carmel by the Sea to investigate her sister's suicide. Presently, I divide my time between a cottage by the sea in Pacific Grove, California and a hameau in rural southern France where I begin all my book projects.
