Q&A with Sharon Love Cook, Author of “Lying Under the Stars (and Spying on Mrs. Kirby)”

Posted

You wear many hats: a cartoonist, a writer, newspaper publisher, devoted mom and also a stand-up comic! How and when did you begin performing stand-up?

First, let me correct the newspaper “publisher” role. In the ‘90s, I was hired by a local college to be editor-in-chief of their campus newspaper. I’d gone back to school and gotten an MFA in writing at Bennington College. I taught newspaper writing, now called journalism. Being editor-in-chief was great. I published all my work: essays, opinions, cartoons, etc. Not once did I send myself a rejection letter.

As for stand-up, I took a course at a local community college where the teacher was an established stand-up comic. We practiced our material in front of our classmates. For our “graduation,” we performed before a live audience. Prior to that, I’d teamed up with a high school friend, making the rounds of open mike nights, including a couple of Boston venues. Calling ourselves Marital Blitz, we were a warring married couple. Before long, my standup partner got married. Soon his wife didn’t want him going out nights with another woman. It was a shame because for a while Marital Blitz had buzz. We were actually “banned” in Beverly. You see, we were going to perform in front of a college group and the faculty advisor requested a printout of our script. Like a fool, I gave it to her, and that was the end of that. She didn’t like the word “peckerhead,” although it referred to chickens.

After the comedy class, I ended up doing stand-up at nursing homes and adult-daycare programs. That’s a tough audience. They let you know if you stink. I used this experience in my Granite Cove mystery: “Laugh ‘til You Die.” My protagonist, reporter Rose McNichols, had her hours cut at the Granite Cove Gazette, so she did stand-up gigs at nursing homes. Everything that happened to Rose happened to me, except no one tried to kill me.

“Lying Under the Stars (and Spying on Mrs. Kirby)” takes place in the fictional town of Granite Cove. What inspired it?

Granite Cove is based on the town where I grew up on Cape Ann, Massachusetts — Gloucester — and its neighbor, Rockport. I love the “sleepy fishing village” setting, although no one would ever refer to Gloucester as sleepy. When I wrote my first Granite Cove mystery, “A Nose for Hanky Panky,” I had a writing/art studio at Gloucester’s historic Blackburn Building. My window overlooked the harbor.

“Lying Under the Stars (and Spying on Mrs. Kirby)” is set in the late ‘90s and features a 14-year-old boy protagonist whose parents are divorced. What inspired you to tell the story through his eyes during this time frame and from where did you draw your source material?

Actually, the things that Christopher Koski does — hiding in the tall beach grass at night and spying — were things that my girlfriend Marilyn and I did during our summers at Long Beach in Rockport. We considered ourselves investigators and named our fledgling agency SMIC (Sharon & Marilyn Investigation Club). Believe it or not, today we still call each other Smic. We spent many fulfilling hours spying on our neighbors while keeping a notebook of "observations," as my character does. Marilyn’s Aunt Lillian’s bathhouse was our clubhouse. Like my protagonist, we snatched items off the neighbors’ clothesline, although not underwear, as Christopher does. Getting together in the winter, we made prank phone calls. That’s a lost art, thanks to cell phones.

Humor plays a big role in your books. However, “Lying Under the Stars (and Spying on Mrs. Kirby) is also very heartfelt and unlike other YA books. What inspired you to write this kind of story?

A lot of YA involves extraordinary things happening to kids; they’re abducted, assaulted, addicted, sold into slavery. I wanted a realistic (for that time period) coming of age story. My character has to rely on himself. His best friend has betrayed him. His parents don’t listen to him. I think lots of kids find that age — early teens — very hard. They feel powerless. The one bright spot in Chris’s life is his English teacher, Mr. Ryan, who is authentically himself and not a teacher clone. He sees promise in Christopher’s writing, which gives Chris hope.

In this book, the protagonist Chris does not want to live at his Finnish grandparents’ house which is located in the woods, with raccoons, muskrats, a 100-year-old toilet seat and no cable. What inspired you to write about this house? Is it based on your grandparents’ house growing up?

It was much like my Finnish grandmother’s house, with its dark, heavy furniture, reindeer head on the wall, bowl of dusty Canada mints on the coffee table. Likewise, the toilet seat was vintage. We called my grandmother Aiti, which is “mother” in Finnish. Aiti spoke little English and pronounced my name Shirty, which became my family nickname to this day. She was old-world, her hair pulled back in a severe bun, long skirts sweeping the ground. She’d scowl, yet she always served us strong Finnish coffee with cream, made on a big cast-iron stove.

How long have you been writing YA fiction?

This is my first attempt. "Lying Under the Stars (and Spying on Mrs. Kirby)” was written years ago when I started writing fiction. Before that, I wrote for newspapers, a humor column, which I still write, for The Salem News.  I took my abandoned manuscript out of a drawer and polished it up. I’ve always felt a kinship with Christopher Koski (my grandmother’s name, by the way).

As a kid, I wrote and illustrated stories, which I forced my sisters to read. Fast-forward to 1992 and the Harriet Austin Writer’s Conference at the University of Georgia. The organizers held a national short story contest. I entered my first fiction story, “The Life of Fern D. Butterworth.” It won second prize, which included conference tuition. I honestly felt like the Rose Bowl Queen. As a prize-winning guest, I was wined, dined and introduced to agents and editors. Yet when they inquired about my work, all I had was one story. I’m still kicking myself. Timing has never been my strong suit. For instance, I pack my winter clothes away in October. I list my snow tires for sale in May. I graduate from college at 47, when no classmates invited me along on spring break. 

As an art school grad, you wrote and did the illustrations for “15 Reasons Why: Men are for Now, Cats are Forever” and you are presently the VP of Friends of Beverly Animals (FOBA). Have you always been an animal loving person and have you a favorite?

Oh yes, and I’m very pleased with the new trend in adopting shelter animals. Although some people still want a status breed or a designer dog, paying thousands for one, many people today are adopting from shelters, including celebrities like Tom Brady and Gisele, Selena Gomez and others. Every year between two and four million dogs and cats are euthanized for lack of homes. My husband and I adopted Samson, a 10-year-old dog who died recently. Now we’re looking for another. The message today is: “Don’t shop, adopt.” And though I love dogs, I’m a cat lady at heart. Our group, FOBA, is planning its annual Fur Ball, our major fundraiser.

Are you currently working on any other projects?

I’m working on my fourth Granite Cove mystery titled “Death of a Not-so-Innocent Intern.” At the same time, I’ve always got a humor column in mind. I recently wrote about my husband’s 25th anniversary of getting a hole in one and winning a new Ford T-bird at a golf tournament: “Hole in One Becomes Tabloid Tale.” What sets this apart is the fact that we appeared in The National Enquirer with the car, whose license plate was ONE HOL. (The tale involves the Enquirer’s “blue dot” that brings luck to those who rub it). We appeared in the February 25, 1995 issue, with O.J. Simpson on the front cover.

What kind of impact and message do you hope your books contribute to people’s lives — both young and old?

I hope they feel a connection to me. It’s important to feel that spark of recognition, to see the writer as a kindred soul, someone who’s on your wave length. The best part of writing is when I hear from people. I save every letter and email and I respond. Actually, I find myself over-responding, writing more than they probably care to read. But I appreciate their taking the time to get in touch. I think, “Wow, they get me!”

sharon love cook, granite cove, gloucester, lying under the stars (and spying on mrs. kirby), young adult fiction, friends of beverly animals