The Retro Wife controversy in media and Boundaries

In light of the recently re-ignited controversy over women choosing to be full-time mothers rather than devoting themselves to competing in the workplace, the theme in my upcoming novel, Boundaries, of parenthood vs. career may be of interest to readers who face this dilemma or who have already made their choices in this regard. (See “The Retro Wife,” New York Magazine 3/17/13,http://nymag.com/news/features/retro-wife-2013-3/, and the discussion on CBS 3/20/13 on “Leaning Out,”http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50143214n; Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In and “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All,”The Atlantic July/August 2013 http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-cant-have-it-all/309020/.

The main character in Boundaries, Kaia Matheson, resents the choices her mother has made in abandoning her in furtherance of a high-powered career in New York. Although Kaia plans to become a lawyer, she wants to have children, too. Both she and Mark face difficult decisions about parenthood and lifestyle that may entail sacrifice and compromise. One of the themes of the novel is thus the conflict between having a highly successful career and enjoying a satisfying home life—for both men and women.

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Building Great Sentences

I’ve been writing and reading fiction for many years, and I’m always learning, finding new modes of expression. As writers, we know we have to keep doing that. I’m now reading Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending for the third time, discovering more that I like about it each time. I’ve also recently listened to Prof. Brooks Landon’s (University of Iowa) course, Building Great Sentences: Exploring the Writer’s Craft (The Great Courses) on CD. He makes a strong case for longer, more eloquent and complex sentences than some of us were taught to write–and argues that simplicity and conciseness often do not produce the most effective and elegant writing. Moreover, he teaches, step by step, with many examples in literature, how to write cumulative sentences that lead to great writing, whether fiction or nonfiction. Barnes, a literary author, is a good example of someone who writes complex, poetic, psychological fiction, perhaps intuitively, including layers of modification and insight throughout.

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Stained glass emblematic in Boundaries

Stained glass appears several times in Boundaries–in the loft in David’s house; when Chandi teaches Kaia the art of stained-glass work; in an inn in Half Moon Bay; and in Kaia’s cottage in Marin County. By the end of the story, I think stained glass has become an emblem for beauty and harmony, important elements in Kaia’s life.

I learned to make stained-glass windows and lamps several years ago, and the process of cutting, foiling, and soldering is described in the novel. Photos of windows I created are below, along with a photo of a beautiful modern stained-glass window I saw in the Heiliggeistkirche in Heidelberg (one of many masterful windows in that cathedral).

Learn more about me at “About Christine” page.

Stained Glass Windows by Christine

Stained glass closeup

Heidelberg stained glass

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Cape Cod and northern Maine settings for Boundaries

February 4, 2013 – Cape Cod and northern Maine settings for Boundaries

Some years ago I spent an idyllic summer in northern Maine, working in a poverty-law office in a small town, and I spent my free time roaming around the countryside taking photos and visiting some of the places that ultimately became the settings for Boundaries, including a small island off of Cape Cod. Several of the photos I took that summer with my old Canon SLR are on the Home page of this website.

Life in northern Maine and on the island seemed so different from the way of life in a Los Angeles, where I grew up and went to college, and I became enamored with the people of rural Maine and Cape Cod, the relaxed pace of everyday life in those places, and the brilliant colors and light of the landscapes. Those images and memories have stayed with me, and I held them vividly in mind while drafting Parts I and IV of my novel with their Cape Cod and northern Maine settings.

Barrels in the field

Northern Maine landscape

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