Catherine
Quillman is a well-known writer, artist, and reporter here in West Chester,
Pennsylvania. I met her when we were both writing articles on local history for
the Chester County Day newspaper. The former editor inadvertently assigned both
of us to write an article on the oldest African-American Social Organization in
the state. I’m glad that I
yielded to Catherine’s expertise and stepped back so she could write it
herself!
Catherine,
I’m jealous that you got to interview the late, reclusive painter Andrew Wyeth
– not once, but several times. Please, tell us about that experience.
Yes,
interviewing Wyeth, or any of his associates such as the biographer, the late
Richard Meryman,
was definitely the combined highlight of my career at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
I would have gladly written a year of obituaries for every encounter or
interview I
had with Wyeth. I consider him one of our greatest contemporary American
painters, but
on a personal level, I found him to be the closest I will ever get to a 19th-century painter.
Of
course, he wasn’t born in that century but he lived a creative, close-to-nature
life that many
artists of that era embodied. I was sorry that Wyeth died just as I was
researching my
book, 100 Artists of the Brandywine Valley. He influenced so many artists - it
would have
been thrilling to get his opinion on the regional art scene.
On
the other hand, he might have told me to call his son – that’s Jamie Wyeth, the
artist. Wyeth
seemed to want to give the impression that he wasn’t an authority on anything beyond
his art. That was very different from the 1960s, when Wyeth actually wrote letters
to the Daily Local News about historic preservation (at the time, modish
buildings with
lots of glass were being proposed in West Chester).
I
guess this is a long way of saying that Wyeth was difficult to interview mainly
because he
seemed to really value the opinion of others. He certainly didn’t act like a famous artist.
I remember when Bob Williams, an Inquirer photographer, was trying to get Wyeth
to pose outside the Brandywine River Museum and nothing looked right. Wyeth didn’t
say anything, until Bob finally said something like, “Well, you’re the artist,
where do
you want to stand?” Wyeth immediately pointed to a nearby sycamore (one his favorite
types of trees, btw).
You and I
have both published books with several different publishers. How do the
different publishing houses compare?
I
have published with several regional publishers that have gone out of business
– really a
sign
of the times considering printing costs and the diminishing number of
independent
book
stores. I’m in the process of working out a contract for my second book with
their
local Chester County roots. (The company headquarters is part of a former dairy
farm
in Atglen, Pa. )
In
terms of comparing publishers, I think Schiffer publishes an amazing number of
books
–
I mean hundreds of each quarter. But it’s still a considered a small, regional
publisher,
which
I believe are more receptive to new or unknown writers. Schiffer is especially
open
to a nonfiction book idea if you present the subject as something you love and
know
well.
Several of
your books are collaborations. How does that process work for you? Do you write part of
a book, and your co-writer does another? Or do you re-write each other's work?
I
don’t think I could ever write a large-scale book with another writer. I have
too many solitary writing habits. I also suspect that the end product would be
too much like a literary mash-up or sound over edited like a textbook written
by HAL 9000. I exaggerate, of course. But I should point out that my co-writer,
Sarah Wesley, and I received two grants from the Leeway Foundation that
actually required a collaboration.
With
our first book, Walking the East End,
it made sense that Sarah would come up with the content or framework since she
grew up in that neighborhood and began the research years before.
With
short “popular” history books, I think the book’s cover and design is very
important.
I joke about the NYT’s motto and say we write “all the news that will fit.” But
some
of that is sort of true: I wrote sections and used Sarah’s material when the
narrative
fit
the context. There were times, too, that Sarah shaped my writing, based
strictly on
research,
since she knew all the personal stories that only a native would know.
You have a
new book on Milford Mills. Tell us about that.
Thanks
so much for asking! My answers so far remind me of that statement by Alfred
Conan Doyle (I think).
To paraphrase, “I would have written a shorter letter if I had more
time.”
To keep this short, the book’s title (and subtitle) is revealing: The Story Of
Milford
Mills and the Marsh Creek Valley, Chester County, Pennsylvania. An historic
account of early milling communities and a hamlet taken by eminent domain to
build the Marsh Creek State Park and Reservoir
Speaking
of regional interest, the book is so local, I decided to self-publish, I also
published
an earlier version back in the 1980s and I now have what could be described as
a
waiting list of readers. They have been waiting for decades for the second
edition.
Let’s
finish up with a process question: how to you write? Do you do it in the same
time and place every day?
Great.
I used to love to read old copies of The Paris Review mainly because they
asked
such
questions. For some reason, I never thought I had a process compared to writer
friends
and acquaintances (some of whom have become fairly famous) – they live by their
word count. Still, I believe that system works well with fiction writing (which
I’m
not
doing at the moment). But to answer your question: I generally keep a
journalist’s
hours
- getting started in late morning and letting my writing time be interrupted by
phone
calls, etc.
I
also believe in having multiple desks or work areas depending on what stage the
writing
is
in. I may work on my netbook, for instance, in a public space when writing a
first
draft.
(I like the background sounds - it reminds me of a newsroom.)
My
latest habit is uploading my work to Google Drive and then reading it on my
tablet.
I’m
also an exhibiting artist, so I think seeing the words in a nice clean context
makes the
errors
stand out that much more. With my tablet, I can open the document in Kindle and
highlight
areas that need further work.
Thanks
for the interesting questions!
We’ll look
forward to your next book. Thank you for your time, Catherine!
Catherine
Quillman’s books are listed on her website.
Her Wyeth feature stories can be found here.
You
can follow her at Facebook at Catherine C. Quillman, Twitter at
@catquillman,
and her favorite social networking site Instagram at
CATQUILLMAN
