Q&A with Nancy Christie

  

 

 

Nancy Christie is the author of the new novel Transforming Tessa, the latest in her Midlife Moxie series. She is also the host of the Living the Writing Life podcast, and is a freelance writer and editorial consultant.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Transforming Tessa, and how did you create your character Tessa?

 

A: I’ve known several women who struggled through the bereavement phase, and I witnessed firsthand how hard it is to figure out who you are when someone who is so integral to your life is gone.

 

And sometimes when you start over and try to create a new life for yourself, there may be feelings of guilt that you are moving on, albeit unwillingly, when the person you loved is no longer there. I wanted to explore that stage—the rebuilding of your life and the creation of a new identity.

 

While I have never lost a spouse or partner, I have lost both my parents, and that loss created a shift in my life because my parents and I had been very close.

 

Also, my father lived with me for the last few years of his life, and when he was gone—and since I lived alone—there was an emptiness that I had never before experienced. I didn’t know what to do now that I didn’t have someone to take care of.

 

Sometimes I think not being needed—especially when that desire to be needed comes from a place of love—is the hardest thing to accept.

 

When I began thinking about Tessa—who she was when the story opened and how she would change—I knew that she and her husband had a very loving marriage.

 

But as much as Jack tried to prepare her for the expected ending (he had a heart condition), she refused to accept that it could happen and instead wanted to protect him and herself from that eventuality, in part because she doubted her ability to go on without him.

 

I needed Tessa to discover her inner strength, but I knew she couldn’t do it on her own. So I brought other women into her life to help her find her moxie and heal from her grief.

 

Q: How does this book fit in with your other Midlife Moxie novels?

 

A: While each novel is a standalone, the commonality (which I wrote about in my Substack post) is that the characters have to reinvent themselves due to life events or circumstances and doubt their ability to do so.

 

And that’s where the friendships with other women come into play—the idea of “found family”—with happenstance and chance occurrences introducing them to other women who support and encourage them.

 

And of course, the protagonist in each story is 50 or older. (I took some literary license with the definition of midlife!) The midlife stage can be an exciting one, full of possibilities. But it is also a time of change—and I don’t mean menopause! Relationships may end, children leave home, careers start to stall, health issues surface—and we all have to figure out how we’re going to keep moving forward in spite of it all!

 

I wanted my novels to be realistic yet positive, showing typical challenges that can occur as well as ways to not only cope but overcome them. Most of all, I wanted the stories to emphasize that who each woman was when the story opens isn’t the same person she is at the end. The point is that we all have untapped potential just waiting to be discovered.

 

I hope that’s what my readers take away from the stories and bring into their own lives when they are thinking about not only who they are now but also, who else they can be.

 

Q: The writer Susan Poole said of the novel, “Tender, wise, and brimming with hope, Transforming Tessa is a story about the grace of starting over, the quiet strength of friendship, and the courage it takes to persevere in the face of devastating loss.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I love it! It perfectly encapsulates what I want readers to find in Transforming Tessa. I didn’t want it to be a “quick fix” type of story, and I also wanted to show that, despite her own self-doubts, Tessa did have the courage needed to venture out into the world without her beloved husband Jack at her side.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: That grief hits us in different ways and we process it differently. That rebuilding your life after loss doesn’t mean forgetting the person who is gone. That the measure of your grief is a measure of your love. That the person we lost who loved us would want us to create a future full of happiness and fulfillment because they loved us.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am about two-thirds of the way through Investing in Iris, my fifth Midlife Moxie novel, which will come out in 2027.

 

A retired high school English teacher in her early 60s realizes that she misses the sense of making a difference and decides to open a bookstore in the same lower socioeconomic area where she taught. One small drawback: she has no retail experience.

 

So she partners with her niece who recently lost her job but who has extensive business and marketing knowledge. Will it work, or will they butt heads as passion and practical collide?

 

I’m also inviting indie bookstore owners to share some of their experiences so I can make the early months realistic. All they need to do is reach out to me via email (nancy@nancychristie.com) and I’ll send them the questionnaire!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I have another novel in mind that I’ll start working on while Investing in Iris is with my editor. It’s not a Midlife Moxie novel but one a little more serious and with multiple points of view. If all goes well, I’ll release it in 2028!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Nancy Christie.