'Behind the Quill' - Author Interview with Beryl Singleton Bissell

Beryl's current and first book is "The Scent of God: a Memoir".

Synopsis: In an era when sex abuse scandals riddle the Catholic Church, this haunting memoir of love, guilt, and redemption, illumines the goodness to be found among the majority of those who have followed Christ into the ministry.

Beryl enters a cloistered community one day after her eighteenth birthday believing that God has called her. She wants to become a saint. When her father has a severe stroke, her abbess tells her that it is God’s Will she return home to care for her father thereby setting in motion a course of events that will turn her life inside out.

Padre Vittorio and Beryl did not fall easily into love. Theirs is a story fraught with contradiction and anguish, a struggle to remain faithful to their religious calling while recognizing that their love was God’s gift.

The Scent of God probes deeply into the beliefs that led Bissell to seek religious life and limns the events that eventually sent her back into the world. In clear yet lyric language, Bissell weaves a searing yet courageously honest saga of the tension between human love and religious dogma. Her journey is a must-read for all those who seek to make sense of their lives, who struggle with the impact that their choices have had on those they love, and who long to find the healing that lies beneath the surface of these experiences.

Beryl lives on the north shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota with her husband Bill, their dog Shelby and fat cat Ellie.

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Can you share a few things about yourself that might define you as person?

Where to begin? Perhaps with an assignment I was given during a poetry class. Use one word to describe yourself. The word that came to mind then and remains constant is “Pilgrim.” I journey from one life into another. I’ve been a cloistered nun, a wife, a widow, a single mom, a divorcee, and a happily remarried woman. Five years ago I was forced brutally into another group as a mother of a murdered child. But do any of those terms capture my essence? Not really. I am simply who I am. I’m not my name, my vocation, my role, my career. I’m not even pilgrim.

Have you published any work other than "The Scent of God"?

The Scent of God is my first book—published by Counterpoint NY when I was 66-years-old. I spent 10 years learning how to write. Another 10 years writing this book while honing my skills as a feature writer and newspaper columnist. I’m trying to work on the sequel now but find that The Scent of God is keeping me awfully busy.

Note: Beryl has also written an Amazon Short, titled, "The White Taxi".

Do you consider yourself to be a writer, and are you comfortable introducing yourself as one?

In Minnesota people always ask someone new “what do you do.” Once I had answers: I was a nun, then a set-designer, a jeweler, a development director for a literary press. When I moved to the North Shore of Lake Superior I was none of these. My husband moved us here so I could focus on my writing -- so I responded when asked that I was a writer. “Oh, and what have you written?” “Well, I'm working on a book,” I’d respond. When I became a columnist and started getting published I felt better about calling myself a writer and feel totally comfortable with that term now.

When did you first become aware that you wanted to write, or what inspired you to take up writing?

A brilliant and charismatic English professor at the college where I’d returned to school as a single mom told me that I was a writer. Intrigued I began taking courses in creative writing. When one day I overheard my son say that we were doomed as a family because I’d been and nun and his father a priest, I knew I had to write a book.

What was your first piece of writing that you were proud of?

A poem about my daughter Francesca which was potent with images that captured her wild, glorious, and anguished spirit. It emerged from an expression she used. “I love you to death.”

Do you write or dabble in different genres?

Yes – poetry, fiction – but creative nonfiction is the genre in which I feel most comfortable.

Is there some writing or idea that would like to explore, but haven't attempted yet?

I’d like to write a literary novel. I have ideas but don’t know if I can follow through. When I hear other fiction writers saying that their characters have a mind of their own, I panic. I want to control the story.

What have you written that you are the most proud of, and why?

I am most proud of The Scent of God. I rewrote this book ten times in the effort to find the story beneath the story, and then spent a year honing the writing until it shone.

What, or whom influences your work, or inspires you?

The place where I live, which is profoundly spiritual. Here on the North Shore I’m surrounded by a landscape at once raw yet beauteous; dangerous yet vulnerable, a terrain of contrasts, of life and death.

From where, or what, do you get your ideas?

I get most of my inspiration from the people I meet and the events I encounter and from a natural tendency to create metaphors and analogies that open me to the creative spirit.

How has your upbringing colored your writing?

The marvelous thing about writing is that through it I’ve found a voice. My upbringing and background did not encourage women with voice.

Do you have a process you follow for your writing?

I sit in front of the computer screen and wait.

Ha ha ...I think many writers can relate to that process. Do you have a ritual when you write, or some quirky thing you do to get you in the right mindset?

I have a pair of earrings comprised of tiny shells that my husband bought for me in Hawaii. They were very costly because of the labor involved in finding and mounting them. I feel the power of that labor when I’m writing.

Where do you write, or where do you do your best work?

I have a little writing shed without access to communication – no phone, no internet, no sound. I find it almost impossible to write while in my home office. E-mail and internet are sirens that lure me from writing.

Do you face a challenge when you write, or is there something that frustrates you or impedes your ability in some way?

I have difficulty starting because so often I do not know what I think about something until I start writing about it. That not-knowing often triggers paralysis. My tendency to edit, edit, edit even while writing the first draft which kills the creative voice. I am working at allowing a first draft to be crap. To let it out first and only then polish it.

How often do you write, and how much time do you spend daily?

I spend an inordinate amount of time at the computer, writing. Just keeping up with my blogs and letters from readers. I try to spend at least two hours a day working on my next book.

What other interests do you have outside of writing?

I love to hike in the woods, to meditate, to read, to visit the elderly, to meet with thoughtful friends and discuss spiritual issues. Oh yes. I love movies!

What books or writers have influenced your life the most?

I read “Les Miserables” as an eight-year-old recuperating from chicken pox. It made a huge impact on me. It was the first time I’d been exposed to the injustice and suffering in the world, to the nobility and crassness of humankind and to the devastation wrecked by poverty and war. The works of Dickens affected me the same way and taught me to not only love books but to draw lessons from the stories captured within their pages.

What book are you reading now?

Right now I am reading Patry Francis’s The Liars Diary, Christin Lore Weber’s Circle of Mysteries (both Gather members). I have six other books going continuously by my favorite spiritual writers. Anthony de Mello and Joan Chittester for example. The book I have reread most often is Learning to Fall by Philip Simmons.

If you were to choose one word to describe you as a writer, what would it be, and why?

Pilgrim. My book The Scent of God is essentially a pilgrimage in search of myself, of the divine within me and within this world.

Is there something in your life, beyond writing, that you are the most proud of?

I feel strange answering this question because I am so aware that everything we accomplish is not ours but is gifted to us. Let me therefore say that my son, Thomas has assumed hero status in my mind. Hampered by learning disabilities and depression as a child, he has emerged as an Atlas of a survivor. He has used every gift God gave him and many that he never received. I take pride in saying that I am his mother.

What advice would you give to a writer just starting out, or someone that may want to try their hand at writing for the first time?

Read, read, read. Read as a writer and note how the author captures your attention and get yourself a copy of the lovely little book “If You Want To Write” by Brenda Ueland which is like a jolt of super java. java. Ueland believes everyone has a story, that everyone is a genius. Believe that and then start writing and don't stop.

What would you like to accomplish in the next 5 years, as it relates to your writing?

I’d like to finish my next book, the sequel to The Scent of God. Then I’d like to learn how to tell my stories in fiction.

Has your participation on Gather helped you, or influenced your writing in some way?

Gather has been a bolt of lightning to my writing. Commenting on articles freed my voice from the struggle to write perfectly. Writing articles for it is a discipline. Gather mothered me into the publicity portion of writing a book. It gave me a wide circle of wonderful new friends. When I was told my first reading was to take place in Boston at the Harvard Coop, I posted an article asking any Gatherers who lived in the area to come. Every writer’s nightmare is showing up for a reading and having no one there to listen. Then Maria D. from Gather contacted me and invited me to visit them at their headquarters when I arrived in Boston. They gave me a wondrous welcome. At my reading Gather staff showed up en masse along with other Gather members. It was a glorious launch of my reading and speaking efforts. Here are links to the articles I wrote about this. In reverse order – the most recent first.

Mature Writer: Debut Reading Jitters: Boston
Mature Writer: Gather in Boston
Mature Writer: The Day Before the Tour/What Happened to Cat?
Mature Writer: Postcards from the Edge

The most exciting happening was receiving a message from David Cooperstein at Gather asking me to phone him about a “mutually beneficial proposal.” That proposal was the invitation to join Gather on their first anniversary cruise to Bermuda as one of those featured authors. I’m including links to the articles I wrote about that cruise. Again, these are in reverse order.

Book It to Bermuda Part 4
Book It to Bermuda Part 3
Book It to Bermuda Part 2
Book It to Bermuda Part 1

How can someone purchase your book, or see other work you have written?

My website www.berylsingletonbissell.com is chock full of information including a link that provides a whole list of online booksellers. Any bookstore should carry it and if they don’t ASK for it. People who read my book have taken a personal interest in making sure their bookstore carries it. My website also contains other works and many photos -- some of which are linked to my newspaper columns, my Journey to Publication Blog and other Gather articles. My Amazon Shorts “The White Taxi” can also be accessed from there (my first real attempt to write fiction) –Gather helped launch that one in a Gather/Amazon competition.

Do you have any book signings or other promotions for your work coming up?

Since the national book tour ended my promotional activities have centered around Minnesota and Wisconsin. My next event is a talk for the Parliament of World's Religions Group at the Bahai Center, located at 3644 Chicago Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55407, phone # 612-872-1846 on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 7 pm. My website has a list of events. I also do conference calls with book clubs nationwide. Interested persons can connect with me through the contact link on my web site for more details.

Have you had any recent accomplishments or recognition for you work that you wish to share?

The recognition of which I am most proud is being named “Best of 2006 Minnesota Authors” by the largest newspaper in Minnesota—the Minneapolis Star Tribune. And I was delighted to learn that my book has been nominated by booksellers for a Midwest Bookseller Book Award.

Congratulations! Can you talk about The Scent of God and what you were trying to achieve through writing it? Did you have a goal in mind?

My goal in writing the book was to answer my son’s remark about feeling doomed because I’d been a nun and his father a priest. I needed to investigate the beliefs that had led me into the monastery and the events that precipitated my departure 15 years later. However, when early drafts won two major Minnesota awards: the 1997 Creative Nonfiction Award sponsored by The Loft and Jerome Foundation and a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant in 2000 -- I was encouraged to bring it into the larger world.

What message or lesson would you like readers to receive from your memoir?

That others grappling with guilt and a distorted belief in a punishing God will find hope and healing in reading my story.

What legacy would you like to leave as a writer?

I’d like to leave the world a better place.

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your memoir?

Yes. I’d protect the names of the nuns and the monastery and write a disclaimer.

Now that your book is published, what is the hardest part of your post-publication life?

The busyness of it all. The publicity and marketing efforts consume one. I love giving talks but I miss my silence and solitude.

Has the publishing of your book changed you as a writer, or has it influenced you in some way?

It has made me a more confident writer – one who is aware of the great impact telling one’s story can have on the lives of other and the importance of sharing those stories.

Did you learn anything from writing your memoir and what was it?

That writing a book is one heck of a lot of work.

How long did it take you to write it?

I worked on it from 1996 to 2004. In 2001, when my daughter was killed I stopped writing for two years. When I resumed writing in 2003 I saw exactly where I needed to go deeper into the story. I have 10 drafts of this book on my computer!

What was one of the most surprising things you learned through this process?

That I was a good person and that God had been with me throughout my entire journey.

What were your feelings when your memoir was accepted and you saw the cover of the finished product?

The sale of this book was nothing short of miraculous. When I rewrote it in 2003 and sent it off to an agent in 2005 she loved it so much that she had several publishers bidding on it. The cover is another story. I thought the first cover (they’d rejected many designs as either too spiritual or too sensual) was a bomb. The final cover filled me with joy. I no longer had to pinch myself to believe this was happening to me.

What dreams have been realized as a result of your writing?

I am an author. My name is on a book published by Counterpoint NY(a member of The Perseus Book Group) one of the most highly respected literary publishers in the nation.

What's next for you as a writer ?

To focus on the next book.

Well, we'll be waiting ...impatiently!

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