Meet Mary McKnight, author of Out of Place
About the book:
“In this wise, funny and moving memoir, McKnight ends up writing a love letter to her childhood in Germany. This memoir is also a love letter to herself and to the poignant, heartbreaking depths of girlhood. Part captivating travelogue, and part ode to the girl she once was, McKnight investigates the challenges and traps and beauty of being a girl and a sister and a daughter, all in a new land that she comes to tenderly call home.”
This is Mary’s interview
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I was eight when I wrote my first story. I sent it to my dad when he was in Vietnam (during the war). He saved it. My dad was not nostalgic but it meant everything to me, that in his footlocker (all he brought home from Vietnam) was my story.
*Why did you want to write this book?
I love to read, and kept looking for coming-of-age stories of young women where the young woman had not endured some tragedy. It ocurred to me that all a boy had to do to get their story told, was show up with a baseball glove. The coming-of-age stories of young men, honored the “normal.” Now, was it “normal” to live in Germany during my coming-of-age years? I suppose one could argue that it wasn’t, however I do not suffer a tragedy. I wanted to write about first loves, getting our periods, angsting over our hair and appearance as well as the awakening of female power, growing awareness of social justice issues and the effect that travel has on perspective both short and long term.
What was the most difficult part about writing the book? The most rewarding?
The most difficult part was that I wrote this while my parents were alive (they both died this past March, my dad, five days after my mom’s funeral) and I wrote the book through the eyes of being totally critical of my dad and his 5,000,000 rules, as I was at that age. It did sting my dad’s feelings (he read the manuscript) and he was also proud that I had written it. Going back through stories where I experience sadness, was very heart wrenching and also cathartic. The most rewarding part is knowing that I have honored all Army Brats with our story/my story. We (Brats) were taught to be rather hidden, not to call attention to ourselves, and many people have no idea that we (the military families) were sent to Germany to calm down the troops (who apparently were going off the rails after the war) and to create camaraderie with the German people.
What do you hope other people will take away from reading your book?
I hope they will feel (if they are female) that their stories matter and are “out there.” I hope people recognize the strength of the military wife and all that she had to do to support her husband’s career, keep the family together and do this all in an age of growing feminism. The history of American occupation and then support from the Communists entering West Germany is largely unknown from a non-military perspective, and I hope this book lets others into the “Little America” we lived in during the mid 1970’s.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Keep writing. Get your first draft and edit after. You do not need to be “perfect.” You only need to be “you.”
How long did it take to write your book?
It took five years.
What was the biggest challenge in writing your book?
I had to fight my old feelings of insecurity. That old question of, “Am I enough?”
Who are your favorite authors?
I love Erik Larsen and his narrative style in writing history. Ralph Waldo Emerson with his “cut right to it” writing style. He is unapologetic. Mary Oliver as she made the ordinary, extraordinary. Susan Conley because of her masterful dialogue.
What is your favorite book in the same genre as your work?
Waiting Wives: The Story of Shilling Manor by Donna Moreau
What does literary success look like to you?
People learning something from my work, seeing themselves while also seeing me, and looking forward to what I will write next.
What’s the best writing advice you ever received?
“Banish the Censor!” My Developmental Editor Susan Conley told me this. Fabulous.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the beginning of your writing journey?
I’d need to jump through 5,000,000 hoops to get it published, and that “No” would become the standard answer.
What do you do when you are not writing?
I am a teacher of young children at the Lab School at The University of Maryland
What’s next for you?
I am working on a Rom-Com. Currently on the second draft (with Susan Conley’s wise input)
How can our readers get a copy of your book?
It is available via Simon and Schuster as well as Amazon, Target-just look up Out of Place by Mary McKnight and it will pop up. Don’t just look up my name because some other Mary McKnight pops up and her story called The Strychnine Saint. Yikes!
What is the best way for our readers to connect with you?
https://marymcknight.substack.com Substack
https://twitter.com/MaryEMcKnight
@breatheintoyourtoes Instagram
