5 Minutes Alone… With Robin Oliveira
I liked the book. I liked the interview. And now, we’ve got 5 minutes of our very own with Robin Oliveira on her debut novel, MY NAME IS MARY SUTTER. A rich historical narrative like this can only come from excellent research married to strong talent. Ms. Oliveira’s got both well in hand and brings us the story of a young woman’s progress over the hurdles of tradition, heartbreak, and the Civil War to achieve her dream of becoming a surgeon. There’s lots to talk about at the closing of the back cover of MY NAME IS MARY SUTTER.
We’d like to thank Ms. Oliveira for taking the time to be part of our “5 Minutes Alone” interview series.
AuthorScoop: What was your very first publication credit?
Robin: My first credit was an article in the local newspaper on the building of a road behind my home on Cougar Mountain outside of Seattle. The new road spanned a lovely, quiet creek and displaced cougar, bear, deer, and coyote in order to serve the new homes springing up in what had once been dense woods. My home was one of the newly built houses. The story was one of regret about how, in choosing a place of beauty in which to live, I had unwittingly contributed to its destruction.
AuthorScoop: Tell us about your latest release.
Robin: MY NAME IS MARY SUTTER is a book of historical fiction about a young woman who risks everything 
to become a surgeon during the Civil War. It’s a family saga, a love story, and an epic about the unpreparedness of both sides of the divided country for the political and medical apocalypse that was to come.
AuthorScoop: Aside from your own hard work, who (or what) else do you feel has contributed to your success?
Robin: Several institutions and people contributed to my success. I could not have written this book without the fine education I received in the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. An enormous encouragement was winning the James Jones First Novel Fellowship in 2007 for my book when it was still a work-in-progress. And I am deeply grateful to my family, who never questioned the value of what I was attempting to do.
AuthorScoop: At what time of day or night do you do your best writing?
Robin: I write best during the day, usually before two p.m. After that, I find I spin my wheels. However, during the final draft of writing MARY SUTTER, I stayed at my desk from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. I had just dropped my son at college, and was determined to write one more draft before Christmas. During that time, I did not see my friends, exercised rarely, and did not answer the telephone. That approach worked and I finished on December 14th. I remember the date because I was so happy to know that I was finally done, until, of course, I learned that “done” was a relative term.
AuthorScoop: Finally, what advice would you give to new or unpublished writers?
Robin: Believe in the vision for your book even when you don’t yet have the skill to execute it. Persevere in learning the craft of writing and have patience with yourself in the terrible years of apprenticeship. Persist, but persist with purpose, reading literature to learn from the masters, seeking help when necessary, and never ceasing to work for the truest and best incarnation of your story.
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MY NAME IS MARY SUTTER is in bookstores everywhere and also available for eReader instant gratification from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the Sony eBookstore. Find more on Robin Oliveira at her website and on her author profile at her agent, Marly Rusoff’s, website.
AuthorScoop
