Smeared Type

I am never sure which affects the other more: what I am reading or what I am writing. All I know is that for me the two go hand in hand.

When I was researching my last book, Kentucky Clay: Eleven Generations of a Southern Dynasty, I read only non-fiction. I could not get enough of histories of the early Virginia colonies both in primary documents like John Rolfe’s account of “A True Relation of the State of Virginia” written in 1616 or in overviews of the history of the Virginia and the early colonizers.

When I began to write, however, my reading choices became more difficult. I had digested the history of the early colonies and the Clay family. I had the family names straight generation by generation. I had pictures of places and people. Now it was time to find my voice.  And in doing that — finding my voice — I did not want the voices of others to intrude. On the other hand, I wanted to hear a myriad of voices in my head. Smooth voices, clear voices, lyrical sounds. I wanted those voices to feed me just as the data had earlier.

Among my choices then were Iris Origo, Images and Shadows, about living in Tuscany during WWII, William Maxwell, Ancestors, about his family in Illinois, Alice Munro, The View from Castle Rock, about her life in Canada, and even Lee Smith, On Agate Hill, to remind me of the voices of the Big Sandy River Valley where I grew up. No book could be picked up casually. No book could sully the good sounds I wanted in my head. No book could be purchased for just “a good read.”

Now I am beginning to think about my next book, about the women in the Clay family. I have started my research. But on the side I am reading Frances Wilson, The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth: A Life. It is elegant and straightforward. It is giving me clues regarding writing about the strong Clay women, about their fights for equal rights. I seems that now I am both researching and writing.

Katherine Bateman, author of www.kentuckyclay.com