Kate Whouley

I live and write on Cape Cod, in the home that inspired me to write my first memoir, Cottage for Sale, Must Be Moved. Although if we were to get technical about it, the inspiration came less from the home and more from the quirky characters—especially the grouchy house-mover—who helped me make it mine. My second book, Remembering the Music, Forgetting the Words, began as a book about the community band where I spend my Monday nights. When my mother began showing up on every page, I understood that I needed to write about her journey into Alzheimer’s, and the unexpected healing of a complicated relationship. Moving across genres, I have a novel that will soon be in submissions, and while I am too superstitious (and old-school) to say much about it, I will say that it is a book I have been working on most of my adult life. (We all have one of those, right?)

Like many of the writers who responded to the recent AG survey, I do not live on the proceeds of my (yes, award-winning) books. I teach in the Bay Path University MFA program, and I also design indie bookstores. (Belmont Books, PRINT, and Gibson’s Bookstore are some of my more recent projects.) And I am thrilled to write for Yankee magazine whenever they tap me on my shoulder for a feature or say yes to an essay. It’s a patchwork (and honestly, sometimes exhausting) life, for sure, but it’s mine, and for that, I am grateful.