Katy Regan, HOW TO FIND YOUR WAY HOME
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[0:41]Katie Regan is the author of How to Find Your Way Home, a novel.
[0:45]Katie began her writing career as a reporter on local newspapers, and then moved into writing
[0:49]features for the glassies, becoming a features writer, and then commissioning editor
[0:53]for Marie Claire magazine, where she also wrote the popular column, and then there were
[0:57]three, sort of about having a baby with her friend.
[1:00]Her first novel, One Thing Led to Another, was a fictionalized account of this experience,
[1:04]and was published by HarperCollins in 2008.
[1:07]Alongside writing fiction, Katie still works as a freelance journalist, and has written
[1:11]for most national newspapers and magazines, including Stella, Psychologies, The Daily Mail,
[1:15]The Times, and Grotzia.
[1:17]She is also the author of two self-help books, Real Focus, and Real Strength.
[1:21]She is a proud northerner from Moorcam, Lancashire, an area that figures in many
[1:27]of her novels, and now lives in hurt, for a cheer with her son.
[1:31]Welcome, Katie.
[1:32]Thank you so much for coming on mom's no time to read books to discuss.
[1:35]How to Find Your Way Home, a Novel.
[1:37]Thanks for having me.
[1:39]Would you mind telling listeners a bit about what the book is about?
[1:43]And I'm particularly interested in the homelessness angle of it, and how you so seemingly
[1:51]realistically portray the experience of being a homeless person, and what it's like,
[1:55]a bit of re-aclimating and all of that stuff.
[1:59]Yeah, okay, so how to find your way home is I would call it a big emotional family
[2:04]drama, and it's about a brother and a sister, Stephen and Emily Nelson, and when we meet
[2:10]them in the present day, there haven't been a strange four, 17 years, and we know that
[2:16]Emily's been looking for her brother, who she knows is homeless.
[2:20]One day, sort of prayers are answered, I guess, that he walks into the homelessness office
[2:25]where she works, finding flats for homeless people, and their kind of lives re-collide, and
[2:33]then they embark on a sort of birding trip, a birding journey, and we learn all about
[2:39]their childhood and the kind of reasons why they were sort of estranged in the first place,
[2:43]like the big event that happened in their childhood that sort of catapulted them apart.
[2:48]And the reason I made it a brother and sister was a lot to do the homelessness angle,
[2:53]in that I was really interested in this idea that if you were a brother and sister brought
[2:58]up in the same family with the same circumstances, what would mean one of you ends up
[3:03]homeless on the streets, and one of you doesn't, one of you ends up sort of, you know,
[3:09]in a normal life, I guess, she's quite, Emily's quite sort of middle class, got a nice
[3:14]apartment, got a boyfriend, good job, you know, what could have happened in your life
[3:20]to make that happen.
[3:21]So that's where that came from.
[3:23]I love the, well, I didn't love, I mean, I was equally horrified by the Burberry's sweater
[3:27]showdown.
[3:28]Oh, yes.
[3:29]Yes, you said it was like that, right?
[3:32]Sure, always moments where you see the true character of someone.
[3:36]Yeah, I was in the small detail, isn't it?
[3:39]It's a small detail about one character and that's it.
[3:42]Which was so perfect.
[3:45]And I didn't even realize, of course, but the birds obviously pay a big theme and I didn't
[3:49]even notice the cover, I didn't even notice the birds on the cover until sort of after
[3:53]and I was like, oh, well, of course, the birds, and they cover because they come up all
[3:55]the time and the blowers and, you know, taking care of wounded birds and all of the things
[3:59]that happened along the way.
[4:01]Why birds?
[4:02]Why did you include all the swindy areas?
[4:05]Why indeed, I mean, I'm not a bird watcher at all and never was my, my granddad was
[4:11]quite a bird watcher and my dad used to take us bird watching when we were little because
[4:16]I come from quite a marshy area of England, which is similar to to Cambry Island in the
[4:22]book.
[4:23]Although I come from the north and that Cambry Island's near London.
[4:27]So I, you know what, well, I do know.
[4:31]So my father's, my son's father, his brother suffers from quite a bit mental illness
[4:38]and, but he suffers from schizophrenia, but he's always not a bird watching and it's always
[4:43]been a great source of joy for him, you know, resilience and it just really interested
[4:50]me why that was, what it was about nature that kind of really helped him in his life.
[4:55]And I, and so I think that that's where the initial sort of, you know, inspiration came
[5:01]from.
[5:02]I wanted Stephen to be, I wanted to show the resilience, resilience of homeless people
[5:08]I'd worked in a few homeless shelters and that's what, what really struck me.
[5:12]And I thought I wanted to give him something like a love of nature to kind of give him
[5:16]this, this power, this superpower almost.
[5:19]So that's where the bird watching came from and he's kind of love of nature and I had
[5:23]to research it all because I knew nothing about birds.
[5:25]So, and then the more I researched about birds, the more I found like really magical kind
[5:32]of beautiful things that I wanted to weave into the plot, you know, about the migration.
[5:37]And, you know, the migration thing, you know, I was kind of really wild by this, this
[5:41]fact that the, the swifts in the book and, and all my great two birds, you know, they fly
[5:46]thousands and thousands of miles like the size of a crisp packet and they fly thousands
[5:50]of miles every year to like sometimes the same branch to kind of breed.
[5:54]And I thought, God, that's like, that's resilience all right, you know, and I sort of
[5:58]love the idea that it was mirroring that and the fact that the swifts in the book that
[6:02]Steven's so kind of in love with, they represent, sort of, they represent security and
[6:08]reliability to him in a world and a childhood that hasn't got any of that, you know, because
[6:13]he completely rely on these swifts to come back exactly almost to the well to the day
[6:17]every year to the Camby Island where he lives to nest every spring and he looks forward
[6:21]to it.
[6:22]And whilst things are going on around him with his stepfather and so on and, you know,
[6:28]life's quite difficult for Steven as a child, he's got these to rely on so that was
[6:32]also a factor.
[6:33]So it was kind of like, it was very organic how it came about.
[6:36]I didn't kind of go, I'm going to make it about birds and I'm going to make it fit.
[6:39]It was just like, when I learned about migration and I learned about bird behavior, I just
[6:45]was blown away by it and I wanted to somehow think about what they could teach us, you
[6:52]know, as those, you know, and this idea that we're sharing the planet with something,
[6:57]you know, it's not just us here.
[6:58]And, you know, we're not the most important things on the planet.
[7:02]And yeah, and also because he's homeless, he's kind of superpowers that he's a real
[7:08]observer of life and I thought, what could be more, what could be more, more show that
[7:14]than him being a bird watching, you know, kind of, he's used to observing and he observes
[7:19]from his place on the street as well and he can see things that other people can't see
[7:22]about, about life and human beings and yeah, so it all kind of tied in.
[7:29]And wait, say again, so it's your husband's, so it's your steps on who is schizophrenic,
[7:33]is that what you said?
[7:34]No, we went some, so my son's dad, his brother, so my son's uncle,
[7:42]your son's uncle, so you're your brother-in-law or former brother-in-law or whatever.
[7:46]Yeah, yeah, we're not together anymore, but right, ex-brother-in-law, yes, okay, okay, okay,
[7:51]thank you, sure, I had it, I had it straight.
[7:54]What was the experience of your ex's, like growing up with, I mean, I know schizophrenia
[8:00]usually shows up around age 18 and everything, but nothing can speak for him, but are
[8:06]there pieces of that relationship that particularly, I mean, one of my favorite books and
[8:11]movies is, you know, the Wally Lamb, I don't like literally losing remote, I want to say
[8:16]she's come undone, but that's the wrong Wally Lamb.
[8:18]Yeah, that's the one with Mark Ruffalo, and it was directed by Derek Sandfrantz and
[8:25]my mind is like literally a lot she's come undone, no, that was also good, well, I'll
[8:32]think of it in two seconds or I'm going to look it up, but anyway, it's the same thing
[8:34]where there, there are twins and one of them was schizophrenic and the other was not and
[8:40]how that ended up evolving, so I was just wondering anecdotally, if you had what sort
[8:45]of with with my ex, yes, he doesn't have schizophrenia.
[8:49]I know that's not just true, that's what it's got, sorry, I know this one's just true.
[8:52]He doesn't have schizophrenia, but he has always, you know, been very close to his brother
[8:57]and sort of, you know, looking after him, I guess, you know, caring for him and he goes
[9:02]bird watching with him and he's actually a photographer and he's done a big book called
[9:08]Big Brother, which is all about his relationship and kind of photojournalism book, which
[9:13]is amazing, and all of this, I think, filtered into my head and became a sort of inspiration
[9:19]from the novel, it's all going in on around the same time.
[9:23]Yeah.
[9:24]Well, tell me about your writing journey and like, so you grew up in this March, you
[9:29]part of England and then when I was in the Northwest of England, I always wrote stories,
[9:34]but actually I was more into dancing when I was young girl, I was more into performing
[9:38]arts and that was kind of the direction I was going to go in, but I was always, I think,
[9:42]in a kind of imaginative world and I used to write my own books, very, very ripping
[9:48]off shamelessly things like Beatrice Potter stories, and I used to do my own sort of rip-offs
[9:55]of that.
[9:56]So I was always writing stories and then I did follow
[10:00]the dancing thing for a while, the acting dancing thing, but that didn't work out and I decided,
[10:04]I went to dance like a residential dance college, but that didn't work out and I decided that
[10:09]I wanted to come back and study and go to university which I did, I did French and English degree
[10:16]and I think it was at university really that I sort of discovered that maybe I could do this
[10:22]writing thing, I worked at the student newspaper as a features writer and I just really felt
[10:28]I could found my spiritual home, I loved the vibe of it, I loved writing and I found out I
[10:35]could do it like a newspaper took an interest in a feature that I'd written and I think that was my
[10:39]moment where I kind of went oh okay maybe someone like me could make writing as a career because
[10:44]I thought you know people from you know a lot of towns in the north west of England don't become
[10:48]writers that's like a great deal, but I think you know little things happened where I thought
[10:55]maybe I can do that and then I was a journalist, I'm a journalist for Mary Claire magazine and
[11:01]glossy magazines and then it kind of I wrote a column and that turned into my first novel
[11:06]and then it went from there so well yeah yeah what do you think is like the future of magazines?
[11:14]I know everything is moving so digital yeah well I don't really think there is much
[11:22]for actual readable magazines, I love magazines I still love magazines but you know they so many of
[11:27]them close even Mary Claire here has folded and he's now only online in fact I don't know whether
[11:32]he's even online now it's such a shame and I feel so lucky that I worked for magazines in the
[11:38]literally the golden the golden era of the late 90s early 2000s and in so hurrying London and
[11:44]that was like a really exciting time to work in magazines that was that yeah the best time so it's
[11:50]really sad but and and so I don't think it's the same as states but here like a lot of the
[11:54]magazines have kind of merged so like you've got three magazines working on the same features desk
[11:59]like people write features for like three different magazines so it's all got sort of smaller
[12:04]and the skeleton staff and I still write for magazines myself and I write for Yahoo and things
[12:09]like that and so I still do bits of journalism. I know I miss magazines I feel like it's similar
[12:16]to find when I understand the rationale it'll just be digital but then once things I'll just
[12:22]get digital it's impossible to sort it all out I mean like I don't sit here and think okay I'm in
[12:27]the mood to read a magazine online which one should I read absolutely I mean whereas if it comes
[12:32]and on my desk I'll flip through it yeah absolutely there's something about holding it isn't
[12:38]though I'm going through the pictures and yeah I'm with you I in fact it never occurs to me
[12:43]should look at a magazine online I have to say I don't even read the news online I mean I listen
[12:48]to the news on my on my echo dot I just like go play me the news I want to you know so yeah it's
[12:55]really changing isn't it? I read actual hard copy newspapers yes I read so much faster with an
[13:02]actual thing then yeah now I do want to go to the time but I quite like to sort of listen yeah
[13:07]listening it's good we like listening that was this podcast yeah so what are you working on now?
[13:14]Well I have I need to write a new book so I'm actually out of contract now so I wrote the two
[13:21]books for Berkeley so I'm working on a new book to sort of get the next deal that's how it kind of
[13:27]works in the deal or two-book deal or three-book deal I'm really lucky so I've got an idea for that
[13:35]and I'm I'm working on that and doing lots of other sorts of writing to be honest as well
[13:41]to kind of you know pay the mortgage and well pay the rent so but yeah I'm really excited actually
[13:48]I'm really frustrated I want to get more into my new book and sort of find the time for that
[13:53]because that's where my real satisfaction comes from you know I mean journalists is great because
[13:58]it's fast and you write it and it's done and you know and you get paid and it's really it's
[14:04]fast moving but there's nothing like kind of fixing a problem in a novel this so satisfying
[14:11]yeah I love that you do you have anything great that you've read lately?
[14:16]Yes what have I read lately I read a book called Small Pleasures by Claire Chambers which was
[14:23]an odd little book about a virgin a woman who believes that she's had a virgin pregnancy
[14:30]you know immaculate conception and that was I mean came out quite a long time ago and I think it
[14:36]might have been I think it was shortlisted for the book or something but it yeah it's a really
[14:40]quirky little book I like a lot and I mean I read lots of things you know for kind of to
[14:46]to quote on them and you know people my peers books and things like that and I read a book called
[14:52]Attic Child by Lola J which is a sort of it deals with some of their history of the sort of
[15:00]black history it's set in sort of late 1800s and it's about that period in black history and it's
[15:08]it's like a double timeline so some of it's set in the 90s I think and some of it in the 1800s
[15:15]about two children who are both locked in an attic in different reasons and that was brilliant
[15:20]brilliantly done I think it's her first epic sort of history but yeah watch out for that one it's
[15:25]it's fantastic really which and so well researched and and other than that I'm I'm reading an
[15:33]anti-ler patchwork planner I've never read that I know it's a kind of classic so I'm reading that
[15:37]at the moment so yeah I've got really eclectic tastes I'll kind of read like it's of you know
[15:43]women's commercial fiction and then I'll read some literary stuff and then I'll read a bit of
[15:47]nonfiction yeah and sometimes I read things that I needed for research for mine
[15:53]new novel yeah okay last question do you have any advice for aspiring authors
[16:00]yeah it's not for the faint hearted so yeah it's not for the faint hearted I think my one piece
[16:06]of advice which is probably what everyone says is just like actually right you know it's so easy
[16:11]to kind of like go oh I'm just gonna buy another how to write book and I'm gonna look at this you
[16:16]know that does that podcast isn't there and things story grew it which is great but I can get
[16:22]lost in that for days and never write a word you know it's all this stuff about you know it's
[16:27]all kind of like plotting and description and breakdown and inciting incidents and you know it's all
[16:34]the kind of maths of storytelling but if you're not careful you can get really bogged out so my tip
[16:39]would be sit down and try and actually do some words and then you can read all that stuff it's
[16:46]all helpful but do some words also but the moment my tip would be and other authors kind of disagree
[16:51]with this but it's just where I am at the moment in my sort of novel writing is to have a framework
[16:58]before you start because otherwise it's just how it works so have a framework you know at least
[17:04]know the sort of fake middle beginning and don't just start something with a kind of idea of a theme
[17:09]that you want to write back because to be honest how to find your way home you know I started it
[17:14]and I was like I want to write something about a homeless man and I had the brother-in-sister
[17:18]relationship but that's about all I had and so I made it quite difficult for myself and it went
[17:22]through lots of drafts of trying to sort out the actual story so my main tip to myself was I'm never
[17:31]going to write a novel again where I don't know loosely at least what happens I don't know
[17:37]okay great well Katie thank you so much thanks for spending the time I really enjoyed
[17:41]getting into the relationship of these two siblings and Stephen and I loved all their little
[17:47]nicknames for each other and just the intimacy and the idea of like a brother sort of rebounding
[17:53]and I mean not to give anything away but you know spending time with people who you've
[17:58]not spent time with and such a intimate way after so long and what it does to a family and
[18:06]have families can sort of come in and out and I really I really enjoyed it I got really into it
[18:11]so thank you so much for having me all it's been a pleasure okay all right thanks a lot bye bye
[18:20]hi I'm city Owens and you're listening to the award-winning podcast moms don't have time to
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