The Life You've Imagined (40 page)

13.
How did you imagine your life when you were younger? How much is it similar to what you predicted, and is this good or bad?

14.
If your life has not turned out the way you wanted, is it defeatist—or realistic—to accept that?

15.
The author chose a quote from Thoreau as an epigraph for the novel: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.” Why do you think she chose this particular quote? What does it mean to you, in light of what happens in the novel?

16.
Consider the novel’s four main female characters. Is there one that you particularly identify with? Which one, and why?

17.
When you first read the novel’s title, what did you think the story was going to be about? What does the phrase “the life you’ve imagined” mean to you?

A Conversation with the Author

What inspired this book?

This book has been through many drafts and was once known by another title, and I actually started it before I wrote my debut
Real Life & Liars.
I was sifting through my life to find material weighty enough for a novel, zooming in on times when I was most upset and scattered. A moment of disillusionment stood out to me. It was a time when I realized that doing your best, working your hardest, and being a nice person wouldn’t guarantee success. It was a painful newsflash to realize the real world is not always merit-based! This brought me to the character of Anna, the attorney who is poised for the career success she thought she wanted, only to find it doesn’t bring her the satisfaction she’d expected. Anna’s mother, Maeve, was the next character. At first, she existed mainly to support Anna’s story, but she emerged with a powerful tale of her own. Cami was simply “the friend,” and Amy was a plot device, but their stories became more important as the novel went through its many drafts. I love the fact that it’s an ensemble story now. Also, I loved the idea of using Geneva for a last name, if only for the “Geneva Convention” joke made by Aunt Sally.

You mentioned many drafts of this novel. Why so many?

I am ruthless about abandoning projects that aren’t working, and this was especially true before I ever had a book deal and thus a contract to fulfill. So, ordinarily I would have just filed this one away as a learning experience. But I always loved the ending chapter. Indeed, the existing ending is not much different than my earliest drafts. I was determined to write a book that
earned
that ending. I’m happy with the result. It was worth every bit of the work.

What inspired your fictional Haven, Michigan?

I had set
Real Life & Liars
in a real city that is very special to me, but this time I wanted total flexibility in the setting so I just made up a town. Originally I’d called the town North Haven, then I decided to drop the “North” entirely because “Haven” alone is so evocative and, for some of my characters, ironic. Haven is loosely based on Grand Haven, South Haven, and similar small towns on the southern shore of Lake Michigan. I worked for a couple of years at the
Grand Haven Tribune
as a reporter. It was my first real job, with a desk and business cards and everything. I was so proud of my own desk! The Tip-a-Few bar in the book is based on the real thing in Grand Haven. It’s such an excellent name for a bar, I couldn’t help but use it.

The Nee Nance Store is based on various small convenience stores near places I’ve lived. I love little family-run places—and their whimsical names—and had always thought a family business would make a great jumping-off point for a novel.

How did you come up with the title?

At first, “the life you’ve imagined” only came into play as a bit of scenery: the magazine clipping Anna had taped to her mirror as a girl and later tears down in a fit of disgust as a cynical adult. As the novel evolved into an ensemble story, I gave each of the girlhood friends the clipping and imagined how they reacted to it. The quote (which is actually a misquote—the real Thoreau excerpt isn’t quite so modern and pithy) seemed evocative of this story about adults grappling with the contrast between their actual lives and what they thought they’d have.

Are you living the life you imagined?

No! And I’m glad. I imagined myself by this point sailing along in my career as a newspaper reporter, well on my way to becoming editor of a large urban daily. Novel writing was a vague aspiration for some undefined “someday” point. I always envisioned myself a hardcore career woman who would “do it all.” I’m still a career woman, but the career is different, and my definition of success more fluid and flexible. I no longer try to predict my life many years ahead, and when I do imagine the future, it’s more in terms of family and home rather than jobs and money. Also, the older I get the more aware I am that it’s all so fragile. I’m happy that my family and I are healthy right now, today. And I’m awfully glad that my “someday novel” came sooner rather than later, because who knows what later will bring?

About the Author

KRISTINA RIGGLE
lives and writes in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with her husband, two kids, and dog. She’s a freelance journalist, published short story writer, and coeditor for fiction at the e-zine
Literary Mama
. Her debut novel,
Real Life & Liars
, was named a Great Lakes, Great Reads selection by the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association. Though she doesn’t live at the shore, Lake Michigan makes her heart happy whenever she can get there.

Praise

Praise for
The Life You’ve Imagined

“Unpredictable, touching, and true,
The Life You’ve Imagined
is a stand-out story; I devoured it and wanted more.”

—Therese Fowler, author of
Reunion

“A richly woven story laced with unforgettable characters. Cami, Maeve, Anna, and Amy will snag your heart as they explore the sometimes-wide chasm between hope and reality. A beautiful book.”

—Therese Walsh, author of
The Last Will of Moira Leahy

“Backed by Riggle’s trademark unflinching honesty and imbued with heart and hope,
The Life You’ve Imagined
is a terrific novel about love and loss, letting go and holding on. A book to share with family and friends—I loved it.”

—Melissa Senate, author of
The Secret of Joy

Praise for
Real Life & Liars

“This book is a must-read for anyone who has ever been both grateful and driven mad by the people they love most: their family.”

—Allison Winn Scotch, author of the
New York Times
bestselling
Time of My Life

“With ease and grace, Riggle walks the fine line between sentimentality and comedy, and she has a sure hand in creating fun, quirky characters.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“Funny, sad, and utterly believable. . . . Kristina Riggle is poised to become the Luanne Rice of the Great Lakes.”

—Elizabeth Letts, author of
Family Planning

Also by Kristina Riggle

Real Life & Liars

Credits

Cover design by Amanda Kain

Cover photograph by Garry Wade / Getty Images

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

THE LIFE YOU’VE IMAGINED. Copyright © 2010 by Kristina Ringstrom. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition September 2010 ISBN: 9780062006882

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