"For Love of Words."

I recently had the opportunity to answer Lidija Hilje's questions for her lovely Substack entitled "For Love of Words." The result is reprinted here. And, for those of you looking for another great summer read, I highly recommend her beautiful, poignant novel, "Slanting Towards the Sea," due out 7/8/25.

Author feature: Libby Buck, interviewed by Lidija Hilje.
When I was still an aspiring author, I devoured every author interview I could get my hands on. Not just because I was trying to scour them for details on how to write a story that works — one that the publishing world might want to take on; but also because I firmly believe in the power of visualization. If I could visualize my path to publication, maybe I would be able to walk it.

I’m not talking about actual visualization — representation of authorial journey through a series of images. It was more an act of ideation: if I could see all that goes into working on a successful novel, writing a good query, finding an agent, getting a publishing deal, etc… I might break all those huge leaps into tiny steps that I could actually take.

And this ended up being true. With much practice at mastering all the small moving parts of this journey, I was ultimately able to walk the tightrope toward publishing my own debut, Slanting Towards the Sea.

Now I find myself in a place I most love to be — able to give back. As a Simon & Schuster author, I’m surrounded by brilliant fellow authors from my own imprint and beyond. I am able to ask questions and listen in on their success stories. And I am able to bring those stories to you.

This is the first in a nascent series of author interviews I hope to bring to you. It features a “three-for-three” format: asking the author three questions on story/craft/publishing journey each.

PORT ANNA and LIBBY BUCK — brief introduction

I don’t know about you, but I am forever drawn to books set in Maine. There is something about the somber, rugged beauty of the Maine coastline that really calls to me, as do the images of its many lighthouses. And I have never seen the Maine setting brought to life quite the same as in Libby Buck’s debut, Port Anna. Most Maine books tend to unfold over the summer, when the nature is at its prettiest and most manageable. But Port Anna doesn’t play into those expectations. Instead, it shows Maine at its coldest, grittiest, harshest. What a treat for this reader that was!

At the novel’s heart is Gwen Gilmore, a woman in her late thirties, who’s lost almost everything, and is driving up to her old family cabin in Maine to try and find her footing in life again. There, she is met with some old friends – many of whom have changed in ways that don't necessarily meet the eye; the broader community that’s eager to welcome Gwen back; a couple of benevolent ghosts, called the Misses; a mystery to solve; and the many dark shadows of her troublesome past. I was first drawn in by the evocative setting, as well as a curiosity about what happened in Gwen’s past and whether she would find a way back into her community’s fold – and back to herself. But as the winter tightened its grip over Maine and Gwen’s financial troubles took an even more sinister turn, I found myself sitting at the edge of my seat, unable to stop turning the pages.

I would also be remiss not to mention the many parallels there were between Port Anna and Slanting Towards the Sea –– a protagonist in her late thirties, whose life turned out to be nothing like she’d once hoped, and who needs to find a way to reimagine herself; a battle to save a beloved family property; an emergence of romantic feelings that complicate the already complex relationships in her life…

Without further ado, I bring to you the first in a nascent series of author interviews, and am honored to present to you the lovely Libby Buck, the author of Port Anna, forthcoming from Simon & Schuster on July 1, 2025.

“Port Anna” by Libby Buck, out from S&S, July 2025

Story:

1. Do you remember the very first kernel of an idea for “Port Anna?” What was that first bit of inspiration that got you interested in pursuing this particular story?

I had a meeting with my agent mid-pandemic. At that time, driving to Maine was complicated—there were very few respirators in the state, and healthcare systems could be easily overwhelmed. For several months, I wasn’t sure I could get there, and I had started to feel a little desperate. Maine had always been my “safe” place, the place I went when I felt lost or overwhelmed. Something about the landscape, the rugged beauty of it, and the courage it takes for those tough old pine trees to withstand the onslaught of winter moves me. And the people, too, who are so reserved and so loving at the same time. I missed all of it. A few months earlier, I had submitted a short piece about the cottage my parents had owned when I was young, so this attachment was very much on my mind. When my agent asked about projects in the pipeline, I told him I wanted to write a love story to the state. His enthusiasm fueled mine. I came back from breakfast and sat at my desk, planning to write an outline. I prefer to write methodically, building the book up step by step. (I’m certain this is due to my academic training.) But rather than sketching out characters and scenes, I found myself writing about a woman crossing the bridge over the Piscataqua River that separates New Hampshire from Maine at midnight. So, of course, I had to ask: what was she running from, and where was she going? What had happened to her life? The words flowed, and I just kept writing until the book was done.

2. This novel covers a lot of ground – a character starting over in midlife; grief; childhood trauma; a second chance at life and love, saving a beloved family property... what was the part that was most interesting for you to explore and why?

I have always believed that art has the power to heal our wounds. Even my work as an academic bent toward that theme. As I began Port Anna, I was interested in discovering how a person in the midst of a life crisis might find their way back to wholeness while surrounded by things laden with difficult memories.

I am descended from several generations of packrats, all of whom died way too young, and I spent much of my adult life thinking about art objects. As a result, I am comfortable asking questions about provenance and meaning. So, it made sense to me that my character would, like me, find solace in books, paintings, and furniture, much of which was sticky with competing histories of joy and loss and regret. Above all, I wanted to write about how someone can recover from trauma and learn to make sense of grief.

I think this is something we share. Your lovely book, Slanting Towards the Sea, touches upon themes of loss—of self and of love and of an imagined future—and how we can move beyond it.

The simplest answer to this question is the story of the cottage. When I was young, my parents owned a small summer house on the coast of Maine that my siblings and I adored. Like Periwinkle, it was quite simple but also utterly magical since it faced the ocean. We spent hours exploring the tidal pools out front and the woods out back. When my parents divorced and they sold it, we were heartbroken. In many ways, the sale of that house represented the loss of my family. Writing about Periwinkle returned the joy of my childhood to me.

The other thread that hits close to home is my mother’s story. She lost a sister when she was very young and has carried that grief all her life. I dedicated the book to her and her sisters, including Eleanor, the sister who died. As I mentioned, I believe in the healing power of art. Perhaps Gwen’s story might offer a glimmer of hope to someone else who struggles with a loss of that magnitude.

Craft:

1. “Port Anna”is a genre-bending novel: it has a mystery element, a suspense element, a romantic storyline, ghosts. Most importantly, it's a story about the emotional journey of the protagonist, Gwen Gilmore. In his letter to the reader, your editor, Tim O'Connell brilliantly observed that “Port Anna” is ultimately a fairy tale, and this is what it felt like to be reading it, as the story had a dreamlike quality to it. How did you manage to weave all these threads into a coherent, smooth narrative?

I deeply love fairy tales, those foundational stories that narrate who we are. To this day, I am riveted by the power that they can wield. And, as a child, my experience of Maine was that of a fairy tale, a mysterious, dark-wooded landscape flecked with salt where mosses and pale plants sprout beneath ancient tree trunks. I definitely wanted to convey that sense of wonder in the text.

But you’re right, there were other threads to consider. At times, especially towards the end of the book, I would occasionally find myself overwhelmed. Thankfully, I have the benefit of a great writing partner, Alpin Geist, who, as a YA author, is very plot-driven. They keep me on task when I veer into slow descriptions. At each meeting, they would remind me if I’d dropped a thread. And Tim helped me cut away the chaff.

2. The Maine setting is a huge asset to this book. I particularly love that you focused more on the winter aspect of life in Maine than on the summer one, which I feel is predominant in books set there. There is a lot of talk about winterizing the house, and there is so much cold that my bones felt frozen as I was reading. Did evoking this setting come naturally to you or did you have to work at it? What advice do you have for writers who are trying to write setting-as-character?

I didn’t have to work too hard to imagine how it would feel to huddle inside an unheated cottage exposed to the wind. As someone who is sensitive to the cold, it wasn’t difficult. Additionally, I have spent time in Maine during the winter, including a particularly remarkable February. But I also relied heavily upon my friends’ descriptions of the very cold stretches, how the damp chill reaches into your bones, how you dream of warmth.

I think the best advice for authors considering place as a character is to spend as much time as possible in the setting. The more, the better. Before I start writing, I tend to write biographies for all the characters. (Gwen and Shania were the exceptions: they just showed up on the page, and I wrote the bios later.) It’s advisable to do the same for a place. Getting clear on how and why you’re drawn to the setting also helps.

Your book beautifully evokes the Croatian coast, somewhere I have never been. And yet, reading your descriptions, I was able to picture it and imagine myself there. And, by the way, I had never considered the magic of an old olive tree before I read Slanting towards the Sea, and now I am riveted.

3. One of the most compelling components of the novel were the Misses, the two ghosts who haunt and protect Gwen's beloved cottage, Periwinkle. The house itself is a character, and the ghosts bring it to life. You did such a wonderful job of making them an integral part of the manuscript. Where did the idea come from?

The cottage my parents owned was haunted by the two women who built it. Like the Misses, they had been professors. When we bought the house, we inherited their furniture and books and photo albums. I have one still. They were not nearly as loud and disruptive as the Misses in Port Anna, but my brother, a toddler at the time, did fall asleep at night giggling. My mother maintains that he had whole conversations with them. And Maine is the kind of place where people talk about ghosts as if they’re in the next room. I once attended a dinner party in a very old home, creaky and a bit shabby, and asked if there was a resident ghost. I was assured that, yes, there was. At that moment, the dog walked to the staircase, ears pricked, and the door mysteriously closed.

“The cottage my parents owned was haunted by the two women who built it. Like the Misses, they had been professors.”

Publishing journey:

1. Can you tell us about your querying process? How did you go about finding an agent? Was your querying process slow and harrowing, or quick and satisfying?

I don’t think anything about the query process is quick and satisfying. I wish it were. I had written another novel, partly historical, based on the research I did as an art historian. Manuscript in hand, I attended several conferences that offered sessions with agents. All of them were very nice, but all handed the pages back to me with comments that meant no. Over the years, I responded to their suggestions and criticisms, reworking the novel many times as a result. (I suppose I had learned resilience and perseverance from my years as an academic. A PhD is earned as much through stubbornness as research skills.) I just kept going, kept trying, kept editing. I won’t lie, there were some hard days and a lot of tears. Eventually, a friend from college, who worked as a part-time editor, asked an agent she knew if he was interested. After he read the manuscript, he sent me a contract. (That book, though, is still sitting on my desktop, unsold. Someday, I hope, I will find the magic sauce that will make it better.)

2. What was your editing process (post-acquisition) like? How much of an overhaul did the book require, and what were the main pointers you'd gotten from your editor at Simon & Schuster?

As I mentioned, I wrote this book stream-of-consciousness—not something I’d advise anyone to do, by the way—so it desperately needed trimming. I had spent way too much time describing the beauty of the Maine coastline at the expense of the plot. My editor rightly pushed me to cut those lengthy passages and urged me to get to the heart of the story. Over the course of three months, he gave the manuscript a very close read. Honestly, it was such a gift to see someone dive right in and “get” the point of the story. It probably took another three months to respond to his edits, followed by another month or so of back-and-forth. I wouldn’t call that an overhaul as much as a tightening.

“(I suppose I had learned resilience and perseverance from my years as an academic. A PhD is earned as much through stubbornness as research skills). I just kept going, kept trying, kept editing. I won’t lie, there were some hard days and a lot of tears.”

3. You came to writing relatively late in life, after pursuing a different career for many years. In fact, you have a PhD in Art History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and you worked in academia for many years. At what point did you start thinking about pursuing writing, and how much did your first career inform your author journey and the process of writing Port Anna?

When I started college, I wanted to be a writer. I took a variety of creative writing courses, particularly in poetry. But didn’t take long to discover that I wasn’t a very good poet. In the wake of that “failure” (I put it in parentheses since I no longer view it that way), an exceptionally gifted teacher, Lydia Gasman, drew me into art history. Her area of expertise was early modern, with an emphasis on Picasso, whom I despised, yet her descriptions of artwork and the project of artmaking seduced me. After graduation, I got a job as a gallery assistant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan at a time when the art market was starting to really explode.

A few years later, I went to graduate school. I finished my master’s at Columbia and then transferred to UNC, where I taught part-time until 2010. I enjoyed the teaching and, for the most part, enjoyed the formal writing. Mainly, I loved the objects I studied, the Symbolists and Post-Impressionists. But I was working as an adjunct, a position that is incredibly challenging since you’re underpaid and terribly undervalued. Eventually, as much as I loved the students, I grew sick of that. At the time, I thought I was only taking a sabbatical, but I never returned to the classroom.

After many years as an academic, I struggled to find a plan. I had the idea that I could utilize my research to write a creative nonfiction book. But, as it turned out, the story I wanted to write needed to be fiction, and once I started, something unlocked for me. Of course, my training still has a way of surfacing. I still think a great deal about objects and how they inform or affect lives, both real and fictional.

A big THANK YOU to Libby Buck for sharing details from ideating, crafting, and publishing her beautiful debut novel Port Anna. I truly hope this conversation inspires you to read this enchanting and riveting book, as well as to keep pursuing your dreams, whatever they may be. Port Anna is available for pre-order wherever you get your books. Connect with Libby on Instagram @libbybuckwrites—trust me, she is absolutely fabulous!

My novel, SLANTING TOWARDS THE SEA is now available for pre-order. Pre-orders are crucial for authors: they signal to their publisher, booksellers, and librarians that this is a book worth paying attention to. It would mean the world to me if you pre-ordered, or shared news about my book with someone who might like it. You can also add it on Goodreads on your to-read shelf.

Links for pre-order: Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, Books-A-Million, Amazon.