Welcome to Joan Stromberg for our "virtual visit". Mrs. Stromberg joined us by telephone, and we enjoyed the visit. These are Mrs. P.'s notes from the visit, so the quotes are not guaranteed to be word-for-word. The sense is there.
Mrs. Stromberg, can you tell us a little bit about your family and life?
My husband and I are the parents 10 children. Our oldest son Joseph just graduated from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, and will join me in her publishing business. Our oldest daughter Elizabeth just took her vows of consecration with Regnum Christi in Rhode Island.
Two other teenage children live away from home, Mick is a college student, and Mary, 16, is discerning a religious vocation. The other six are still at home, and Thomas Benedict, 5 months old, is the youngest.
I loved reading histofical fiction when I was a young girl. I loved reading Laura Ingalls Wilder and Lousia May Alcott. When my older girls were young, they read the American Girl books, and I thought, wouldn't it be great if there were Catholic version of them? So I wrote the Mother Cabrini book first (The Orphans Find a Home), then the Elizabeth Ann Seton one (Kat Finds a Friend). I really love St. John Neumann, so I wrote Thomas Finds a Treasure.
I also found the American Girl mystery books. Under Copp's Hill is my favorite (some of our girls book group girls have read it). So I wrote "The Iron Spy," a mystery.
I'm working on another mystery now, about the Underground Railroad, set in Terre Haute, Indiana, at the St. Mary of the Woods, where Saint Mother Theodore Guerin lived and worked.
When I first started writing, I found a lot of Catholic publishers were not publishing children's fiction or were not interested, so I started my own publishing company, Ecce Homo Press . Ecce Homo means "Behold the Man" (from John 19:5). We publish my books, as well as the Little Flowers and Blue Knights program.
(about half of the girls book group girls have been or are currently a member of a Little Flowers Club.)
We also publish a great book by Maureen Wittman called "For the Love of Literature," about learning about different subjects through great literature.
Questions from the girls:
Mariana K.: What is your favorite book that you wrote?
I would have to say "Kat Finds a Friend," because it is about my husband's relatives. (John Walter was related to her husband). I love researching my books and this one was fun to research.
Giuliana P.: Do you like writing?
Writing is a funny thing, because I love the finished product, but sometimes writing is kind of like exercising. You like it when you are done. It also feels like a good release, and it is something you need to get out, just like sometimes you need to exercise.
Francesca P.: What is your favorite book?
That is a good question, but a hard question. I like to do read-alouds with my family, and right now we are reading the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder for the third time.
Joelle C.: Have you ever been to the grotto described in "Kat Finds a Friend" and is the spring still there?
Yes! We always go to the grotto whenever we are anywhere near Emmitsburg, MD, where Mt. St. Mary's . We go to pray and to get some of the blessed water. I took the photo that is in the back of "Kat Finds a Friend." It was just on an ordinary day, but as you can see it is quite popular.
I highly recommend that if any of you girls get a chance to go, you should go to the shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.
Elizabeth B.: Does anyone in your family still make shoes? (like John Walter does in "Kat Finds a Friend")
Years ago, when I wrote the book, we would go around to homeschooling conventions. My oldest son would dress up as John Walter and do a shoemaking demonstration with antique shoemaking equipment we had found in antique stores and other places. So he did do some work, although he didn't actually make an entire pair of shoes.
Mrs. A.
How do you have time to get this all done?
It is hard to write because the publishing part of the business keeps me busy. Now that my son has graduated from college, he is helping in the business.
When I get ready to write the books--a book the size of "Kat Finds a Friend," I break down the story into 10 chapters, and then write a chapter a day. Researching and organizing actually
Break down the story into 10 chapters, and then write a chapter a day. Researching and organizing took more time than the writing itself. I find I have to write before the rest of the house is up. I can't write when things are too busy. One thing I try to keep in mind is that we are called to use our time wisely.
One of the girls (Mrs. P. note: I don't have the name down)
Have you liked writing since you were young?
I would write stories when I was young.
Francesca:
What is your favorite movie?
I have so many favorite movies, but I would have to say, A Man for All Seasons about the life of St. Thomas More
comment from Clare
My aunt and my grandma have some shoes made out of wood that belonged to my great uncle. (note from Mrs. P.--I think we have a photo of this to upload)
Lilly
where were you born?
I was born in California, but I grew up in Virginia
Were Magdalen and Cecilia real?
Yes, there were, and the things that happened to them in the book really happened.
What was the age for engaging or joining religous order?
young teenager
Clare
How old were Kat and Kitty?
At the time the book is set, they were about 10 years old
Kat became a nun. Her religious name was Sister Theodosia. If you ever get a chance to go to Emmitsburg, her grave is in the first row of nuns in the cemetery. She died in 1832.
Francesca
Did Kitty ever become a nun?
She went back to New York. She was the only one of Elizabeth Ann Seton's daughters to survive to adulthood. She later did become a nun, but not in the order Mother Seton founded.
Lilly
How old were you when you started to write?
4th grade
Mrs. P. A number of the girls enjoy writing. Any advice for budding writers.
Write as much as possible. Make your stories up as you go. I have an 8-year-old daughter who wanted to write about a mermaid, but she just kept writing and writing until it became 5 pages. Don't worry about the spelling and the grammar, but write for the fun of it.
Question from a girl:
Who is your favorite author?
Agatha Christie
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