Anne Neuberger
The creative life involves plenty of rejection, said writer Anne Neuberger, a 68-year-old grandma who belongs to St. Cecilia in St. Paul. But it flows from her spirituality and a sense of duty. “Writing is something God has called me to do,” she said.
Q) How have you kept in touch with your out-of-state grandkids?
A) You get creative with Facetime. We’ll play a game of hide-and-seek. If a child gets a hold of the camera, I just have to close my eyes, I get so dizzy. I keep a pile of books to read to them — some that I read over and over again as a child, like a Swedish series about triplets named Flicka, Ricka and Dicka. They’ve very simple, but the pictures are lovely. They’re about children who make decisions to be kind and to help people.
Q) Do those old books come back to you?
A) I’ll look at the pictures and think, “Oh, I remember feeling a little scared by that image, where they’re in the basement looking for a missing cat.” Immediately, those feelings come back. It’s like connecting with your old self.
Q) How do you find writing fodder?
A) I grew up in a family of storytellers. When someone starts talking, I just start asking questions.
Q) “Two Days and One Suitcase” is a children’s chapter book you wrote about the Japanese internment camps in the U.S. during World War II. The title alludes to the short notice Japanese-American families were given when uprooting their lives to move to these camps. I’ve been thinking of that title as we see images of Ukrainian families fleeing, often with a single backpack or suitcase.
A) Do they contain treasured photos? Or is there only room for important documents? How does a parent decide which of their child’s precious stuffed toys to bring? These people did not want to leave and do not know when they can come back or if they will be back. They must pack a whole life into a suitcase and carry it along with their fear and sadness.
Q) Your book was inspired by the wartime experience of Helen Hannan’s family and has won multiple national awards. That must’ve been gratifying after self-publishing it.
A) It was rejected 19 times. What I find the hardest is that the field has narrowed so much you can’t even send it off to many places. You have to have a literary agent for many of them, and getting an agent is almost impossible. I’ve had my low moments where I question whether I should even be spending the time writing. But I really wanted to do this for Helen.
Q) How did it feel to make the leap to self-publishing?
A) I just had this feeling that my ability to write is a gift, and we should use our gifts for the greater good.
Q) It was a sense of duty.
A) Yeah. I’ve come to understand that I should not worry about sales. I just let the Holy Spirit guide what needs to be written and trust that it gets in the hands of people who need to read it.
Q) Looking back, are there upsides to having self-published?
A) I had more freedom. I wonder if an editor would’ve taken out pieces. In the beginning of the book, when they’re traveling under crazy conditions and they end up stuck in the car on the side of the road in great danger, two humongous men arrived and got them back on the road — at a time and place where nobody would’ve been coming. It’s not explainable if you don’t put the angel spin on it. That could’ve gotten cut.
Q) You’ve written a number of picture books about the saints. Which saint would you like to write about next?
A) I’ve written a story about St. Martin de Porres that’s gotten rejected numerous times. That makes me sad because I feel like he has such a story to tell. He could really relate to animals. That’s a way for children to feel connected to him — to hear how he helped a turkey with a broken leg and calmed a bull. His whole life was affected by racial prejudice. Any child could connect with him on the animal level and then they could see that this nice person, who they like, was hurt by other people who thought he wasn’t as good as they were — and they know he’s as good as they are.
Q) You’ve also created resources — including puppets — to introduce kids to Catholic social teaching, available on your website, anneneuberger.com. What sparks your creativity?
A) I always have too many projects going on! I think part of it comes from my childhood. My mom and her friends were very creative and very supportive of each other’s creativity. They didn’t work outside of the home, so they could schedule their days in a way that they had time to be creative. One day my mother got a call from her friend Mary Anne who said, “I finished my quilt!” My mom said, “Come show me!” In five minutes, she had it laid on the bed. She’d embroidered each state bird and then quilted it. My mother took a long time to look it over and talk with her and appreciate the beauty of it.
Q) What an act of love! And what an incredible quilt! What squelches our creativity today?
A) We’ve become so busy. I also think commercialism has a lot to answer for. I’ve known people who made beautiful baby blankets when a friend or relative has a baby. But now people have fun going to a store and buying something for a baby.
Q) What do you love about being Catholic?
A) I love rituals and symbols. My childhood was immersed with Catholic imagery and symbolism. As a first-grader, Sister Claude Marie told us we should make sure we leave room in our desk seat for our guardian angels. I think I have this sense that there’s another world that’s nearby. And I love that piece of it.
Q) What’s your go-to prayer?
A) I really like the litanies. My favorite is the one you do on All Saints Day. I used to think the rosary was too long, and that you’re just saying it over and over. When COVID hit, there were so many difficult pieces to it. I decided the best thing I could do was pray. But I couldn’t pray because I couldn’t focus, so I decided to start saying the rosary. There are days I decided that was the best I could do. I’ve gone back to saying a daily rosary — even if I can’t focus on it. I believe the act of wanting to pray is a kind of prayer.
Q) What do you know for sure?
A) That there’s an afterlife. And I have to tell myself now, because of how bad things have gotten, that love and good do always win.
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