Author Yearbook

AY Talks Back

We were thrilled to have some time to chat with Dorothea S. McArthur, PhD, who is involved in the 2012 Author Yearbook.

Author Yearbook: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?

Dorothea S. McArthur: I did not know that I wanted to be a writer until after I had written my dissertation, and became first author for the Roberts Apperception Test for Children.  I was in the shower one day washing my hair.  Suddenly the main commandments and permissions in Birth of a Self in Adulthood arrived.  I felt as if I had been hit in the head by an earthquake.  I shut off the shower water and wrote down what had come into my head.  I took these notes to my own therapist the next day.  He listened and then said, with great intensity, “You have to write this book.”  I also felt a need to write it because I was raising an adopted daughter that belonged to someone else.  Writing this book helped me to decide what I wanted to do to parent this child effectively.

Love Beyond Love became a unfolding memoir over the past twenty-eight years about open, closed and cooperative adoption, with the research and parenting I needed to learn to handle my daughter’s understandable special needs as an adoptee.

Defining Moments also was another surprise.  I thought I was just writing separate unrelated assignments for the LongRidge Writers’ Course.  The basic theme, title and potential audience came to me in the middle of the night after I had written about seven essays.

All this makes me feel that my creativity has a mind of its own.  It is my job to simply  obey with trust and without question.  I just let it happen and evaluate it later.

Author Yearbook: Tell us about your work and how that ties into your goal to get out your books:

Dorothea S. McArthur: My work as a therapist gives me fodder for my creativity  with experiences to write about.  The books I have written teach me and force me to consolidate my thinking in a way  that allows me to deliver better psychotherapy to my clients.  Each book becomes an added resource for my clients.  Every book allows me to reach many more people than I could ever reach in a life time as a therapist.

Author Yearbook: Do you have any special things you do when writing?

Dorothea S. McArthur: I take a half hour walk in nature every day.  I work in silence.  I try to capture the creativity as soon as possible even if that means postponing something else.  I write when I have an open hour that is not scheduled with a client.

Author Yearbook: What is your greatest challenge as a writer?

Dorothea S. McArthur: Doing the publicity and marketing afterwards.  Believing that it will be worth my time to put this book out there in the world.  Believing that I can manage the social interaction as well as the writing.

Author Yearbook: What is your greatest reward as a writer?

Dorothea S. McArthur: Allowing the joy of the creativity to come through me and be used to make something worth keeping and sharing with others.

Author Yearbook: What do you do when you are not writing?  Any hobbies or special interests.

Dorothea S. McArthur: I love succulent plants and cacti.  I collect them on a south porch full of sun.  I combine them together into intricate designs.  I tend them and watch them grow, honoring the strength of nature.  I sit with them in the warmth of the sun and draw them

Author Yearbook: What is your favorite childhood memory?

Dorothea S. McArthur: Sailing a boat alone on Lake Champlain in a strong wind.  Managing to bring the boat safely back to the dock.

Author Yearbook: What are you working on right now?  What can we expect to see from you in the future?

Dorothea S. McArthur: I am still completing Love Beyond Love. I have ten more years to go before this book will be fully complete because it takes most adoptees until their mid forties to comes to terms with their adoption. I also hope to co-ordinate with an organization that works for the rights of children to make Tomorrow’s Child available to the Congress, family, and community.