This month, Joyce Maynard’s highly anticipated new book is out, “How the Light Gets In”. It is the sequel to “Count the Ways”, and it shares the growth of her beloved character Eleanor as she returns to New Hampshire. “It basically says everything I wanted to say about marriage, parenthood, divorce,  raising children, growing older, and learning forgiveness, which was a big one for me.” Maynard explains.

The New York Times best-selling author says she still considers New Hampshire her home. Maynard grew up in Durham, and she is proud to say she can still vote in New Hampshire. For many years, Maynard wrote about home life in her syndicated newspaper column during the 80’s and 90’s called Domestic Affairs. “It was really about the life of my family, raising children and being in an imperfect marriage, like most marriages, and ultimately a marriage that ended.” Maynard explained.

Through enduring hardship and learning from loss, Maynard’s voice has grown stronger in her novels and writing workshops. Maynard still has dreams, and she hopes her readers and students feel less alone. Writing about real things that are difficult to talk about is important to Maynard.

“I grew up in an alcoholic family, and we never talked about that in my family. I felt very alone growing up in a family where my father got drunk every night. I didn’t know that there were other kids whose fathers got drunk or mothers got drunk. I thought I was the only one on the planet who had that story. I hope that my writing makes people who read my work feel less alone. That’s my goal.” Maynard shared.

“I think one of the themes of my work and an aspect of my work that I am proud of is that I talk about the things that a lot of people don’t feel able to talk about. I know very well where that came from. I want to be real and say, ‘This is me.’ The column was very much me saying, Here I am not having it all figured out. In an ongoing way, I have presented the picture of myself or my characters being such people. People who have made mistakes and who have sometimes made unwise choices usually have their hearts in the right place, but they might put their foot in their mouth and stumble and fall and make terrible mistakes, as we do.”

Maynard returned to New Hampshire to host a Mothers & Others Memoir Retreat in the peaceful town of Greenfield. Maynard has rented the nearby Lakefront Barbara Harris Conference Center for aspiring writers, “Which is basically like a summer camp for adults with little cabins.”

Maynard says she finds continued inspiration from the women she meets in her workshops. “Thirty some years of teaching memoir to women has taught me so much about women’s lives and families lives, and has expanded my understanding of all the different things that can look like. It is always the people I meet. More than anything, I am inspired by the people I have known. The little fragments of their stories make their way into my novels.” Maynard said.

After raising three children, the balance of motherhood is something Maynard understands and reflects on in her writing and groups. “I think one of the things for women is to give themselves permission to have a dream. Women are so focused on the dreams of their children and making their children’s dreams come true. That it can be hard.”

Maynard explains this dilemma through the dialogue of the character in her New Hampshire based novel Count the Ways, where the wife feels irritated because the husband is going off to play sports on a Saturday morning, and she says, ‘When do I get a morning off?’ And he says to her, ‘You wouldn’t know what to do with a morning off if you had one.’

Joyce Maynard at her summer cabin in New Hampshire.

“Actually, my ex-husband did say those very words to me when we were married and our children were very young. It felt like a harsh thing for him to say, but he was also probably right. I had been giving to children for so long that if you had given me a morning and said do what you want, I think I would have been paralyzed. I probably would have chosen to go organize their legos or something.”

How can someone who is so dedicated to others find their own dreams again? “For mothers who are going through the stage of reevaluation. It is a moment when your children are going to be gone soon.” Maynard says. “You have given the best of yourself to them for a long time, and it is kind of now what? Now it’s your turn.”

In this special way, Maynard also helps keep dreams alive by helping women become more empowered through their writing. “What is more important? I feel very lucky that I have done work that I love all my life. There were times when it was very hard to support my family doing that work, but I would never have traded to be doing work that didn’t bring me joy and fulfillment. That was my big hope for my children, and I think they are all doing work that matters to them.” Maynard shared. And this passion is what her new novel is about.

After her children were grown and gone, it took years for Maynard to reclaim a sense of what she really wanted. “I am still working on it. Because those patterns, even after we aren’t taking care of children, are very deeply ingrained- in taking care of somebody, and that is a lot of what Eleanor’s story is about. She takes care of everybody but herself.”

The cover art of Maynard’s new book is a painting by her dear friend and New Hampshire artist, Daniel Thibeault. “Danny is a really wonderful New Hampshire native artist. I feel very lucky and proud to have his work on the cover of my book.”

Now, Maynard lives in northern California, but every summer she comes home to New Hampshire to spend time with her daughter and her lifelong friends. When she thinks of New Hampshire, Maynard instantly smiles and fondly thinks of swimming, lilacs, and a dirt road with grass growing down the middle. “That is my favorite kind of road. I live on such a road.”

Maynard says she misses the seasons in New Hampshire most of all. “I get to have summer. That’s the easy one. It’s almost cheating to come for the summer. I love the spring, and I really love the fall. My house is not winterized, but I have a Rinnai heater. I miss winter and miss snow. I miss the kind of joy you feel about spring that is only possible if you have suffered through the winter. It’s a very Yankee mentality that you have to earn the spring.”

Maynard loves to ice skate and tries to include skating in her novels. “I don’t skate on rinks. I am a pond skater. There are times that I have been tempted to just get on a plane when I hear that the ice is good. It is such a thrill for me.”

Maynard says she loves New Hampshire summer corn and swimming in the lakes and rivers. “I am a swimmer. I swim every day in the summer. I keep my swimsuit in my car at all times during the summer and my skates in the car during the winter.”

Maynard finds a great deal of inspiration from New Hampshire, and there are certain traditions and places that she continues to enjoy. Some find their way into her novels. One of her favorite places is the waterfall in Gleason Falls in Hillsborough. “I used to walk there every single day, and my character Eleanor walks there every day.”

One favorite family event is  The Gilsum Rock Swap. “In this tiny little town, on one weekend at the end of June Mineral Hounds come from all over the country and they sell minerals and they also trade them. I used to bring my kids with a bucket of rocks that they had gathered and they would trade them successfully. The Mineral Hounds were always so nice to us.”

She has fond memories of Adams Point in Durham on the Great Bay finding horseshoe crabs and visiting the White Mountains.

Maynard is also a big lover of the Monadnock Region and Mount Monadnock, and the lesser known places. “I really love Keene, and the main street in Keene.” Sometimes it takes time to heal and come home. Through reading and writing, Joyce Maynard fans can experience comfort and healing like only a fellow New Hampshire native can understand. What a gift. What a gem. And, we made it to summer.

Joyce Maynard is the best selling author of twelve novels, three memoirs, and countless articles and essays.

More from Joyce Maynard

“How the Light Gets In” is available, here.

Maynard will be at the Toadstool Books in Keene on July 19 at 6 p.m. Click here for tickets.

She will also be at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord on July 23 at 6:30 p.m. Click here for tickets.

For more information on Maynard’s Mothers & Others Memoir Retreat, visit her website.