Season 4 Ep. 85 The Bones of a Marriage Laid Bare with guest Christina Consolino 4-14-21

There is a pop psychology theory about left brain and right brain dominance from the 1980s. Supposedly those with strong right brains are the analyzers and those with dominant left brains are the artists. In this scenario, it is a rare person who is lucky enough to have both sides of their brain work harmoniously; their logical and scientific right brain plays nicely with the creative and imaginative left brain. Our guest this week, debut novelist Christina Consolino would be one of those people. Christina grew up creating stories but also loved to read biographies of famous female scientists like the first female physicians in the United States; the Blackwell sisters. She loves to read fiction but decided to make a career in science by pursuing a PHD in physiology and teaching it at the college level. Like a lot of writers, the characters she created in her head wanted to come out; when they got louder, she knew it was time to embrace the life of a full-time author.

Christina’s first book which came out in March is called Rewrite the Stars. It is the story of a military veteran’s PTSD and the havoc it has wrought on his marriage. The reader gets both his version of events, as well as those of his estranged wife, Sadie.

Christina talks to us about how her experience as an editor gave her confidence to write her novel, what disease her veteran character originally had instead of PTSD through 3 drafts until she decided it just didn’t serve her story well, and what name she calls her favorite teaching skeleton.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:
1- Rewrite the Stars by Christina Consolino
2- The Value Tales series
3- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
4- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
5- The Sisters Blackwell by Janice Nimura
6- Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
7- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
8- Washington Black by Esi Edugyan (audiobook)
9- So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
10- She Wouldn't Change a Thing by Sarah Adlakha
11- Sophie's Choice by William Styron
12- How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior
13- A Polar Affair by Lloyd Spencer Davis
14- A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
15- Where'd You Go Bernadette? by Maria Semple

Online magazines mentioned--
1- Literary Mama

Movies mentioned--

1- Write Before Christmas