• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
Women's Fiction Writers Banner
  • Home
  • About Amy Sue Nathan
  • About WFW
  • Amy’s Books
    • The Glass Wives
    • The Good Neighbor
    • Left To Chance
  • Amy the Writing Coach & Editor
You are here: Home / Guest Post / Debut Author Mia March Explains How Thanksgiving, Divorce, And Meryl Streep Led To Her First Novel: The Meryl Streep Movie Club

Debut Author Mia March Explains How Thanksgiving, Divorce, And Meryl Streep Led To Her First Novel: The Meryl Streep Movie Club

June 19, 2012 Leave a Comment

The first time I heard about The Meryl Streep Movie Club I thought, “that’s genius” and “lemme at that author!”  Now finally — I’m happy to present Mia March to the Women’s Fiction Writers community.  With insight, hindsight, and foresight, Mia wrote a novel about how movies can find their way to our very core and help us make us who we are.  And who we want to be.

Please welcome Mia to Women’s Fiction Writers!

Amy xo

How Thanksgiving, Divorce, And Meryl Streep Led To My First Novel

by Mia March

Ever had one of these Thanksgivings?: You’re in the kitchen with your mother and grandmother, and they’re sniping at each other over whether to put garlic in the mashed potatoes and who said what fifteen years ago, and all you want is for them to get along and remember why you’re all stuffed into this house on a Thursday night in the first place. Well, after that dinner and more digs about the dry-or-not drumsticks and who runs out of Diet Coke on Thanksgiving, my mother and grandmother and I sat down in the living room to watch a movie: The Bridges of Madison County, starring my favorite actress, Meryl Streep, and my mother’s favorite actor, Clint Eastwood. Some two hours later, popcorn consumed, credits rolling, my grandmother commented on the choice that Meryl Streep’s character makes at the end of the film. The discussion we had, from that one comment, changed everything.

My mother and grandmother went from barely speaking, full of silly resentments and old feuds, to opening up. To really talking. The question: should Francesca Johnson, married but deeply lonely Iowa farm wife originally from Italy, run off with Robert Kincaid, National Geographic photographer, with whom she fell deeply in love after a four-day whirlwind love affair when her husband and children were off at a state fair in the summer of 1965. Or, should she stay where she was, with her husband and two teenaged children. Our responses to her choice, and the whys, engendered a conversation that truly changed our relationship.

Fast forward ten years later to me on my couch with a bunch of rented Meryl Streep movies. I was going through my divorce and planned a weekend with tissues, popcorn and my favorite actress, whose incredible range was represented by the films I rented. The hilarious (but very poignant) Heartburn and Defending Your Life and Postcards from the Edge. The exquisite, life-affirming, soaring Out of Africa, my favorite Meryl Streep movie. One True Thing, which made me love Renee Zellwegger. That weekend, I laughed for what seemed like the first time in months over Heartburn and Defending Your Life. Out of Africa reminded me why I was going through this divorce in the first place and to strive, always. Film after film, Meryl Streep’s breathtakingly beautiful face, breathtakingly talented performances, made me think, made me cry, made me laugh. But most of all, Meryl Streep made me believe in her every expression, every line she uttered. I felt stronger after that Meryl Streep movie marathon—stronger, more whole, ready for next in a way I hadn’t been before.

And I started thinking about that Thanksgiving ten years earlier with my mother and grandmother, how we watched The Bridges of Madison County and how it got us talking, opening up, sharing, hugging. How it changed our perspective about a number of things, changed our relationship. I sat down at my laptop and typed the title dead center: The Meryl Streep Movie Club, then Chapter One below it, and characters were right there: a fractured family of women who are brought back together through the surprising and heartfelt and sometimes angry discussions engendered by watching the films of Meryl Streep, their difficult family matriarch’s favorite actress.

When I think about this, the two-fold inspiration for my novel, I’m always amazed by how watching a movie had such a impact on me and my family’s relationships and how it changed the way we watched movies together from then on. If my mother and grandmother hadn’t been arguing over whether to put garlic in the mashed potatoes, we might not have watched a movie at all; we tended to watch movies as a family as a way of not talking, of sitting in a darkened room and not engaging for two hours. But after that night, watching movies together became an event—choosing the film, what kind of food we’d have for our own “dinner theater,” and the hours-long discussion afterward.

I have Meryl Streep to thank for this. For decades of making me think, cry, laugh, and believe. For inspiring my novel, for inspiring me. She’s truly a gift. Just as movies are.

Has watching movies had this effect on you? Got you talking, got you thinking, changed your perspective on something?

Mia March lives on the coast of Maine, the setting of The Meryl Streep Movie Club, which Kirkus Reviews says is “a heartwarming, spirit-lifting read just in time for beach season.” The novel will be published in over eighteen countries. Mia’s next novel, Finding Colin Firth, will be published by Simon & Schuster in the summer of 2013. For more info, please visit Mia’s website at www.MiaMarch.com. You can also friend her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MiaMarch.author and follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/March_Mia

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Filed Under: Guest Post, Meryl Streep, Mia March, The Meryl Streep Movie Club, Women's Fiction, Women's Fiction Author Tagged With: Meryl Streep, Mia March, The Meryl Streep Movie Club, Women's Fiction, Women's Fiction Author, Writer Mom

Previous Post: « Women's Fiction Author Brenda Janowitz Says: Use Editing As Your Path To An Elegant Story
Next Post: Debut Author Sarah Healy Says That When Someone Dismisses Women's Fiction, It's A Personal Challenge To Write Books That Can't Be Dismissed »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. RamseyH says

    June 19, 2012 at 12:23 am

    This is really interesting! I honestly can’t think of a movie or an actor that’s affected me in such a way. A book? Yes. (The Brothers Karamazov.) But I’ve never had a film move into this life-altering category.

    Reply
    • Mia March says

      June 19, 2012 at 11:13 am

      Books have had the same effect on me too. Those are my keepers, the ones I reread–lots of those!

      Reply
  2. Normandie says

    June 19, 2012 at 6:27 am

    Love it. I’m with her. My breakthrough came watching Diane Keaton. No, she’ll never be the fine actress that Meryl Street is, nor as beautiful. But my daughter took me to see First Wives Club just after her father decamped, and that got my fists in the air, helped me see that I’d been Diane’s character–and that I never, ever wanted to be her again. Movies and books can do that for us. Give us a snapshot of ourselves or of our possibilities and help us move from then to now. Oh, and watching Meryl in Mama Mia! right after my daughter and I saw the Broadway production? Coming off that movie high, I wanted to go take dance lessons and loose twenty pounds.

    Reply
    • Normandie says

      June 19, 2012 at 6:28 am

      Oops. Mean Meryl Streep. Need to have an edit button or be a better proofreader.

      Reply
    • Mia March says

      June 19, 2012 at 11:15 am

      LOL, exactly! I love how movies can do that, and affect us all so differently. I love Mamma Mia! I’ve been a huge fan of Diane Keaton forever too.

      Reply
  3. katmagendie says

    June 19, 2012 at 6:29 am

    What a wonderful warm and interesting idea/thought/process for what sounds like a beautiful book — !

    Reply
    • Mia March says

      June 19, 2012 at 11:16 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  4. Melissa Crytzer Fry says

    June 19, 2012 at 9:24 am

    I LOVE Meryl Streep and can see just how a movie-thon would open up dialogue between family members. This is a great portrayal of the actress’s abilities: “Meryl Streep made me believe in her every expression, every line she uttered.” And I do think movies have the power to inspire the written word/affect change.

    What a wonderful book, Mia. Sounds delicious. Congrats – 18 countries and counting!

    Reply
    • Mia March says

      June 19, 2012 at 11:17 am

      Thanks so much. Meryl is truly amazing. I recently watched She Devil (I might be the only person who adores this movie), and even playing a zany over the top character, you see how much she puts into role. Thanks again!

      Reply
  5. Julia Munroe Martin says

    June 19, 2012 at 9:40 am

    I love the way you came up with this book idea! And it’s wonderful that great movies (and a great actress) could inspire you while bringing you around and bringing your family closer. Such a wonderful testimony to the healing power of creative work! Congratulations on your wonderful success — and glad to “meet” another Mainer!

    Reply
    • Mia March says

      June 19, 2012 at 11:18 am

      Thanks, Julia!

      Reply
  6. Densie Webb says

    June 19, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    I’d buy it for the title alone! My 17-year old daughter asked me not too long ago, if I could meet a famous actor, who would I choose. Without hesitation I answered, Meryl Streep. Went to your website and read the first several pages. It’s now on my to-read list. Congrats!

    Reply
    • Mia March says

      June 19, 2012 at 3:16 pm

      Thanks so much, Denise! I would absolutely choose her too.

      Reply
      • Mia March says

        June 19, 2012 at 3:16 pm

        Make that Densie! 🙂

        Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Get Updates by Email

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.

Award-winning 2015-2018

Search for a post

Posts by Topic

Secondary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

My Novels





Copyright © 2021 · Women's Fiction Writers Blog

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.