Do not mistake Sara Paretsky for her creation.
Where Warshawski is physically strong–a runner, capable of holding her own with violent miscreants–Paretsky has severe back problems. These prevent her from sitting up for more than an hour or so at a time (she spent part of our interview lying on a sofa) and have put her well behind schedule on her next book.
BM: Were you a Presbyterian at the time?
I decided to retool myself and got an MBA, and I worked for almost ten years for CNA Insurance. Corporations–their favorite employee is a middle-aged man with a severely ill child, because he can’t quit. And as soon as they have an employee who seems to have either other sources of income or other interests, they can’t deal with it.
SP: [Laughs.] On theirs, I think.
SP: Well, I’ve been writing since my very earliest childhood. But it wasn’t until 1979 that I started to work on what became my first book. I think it’s strange to look back. I mean, your perspective on yourself changes as your life situation changes. I suppose I could look back and say, “I should have known that I was always a writer,” but it’s something that I did just very privately–I had no concept of writing for publication. Twice in my life [before the Warshawski books] I submitted things that I had written, but the rest of the time I was really writing for myself.
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SP: Yes, and it took a long time to find a publisher. When it did, I was an unknown and they were taking a big gamble on me, and it was a very small run. Now Delacorte, my hardcover publisher, is going to do a new edition of it. It seems funny that this book that nobody wanted is going to get this new send-off. It makes me very happy, because of course your first book is very special to you.
