Interview with Sue Buyer and excerpt of ALL THINGS IN TIME

ALL THINGS IN TIME (Atmosphere Press, November 15, 2020)

Before anyone cared, before Gloria Steinem and #metoo, ambitious women – a rare breed in the workplace of the 1950s and 60s – were forced to jump hurdles men didn’t face. Nina Silver and Betty Cooper, two of these trailblazers, had little in common and met only once, yet a mysterious death tethered their paths for decades. All Things in Time is the story of these two feisty women in the post-WWII years: their careers, and their personal lives, calculated and otherwise.

Written with rare and wise perspective by the 90+-year-old Sue Buyer, a Vassar College and Columbia Journalism School graduate, the book builds on first-hand observations and experiences in the newsroom of a metropolitan, large-circulation paper. After decades as a professional writer, Buyer has written her first novella.

With both mystery and romance, All Things in Time will appeal not only to those who enjoy a page-turner, but readers who want a glimpse of nostalgia or are curious about the role of women in the workplace of yesteryear. The novella will also appeal to anyone looking to curl up in a nice chair with a good read on a rainy day.

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We are delighted to feature this Q and A with Sue Buyer and an excerpt of ALL THINGS IN TIME !

How did your childhood impact the writer you’ve become?

Actually it didn’t influence me at all. I was brought up to be a civil engineer – most unusual for a girl at that time.  My father was an engineer and saw that as by far the best career one could have.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

Several years after I graduated from college, I was working as a secretary.  One day, I was eating my lunch while working – apparently what we now call multi-tasking – and my boss walked in and said if you want to do two things at once, you should go be a newspaper reporter. I’m not sure I followed his logic, but that was the seed of the idea and, in fact, for the next several decades I wrote for the Buffalo News.

 How has writing changed you as a person?

It keeps me speaking in short sentences.

 Can you tell us a bit about ALL THINGS IN TIME? What inspired you to write it?

Snow outside and now, I am too old to ski. I  needed something to do to keep me out of trouble.  I drew from my own experience as a woman newspaper reporter in the 1950s and 1960s. I am quick to inform all my readers that I drew from my experiences but the story is not autobiographical, it’s fiction.   I always enjoyed reading Agatha Christie and other mystery series written by women and thought why not give one a try?  As the book evolved, it became a bit less of a mystery and more about the character development and the fun challenge of interlinked story lines.

What would be your 6 word memoir?

I have had a good life.

 What is the best writing advice you’ve ever had, and the worst?

Best advice:  Write about what you know.

Worst advice: As a female reporter, know that you will never get the exciting or really interesting assignments.  All this meant was that I had to go out and find them myself. 

What is your writing process like? Are you a pantser or a plotter?

Definitely a plotter – I would get into bed at night thinking about the story and the plot. If I woke up in the night, I would think more about it and then, in the morning I would add it to the manuscript. Later I would reread it to be sure it all made sense. Turns out that not all plot twists conceived at 3:00AM plot are really inspirations.

 Do you need a special place to write?

Yes – where the computer is plugged in..

 Are you part of a writing community or a writing group?

Nope – just me typing away…

 What is your experience with social media as a writer? Do you find it distracts you or does it provide inspiration?

I’m 92 – my experience with social media is 1) I spend no time on it and 2) friends and children who do can waste an enormous amount of time. I would rather spend my time reading newspapers, books, and magazines, both online and the old fashioned way, in hard copy.

What are you reading currently?

Just finished Erik Larson’s The Splendid and The Vile and am about to pick up Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill.

 

Chapter 1
THE ASSIGNMENT
1950

Miles away and earlier that morning, two hunters had telephoned the Cattaraugus County sheriff to tell him that as they set out that morning, they had found the body of a tiny infant in an otherwise empty lidded plastic pumpkin, abandoned near the start of their path into the woods. At first, they assumed some child had lost his trick-or-treat loot in what must have been a heavy wind on Halloween, the month before. Expecting to find frozen candy, they lifted the lid and peeked inside.

They were shocked to find the body of a tiny infant wearing diapers and a shirt. There was no question that the infant was dead and had been for a while. Stunned, they stood for half a minute and then quickly agreed to drive back to the last store they had passed, a pharmacy about a mile back. They had to ask what county they were in before they knew what sheriff to call.

The sheriff, John Simpson, always looking for publicity, then called the Buffalo Gazette before setting out to the scene. Al Mrozak, the Western New York editor of the Gazette, called the darkroom and talked to photographer Mike O’Neill, the first photographer who had made it in to the office that morning. Mrozak instructed him to go to the site and take a reporter along. Like all the photographers, he had snow tires on his car.

“Mike, I need you to drive down to Cattaraugus County. Take that new reporter, whose name I can never remember, with you. I hope she can handle this. She’s only done obits, city briefs and the garden club column since she came, but she’s all I’ve got here now. The story can’t wait until someone experienced comes in. We’ll fill in later. She can get us a paragraph or two. I want those photos ASAP. Take the one Gazette car with the telephone.”

“Okay. Just where am I going?” Mike asked.
“Two hunters found an infant’s dead body early this morning in the woods near South Dayton. Get a map. Call the sheriff’s office for directions. Find the place. Get going and take that girl with you. Silver. I think that’s her name. Let’s hope she doesn’t faint when she sees a body.”

Then Mrozak called Nina to his desk. “Silver,” he yelled as she was taking off her coat. Maybe, she hoped, she’d be given an interesting assignment because so few people were in the office that day.

“Yes, sir,” the five-foot-two, curly haired brunette in the heavy ski sweater responded.

City editor Mrozak explained to Nina, “Two deer hunters found a baby’s body in the woods this morning just after dawn. Their hike into the rural Cattaraugus County hills came to a halt when one of them spotted a large plastic pumpkin wedged against the limb of a fallen tree. They picked it up, lifted the lid and were horrified to find the body of a tiny infant.
“I’m sending you out with Mike O’Neill, one of our photographers, on what may be this baby’s murder.

It has to be a quick turnaround. O’Neill will get pictures of the site where they found the body. I need his photos as soon as humanly possible. Get what more you can from the cop at the site while Mike shoots pictures. Talk to anyone you can and describe what you learned. I’ll get more details later when someone else gets here. What I need from you is the available information. Take anything the cops will tell you. The hunters, I gather, went farther into the woods as soon as the police arrived.

“I just need a few paragraphs. This paper has one car with a phone. Mike will drive it today. There’s nobody else here yet, and I need this story ASAP. Since driving may be slow, I want you to phone in as Mike drives back. Have you got boots?”
“Yes, sir. I walked to work this morning in boots and a long, warm toggle coat.”
—

Sue Buyer was graduated from Vassar, then a women’s college, in 1947. After a summer at the University of Zurich, she returned stateside and worked for several years in secretarial jobs. With encouragement from her then-boss, she attended the Columbia School of Journalism, where women comprised fewer than 10% of the class. Upon graduation, she went to work at The Buffalo Evening News, where she remained for 27 years, and married a fellow reporter. Fast forward to the present, she recalled her newsroom experiences to write this story. She currently lives and writes in Western New York.

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing