Meet Michael Lajoie | Historical Fiction Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Lajoie and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I started seriously writing in 2018, following a conversation I had with a good friend. We had been driving along the New Hampshire coast, talking about our lives and our futures and our dreams. My friend asked me what I would do for the rest of my life, if I could do one thing and only one thing. Immediately, writing was the answer that came to mind. I had wanted to be a writer for a while, but I had never pursued it because I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it full-time. I deferred my dream to pursue something more conventional—but I was unhappy, and eventually I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I allowed myself to focus fully on my writing, and it’s the best decision I ever made.
I don’t write full-time—but I am writing, and that makes me happy. I cook five days a week at a restaurant and write my stories on the side. I write short historical fiction, with hopes that my stories will make people feel spoken to and heard. I write for the purpose of writing, and for the purpose of connecting with readers. Having the opportunity to do both is an extremely humbling thing.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My stories are full of symbolism, meaningful dialogue, and many deeper themes. My first book, The Summit by the Sea, explores an unexpected friendship between a Native American girl and a colonial Christian outcast. My second book, As Way Leads onto Way, showcases the power of resilience and optimism during the Great Depression. My latest book, Street Signs & Shaded Goodbyes, was inspired by love and loss and grief. All three of them take place in New England, at different points in history. They’re short novellas (around 100 to 150 pages).
My main goal as a writer is to connect with the people who experience my work. If I can write a story that makes someone feel heard and seen and spoken to, then I’ve done what I set out to do. Getting feedback from readers is one of the most rewarding parts of being an author. The strength of that reader-writer connection is intimate and international. The fact that a reader from Europe or Australia can be just as impacted by my stories as a reader from New England is absolutely mind-boggling to me. It’s an extremely humbling thing.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
New England is central to all three of my stories—especially in terms of its connection to nature and history. There are countless forests to explore, mountains to hike, and shores to ramble alongside. It’s an outdoor-lover’s paradise. The White Mountains serve as the backdrop for my first two books. I was raised on the New Hampshire coast, so the Atlantic Ocean shows up quite a bit, too. Nature has a healing, grounding quality to it—and my characters tend to find peace there. That’s a pretty consistent theme, through all my stories.

Historically-speaking, New England is one of the oldest areas of the country. My latest book, Street Signs & Shaded Goodbyes, was written in the restaurants and coffeeshops of coastal Maine and New Hampshire. It takes place in September 1950, but it was all based on the experiences of a writer wrought with grief in 2021. Street Signs & Shaded Goodbyes is a love letter to the places I’ve called home—but all three of my books pay tribute to this area’s longstanding historic legacy.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’m beyond grateful for the support of my friends and family, and for the many writers that have inspired me to write. I’m grateful for the works of Antoine de St. Exupéry, Henry David Thoreau, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway. Their books captivate me each time I experience them, and their stories encourage me to persevere on my journey as a writer.

Website: https://michaellajoieauthor.com/books

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Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/writeon218

Other: Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20748600.Michael_Lajoie

Image Credits
Jake Doucette