MARGARET DILLOWAY

  • Rejection Junction, What’s Your Function?

    A long time ago, back in 2005, I had a different novel with a different agent. It was the first novel I’d written. It’s about a pop star who falls in love with an Army Airborne Ranger. Go Army! Anyway, most everyone said it was well-written, but it did not sell. Why? People had a…

  • How do I embarrass thee? Let me count the ways…

    A big thing these days with Elyse is how much Dad embarrasses her. She is 11 and in middle school, so this is to be expected. I admit, Cadillac does love telling a corny joke, and he does love her over-the-top reaction when he tells these jokes. “Make him STOP, Mother!” She throws her head…

  • Butter Time!

    To make butter, you put heavy cream in a jar and roll it around for 20 minutes. This is why it’s a good kid activity. Except my kids got bored. Then I had to finish it. Also, make sure the jar is watertight. The first jar I used leaked and it was not pretty.

  • The 30 Something Lady and the Sea

    The pool pump at our complex broke. It broke early in June. Such a pool you have never seen– huge and saltwater, until this year everyone called it “Hawaii Kai’s public pool,” because everyone and their sister had a key. Then they changed the locks and the pool became blessedly uncrowded. We used the pool…

  • Publishers Weekly Review

    Dilloway splits her narrative gracefully between mother and daughter (giving Shoko the first half, Sue the second), making a beautifully realized whole.

  • Cloning Husbands

    Since cloning is still far off and even more ethically questionable, what if you had multiple husbands? Don’t you wish that your husband could multiply himself, so he could simultaneously install tile while he is at work?

  • The Two-Faced Barbarian and the Gator Gar

    The American Alligator looks like a gator gar. They can kill you with an attack called the death roll. It tears off the spot of its prey it got in its mouth.

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  • Author Statement

    My mother’s childhood world was unknown to me, growing up in a mostly white San Diego suburb in the 1980s. Japan of the 1940s and 50s existed only in her stories, in black and white photographs printed on cardboard stock. There were grim-faced girls in starched uniforms, weary adults in kimonos on temple steps in…

  • Kirkus Review

    Kirkus, one of the four big trade reviewers, reviewed my novel. I’m really happy with it! Here’s the full review. A Japanese war bride and her American daughter lay bare family secrets and heal old wounds in Dilloway’s poignant debut. At the end of the war, 18-year-old Shoko had to go to work so her…

  • Camping 101

    A couple of weeks ago, we ventured out camping with the kids. This might sound like a horribly bad thing to say as a mother, but I hate camping with the kids. In fact, I had never ever camped with the kids before, but I knew I would hate it even before I set foot…