We are so excited to announce the launch of Betsy Vereckey's podcast tour. Podcasters will be talking with her about her newly released memoir, Moving to My Dog's Hometown. You'll have a chance to read more about the author in our interview and enter to win a copy of the book for yourself.
Before we get to that, here's more about the book:
Betsy Vereckey was thirty-seven and newly divorced when she rerouted her life from New York City to a tiny town in New Hampshire she knew virtually nothing about . . . except that it was her dog’s hometown. A lot of people switch up their lives after a divorce, but only a dog lover would drive a rental car north with just a duffel bag and a Glen of Imaal terrier named Ronan in the backseat.
While Betsy’s decision to move to Hanover was motivated by a desperate need for change—along with the fact that Mercury was no longer in retrograde and she’d been offered a “garden” apartment she could almost afford—sometimes challenging circumstances and a cosmic hunch lead you right where you’re meant to be.
From the author of the essays “How my dog helped me find love again” (Newsweek) and “This recipe is the best thing I got from my divorce” (Washington Post) comes a relatable, funny and inspiring memoir for anyone feeling stuck in life. As Betsy discovers in writing these stories, taking a leap of faith to find your personal authenticity isn’t wrong—it’s the key to happiness.
Purchase a copy of Moving to My Dog's Hometown on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.org. You can also add it to your GoodReads reading list.
About the Author, Betsy Vereckey
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Betsy Vereckey is a journalist, memoirist and astrologer who lives in Vermont with three very opinionated terriers in an old farmhouse. Her debut memoir, Moving to My Dog’s Hometown, is about an impulsive decision she made in her mid-30s to move to Hanover, New Hampshire, a town she knew nothing about--except that it was the town where she and her ex-husband adopted their dog Ronan. The book was published in January by Rootstock Publishing, a small press based in Montpelier, Vermont. It is a Kirkus-recommended pick, and the Vermont Weekly Seven Days called the book “a feel-good story with some bite.
Betsy started her career as a 24-year-old reporter writing for the Associated Press in Athens, Greece. Her personal essays have appeared in the highly competitive New York Times’ Modern Love column, The Boston Globe, Food & Wine, The Washington Post, and New York Magazine. Her Modern Love column was chosen by comedian/actress Abbi Jacobson to read on the NYT Modern Love podcast.
Betsy is the daughter of a Hungarian immigrant, has been a vegetarian since she was 7 years old, and grew up near Youngstown, Ohio, home of the best pizza you’ll ever have. She is an avid birder and volunteers at the Center for Wild Bird Rehabilitation at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science.
Betsy is also a practicing astrologer and has written numerous essays on astrology, including one for The LA Times about what it was like to do her mother’s chart, decades after she died. You can find her on Substack as Moonlight in Vermont.
Find her online at:
--- Interview by Nicole Pyles
WOW: Congrats on your memoir, Moving to My Dog's Hometown. There's so much I love about your memoir. Can you tell us why you decided to write a memoir about your experience?
Betsy: I was 36 and going through a divorce when I started working on this memoir, a time when many of my friends were settling down and having babies. Writing was my therapy (and cheaper than seeing a therapist)! I wasn’t sure that anything would make sense in my life again. I was working in a dead-end job writing insurance copy for a marketing agency and throwing all my money into my Brooklyn apartment, which was infested with mice. They were everywhere—even in my oven. Well, you know how the saying goes—bad for real life but amazing story material. If I didn’t find the humor in it, I probably would have gone crazy.
I decided to move to Hanover, New Hampshire, a college town that I knew nothing about, except that it was where my now ex-husband and I had adopted our dog Ronan. I moved in with an older retired couple who were suffering from empty nest syndrome, and they became my surrogate parents. We had the best time playing “Jeopardy!” I had only expected to live in New England for six months or so until I moved on to something better, but it's been almost 10 years, and I’m still here and loving it. So, I think my memoir is an exploration of how and why this random decision ended up working out for me.
WOW: What a scenario! I love how that turned out for you. And you basically lived out a daydream of mine, and that is moving to a random city to start a new life. What gave you the courage to take such a drastic step in changing your life?
Betsy: I had no other options? I’m kidding, but I think there’s actually something to that! If one thing had worked out for me (a date, a job, an apartment), I’d probably still be living in New York City. When everything goes to hell, you really have no choice but to start over. Also, when you change one thing, it becomes a lot easier to keep on taking chances. Once I quit my job, it wasn’t long until I left the city. I really had nothing to lose, and I was tired of sleeping with one eye open to fend off the mice. Plus, I had big dreams of having my own washer and dryer.
WOW: Ha! I think there is a LOT of truth to that statement. This is certainly not your first rodeo in terms of writing. But what was different writing a memoir in comparison to other types of writing you've done?
Betsy: I workshopped my memoir with a wonderful editor named Joni Cole at the Writer’s Center of White River Junction in Vermont. I met with a writers’ group every Thursday night. It was collaborative and creative, and far less solitary than how I used to work. I think I will always be in a writers’ group from now on. I find that it helps me pull a draft together much faster.
I also felt like I had more freedom on the page when working on my memoir (hello, swear words!) than if I were writing a personal essay that would appear in a newspaper. I feel like people always say this, and I never believed them until I experienced it myself, but the best part of writing a memoir was actually writing it. In addition to divorce, there were other setbacks in my life I was desperate to make sense of—my mother’s death, for example—and writing a memoir helped me find some peace.
WOW: Memoir writing can be absolutely healing. As you look back, what lessons would you have wanted yourself to know, whether it's a life lesson or a writing lesson?
Betsy: Sometimes, you can’t think your way out of things; you just have to act. I think I hesitated to leave New York because I was paralyzed that I would make another wrong decision, but you actually can’t move on if you’re just sitting around doing nothing. I think the same lesson applies to writing. More often than not, you can’t write the story in your head. You have to handwrite in a journal and put some words on the page and get out of your own way so that your subconscious can take over.
WOW: Great advice! What would you say to authors who aren't sure their lived experiences are "memoir worthy"?
Betsy: Great question. I wrote an entire book about living in a stranger’s house, so I bet your lived experience is a lot more exciting than mine! Any story that completely transforms you is worth putting on the page. I have found that some of the best stories are in the mundaneness of everyday life. By going smaller, you can actually go bigger. Often, it’s not the story itself that matters; it’s how you tell it.
WOW: I completely agree. Where do you like to write? Any photos you can share?
Betsy: Sometimes, I’ll go to King Arthur Bakery, which is right down the street, but usually, I write at home. My husband and I live in an old farmhouse, and my office is in a small one-room building next to the house that used to be the former owner’s carpentry studio.
His family buried his freaking ashes under the floorboards after he died, so I like to think he’s my spirit guide. I have three Glen of Imaal terriers who never fail to steal all the good spots on the furniture, so I’m normally at my desk, which is right in front of a big window.
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Sometimes, I’ll see an owl or a hawk. Once, I saw an otter, but I’d love to see a bear or a moose walk past one of these days. A girl can dream.
WOW: How fun! You have great writing company. Thank you so much for joining us today.
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***** BOOK GIVEAWAY *****
Enter the Gleam form for a chance to win a copy of the memoir Moving to My Dog's Hometown by Betsy Vereckey! The giveaway ends May 3rd at 11:59 pm CT. We will randomly choose a winner the next day. Good luck!
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