Interview Questions for Nicole about The Invisible Woman

1. The book is subtitled A Special Story for Mothers, and judging from the comments we’ve heard, a lot of mothers can really relate to the story.  Why is it that mothers, especially, are prone to feeling invisible?
   
   Mothers are making incredible sacrifices every day. And a sacrifice, by its very nature, is almost always invisible.  If people saw and appreciated everything you did and affirmed you for it, it wouldn’t really be a sacrifice, would it?  But to keep working for something you believe in, and doing things just because they need doing, is what mothers are all about.  So it’s only natural they are going to feel invisible a lot.
   
   
2. Do you think this feeling of invisibility only applies to mothers or do other women experience it as well?
   
   All women experience this feeling. If the beauty of invisibility is found in sacrifice, then every woman who sacrifices is going to feel invisible now and again.  In her work, or in her home, or even in relationships, a woman who puts others ahead of herself in order to show them love is going to feel at times like no one sees.  I wanted to help women realize that is normal, and that to feel invisible means that she is doing something great, not that she is really disappearing.
   
   
3. One of Charlotte’s notes reads, “Invisibility is not inflicted upon me; it is a gift to help me truly serve.”  How does that work?
   
   In writing the book, I became convinced that invisibility is love’s greatest costume, given to its choicest of servants when they are truly ready to serve.  Invisibility can increase our effectiveness when we aren’t caught up in doing things so the right people see. I think it was one of the Roosevelts who said something like ‘any man can change the world if he doesn’t want the credit.’ Invisibility can also increase our internal self-worth in that we can know that our motivation was pure and even sacrificial in the doing.
   
   
4. How can we help to “illuminate the sacrifices of others who are invisible to the world”?
   
   When we are suffering our eyes are open to suffering like never before. Or when someone we love has cancer, we begin to see all those around us who are battling the disease.  So we can point out the sacrifices we see that are invisible to those around us.  We can shine the spotlight on those that are truly serving that no one else sees.  Some people think that that might change things if the world saw, but for those that serve regardless of who sees, it won’t change anything, but will bring deep encouragement and affirmation.

<>I had the great privilege of visiting Paris and Florence last fall and I fell in love with many Cathedrals, but St. Chappelle really captured my heart.  It’s so small and so delicate and by size is dwarfed by Notre Dame. It might even be overlooked on a tour if it wasn’t for its magnificent windows. I wrote about them in the book, but the windows alone took almost a decade to complete.  I don’t know that the artisans ever saw their creations in finished form in the cathedral.  For people alive in that age, it was the Bible in picture form.  That’s very inspiring to me.