When you have been asked in every single media interview you’ve done for decades, “How do you do it all?” (cringe, guilty as charged), you might think there’s an easier way to answer the question. To address a lot of questions, in fact.

I Have a Love Story, a personal history written by fiddling superstar Natalie MacMaster, provides answers to many of the questions journalists and fans have about the musician and her family, husband and fiddling luminary Donnell Leahy and the couple’s seven children. The book (from MacIntyre Purcell Publishing Inc., with 160 pages), is beautifully designed with a generous number of colour palettes. These tell a vivid story of their own, as do the family recipes that are included. Overall, MacMaster offers an in-depth look at her family and spiritual life, and musical career.

In the end, you’ll know a lot more about how MacMaster juggles so much, so well. You’ll also understand her need to write about enduring, uplifting love in its many forms.

MS: When did you decide to write a personal life story?

NM: The idea came to me seven years ago, after a conversation with my mum about some bad news in Cape Breton. I was shocked, then I was feeling so down about the future of my kids. I knew I had to elevate love [over despair]. I wrote the story in the last three years.

MS: Would you call your book a memoir?

NM: It’s not really a memoir. It was something I had to get out of me. I wrote my heart out. I feel the beauty of the world so much and I wanted to pass it on.

MS: You are a musician. How did you find the writing process?

NM: Well, I wrote it on my iPhone, with my thumbs! I don’t have a computer and I don’t type. I’d write whenever I could in the daytime or even in the middle of the night. Donnell was so supportive and the ongoing support of my publisher was crucial. The editor helped me find the bigger, better picture of my whole life. That was so important.

MS: Your book is a love story—a love of family and music, but also a love of Cape Breton, your parents, the early years in music and your fellow musicians, from Cape Breton and around the world. How did you feel as you were writing the book?

NM: I felt all sorts of things. I felt the drive to write the story. It went beyond anything I’ve experienced before. I felt a burning love to get the story written, and also to express a love of the moment. The story is a testament to what I’ve been shown in my life. It’s also a positive view of marriage and motherhood, which have been such good experiences for me. I wanted to share that.

MS: You homeschool your children. How do you find that experience?

NM: The homeschool world in Lakefield, Ontario, is awesome, so supportive. I also have a BA in Education. And we live on a farm. As the kids get older there’s farm work, caring for the animals and music lessons. I split the teaching responsibilities with a retired teacher. I’d pick the homeschooling option again in a heartbeat.

MS: Do all the children play music?

NM: Yes. Fiddle, piano and other instruments, and they step-dance. Our two oldest, Mary Frances and Michael, are performing with us in up to 75 shows a year [with the other kids on stage less often]. Clare and Julia love to sing. Alec gravitates towards the drums, fiddling and step-dancing. Sadie dances, sings, plays piano and fiddles—in her own adorable way. Maria, the youngest, has started on the fiddle, piano, dancing and singing.

MS: How would you describe Donnell’s fiddling style?

NM: Donnell is very acrobatic on the fiddle! He has perfect control and virtuosity and gives a very physical performance. When he’s on the stage, he’s on fire.

Music has given me a passion; it stirs my soul and challenges me. I believe Donnell and I wouldn’t be together without music. Or [that I’d have] my kids. Music fuels my creativity, my love, my everything. It’s been my lifelong companion.

MARJORIE SIMMINS is a journalist, author, and teacher who specializes in personal narratives and biographies.