Caroline Leavitt's Blog, page 102

Nicola Rooney of Ann Arbor's Nicola's Books talks about favorite books, building community and so much more!

I bumped around a lot in college, transferring three times, once for a failed love affair, and the next time because I wanted to be in Ann Arbor. I went to Brandeis for two years, then decided that a small college was not for me (there was something about coming down to breakfast and having all 2,000 of the students know what I had down the night before and with whom that got me). I had a friend in Ann Arbor and went to visit and the day I did, I had the same visceral reaction I would later have years later when I finally moved to Manhattan. I knew I belonged. I graduated from the University of Michigan and I stayed there for a few years. Ann Arbor's a culturally enriched community and when i was there, it was filled with bookstores. It still is, and one of the best is Nicola's Books.  I'm honored to have Nicola Rooney, the owner, here, talking to me! Thank you! And visit Nicola's Books online or in person at 2513 Jackson Avenue, Ann Arbor. (734) 662-0600.





Tell me about all the changes that have happened in Ann Arbor in terms of books! 

In book terms, the closure of Shaman Drum, and then the bankruptcy of Borders, combined with Barnes & Noble's apparent strategic decision to concentrate on electronic rather than paper books leaves Nicola's Books as the only bookstore in Ann Arbor carrying the full range of genres.  My thought is that the lack of bricks & mortar stores in Ann Arbor, particularly downtown, has driven many people into the clutches of  Internet bookselling.   Buying your books on the web is convenient, but it inevitably leads to a narrowing of the types of books you read.  You tend to search for what you know about.  It is hard to find a book or an author that you didn't even know existed, whereas in a bookstore your eye can be caught by a display, or a bookseller can introduce you to a book you had never heard of. 

A few years ago, the major source quoted by readers for where they got their book recommendations was the bookstore.   Now the major source is word of mouth from friends, most of whom are suggesting backlist titles that they have read and liked.  Social media and other web based sources are growing slowly, but are still a small part (about 12%) of the total picture.  What is missing is the source of information about front list - newly published books, which is where a good bookstore excels.  This ought to have the publishers worried - how are new titles going to be publicized and promoted if bookstores are not there to perform that function?   We have seen a significant increase in business since the closure of the three Borders superstores in Ann Arbor, but by only a small fraction of the total volume that Borders was selling.  Where have those book buyers gone?  On-line, or do they not buy books at all any more?

Our store has expanded sections such as poetry and literary fiction as a direct consequence of the closure of Shaman Drum.  Our magazine selection has grown in response to requests from customers.  We continue to expand our Children's Department, to keep up with customer preferences, but non-fiction other than Biography and History are still declining.   Our inventory is sales driven - if books continue to sell, we continue to stock them.  We bring in a wide variety of titles, but half the books we sell in a given year sell only one copy, so we keep our inventory wide in order to offer variety to our customers, and we operate a reordering system that aims to maximize the chance that the title you want is actually on the shelf.   We do still special order titles that we have not got in stock, and many of them arrive within 2 days, so we can get the more obscure or older titles that our customers may request.


Your store is such an integral part of the community. Can you talk about that, please?
We have always tried to support schools with fundraising through book fairs, both in the store, and by taking books out to the schools for parents and students to buy.  We have taken many authors in to schools when they are on tour promoting a new book - our ideal author visits one school in the morning, one in the afternoon, and then comes to an evening event at the store to achieve the best coverage for publicity and sales opportunities while they are in town.  We bring books to events at the Libraries in Ann Arbor and surrounding towns, and to author events sponsored by other organizations of all kinds.  In some cases, we have been collaborating with annual events for many years.   We have been active in supporting both the Kerrytown Bookfest, held every September since 2002, and the Ann Arbor Book Festival, which is currently reinventing itself.  I served on the Board of Washtenaw Literacy, a local adult literacy non-profit, for 10 years and we still fundraise for them by matching the value of donations of customer loyalty coupons, and by offering a percentage of sales to them if a customer requests it.  We hold regular information sessions for potential tutors in the store, and we sponsor their annual fundraising auction.   Our store is also the meeting place for writers groups, for book clubs and Master Gardeners lectures.  

Getting more bookstores into a community is not easy.  Readers have grown so comfortable with buying on line, or downloading into their devices that they have neglected to realize that a bookstore has to turn a profit to continue to exist.  Bookstores are not libraries.  Bookstores are not supported by local taxes.  Bookstores offer employment to local people, and hopefully generate a return on investment to the owner.  Staring a bookstore is a major investment, and a risky one.   Until readers accept that if they want to have a wide range of authors to choose from, and a guide through the increasingly cluttered world of self published books, then they have a responsibility to take their book business to the place that provides those services - a bricks and mortar bookstore.  On-line sellers give nothing back to the community, they don't care about your personal book preferences and they cannot provide the same joy of discovery that is easily achievable in a bookstore.  If book buyers do not value the features that a bookstore offers, then bookstores will continue to decline - that's free market economics in action.

Every author I know always wants to know, how can we do our part to have the best author event ever? 

Our preference is to minimize the reading part, and maximize the conversation part.  Few authors are accomplished readers in our experience.  Leaving time for in depth Q&A is important for us, and we think that our audiences appreciate that part of the event. Having more than one author at an event can be tricky, unless the two authors know each other well, or are at least similar in stature.  It can be uncomfortable if your authors are not well balanced, if one is clearly more compelling to the audience than the other; then it needs a sensitive moderator to keep things under control.  Discussing the process of creating a book, from the actual writing to the difficulties of getting a manuscript accepted, seem to be of interest to many audiences at our events.

Which three books are you currently pressing into everyone's hands? 

I tend to read fiction, and I read many books that are good plain vanilla stories, no surprises, no rough patches, nice comfortable good reads that don't jolt or disturb your view of things.  The ones I really like are the ones that do not follow the predictable path, the ones that I go back and re-read - sometimes many times.  My old favorites include Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason, both intriguing stories paired with masterly use of words and definitely not predictable.  My all time favorite is Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond series, but I think I've sold that to all my customers who might like it!
  
My current ones are:

Deborah Harkness'  two books in the "All Souls" trilogy, "A Discovery of Witches" and "Shadow of Night" - not your usual style of vampire novels.  The vampire in question is a professor at Oxford conducting research into the evolution of the four species, humans, witches, daemons and vampires, from a common ancestor.  Study of blood groups and mitochondrial DNA is essential of course.  So is time travel to Elizabethan London, training in alchemy and intimate friendships with Marlowe, Shakespeare, Dee and Raleigh to name a few.  These books are great for Ann Arbor -  the author is a respected academic whose field of study is the development of science and medicine out of witchcraft and alchemy in Elizabethan Europe.   The combination of the author's intellectual stature and historical expertise with the commercial popularity of witches and vampires is a heady mix ideally placed to broaden the reading range of members of a University town that can take itself a little too seriously at times.   (I have a PhD in Engineering from Cambridge, so I feel qualified to challenge the academic ego once in a while!)

The Art Forger by Shapiro - a novel examining the art world, and asking questions about the definition of great art, both modern and historical; authenticity, is forgery ever justified? are the best forgers the ones who have not yet been outed, when does duplicity spill over into criminality?  It's an unusual combination of a good entertaining read, combined with the posing of some questions worth pausing to examine with some care.

Garden of Evening Mists by Eng.  Set in Malaysia after the end of WWII, when unrest and guerilla activity was still fairly common, the book perfectly evokes the spirit of an oriental brush painting, then contrasts it with memories of the brutalities of the war. Without ruining it, I cannot describe the final resolution of the novel, but to me it seemed absolutely in keeping with the mood of the narrative.  I am recommending it to anyone who will appreciate the writing and the conjuring up of a time and place that few of us have direct experience of, but which gives the reader a feeling of absolute authenticity. 

I have a movie option!

I know the siren song of the movies. I've had about five options on my novels, and all of them fell apart. For three days, Madonna wanted to make INTO THIN AIR her directorial debut, and then she went off on tour. I had LIVING OTHER LIVES about to go into principal photography, with a script written by an Obie-winning writer, when the director vanished. I almost had a deal for Pictures of You, but then the actress interested went off to do a studio-funded film.

I started writing my own scripts, and I got into the first round of the prestigious Sundance Screenwriting Lab! They pick 12 next month, and though I am not holding my breath or crossing any fingers, it's still exciting.

High Infidelity was a piece I wrote for Victoria Zackheim's anthology, THE OTHER WOMAN. About murderous shrinks and betrayal in love and friendship, it garnered a lot of attention, and got me on The Today Show twice! It's option by Wishbone Films, which tickles me, because I used to write Wishbone books, which includes Tracey Becker, whose Finding Neverland (with Johnny Depp) won an Oscar, Andrea Monier and Julie Eringer.

I am so completely thrilled.

I know it takes forever for films to be made--if they are made--but I also know that dreaming is a whole lot of fun.

The fabulous Abby Frucht talks about her new story collection, The Bell At The End Of A Rope, being--or not being--strange, writing, publishing, and so much more

I knew and loved Abby Frucht's work before I  knew and loved her.  Fruit of the Month, Licorice, Are You Mine?, Life Before Death, Polly's Ghost--all are books that are dog-eared from rereading. Abby's won two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, A New Voice Award from Quality Paperback Club,  and several citations for notable books from the New York Times. She also teaches in the MFA Writing Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. I'm so jazzed to have Abby here on the blog today. Her new collection The Bell at The End of a Rope is spectacular--and so is she.  Thank you, Abby.


What I loved so much about this collection was the strange, eerie quality, that reminded me of your novel Life Before Death. So I have to ask about your world view. Have you always seen the weird side of life?
When I first read this question I thought: What she’s really asking is, Am I strange?  (Caroline: For the record, I adore Abby and I gravitate to these things, so this question is actually a high compliment.) So I asked some of the people who know me best, “On a scale of one to five, with five being the strangest and one being the most normal, how strange am I?”
My friend Kathleen, who I love FOR her strangeness, rated me a 1.  “You’re not strange at all!” she said.  “You’re a great mother, you have a good job, you dress well, you drive safely (I was in the process of driving her to Madison when she said this, she being not a safe driver at all,) and you’re a great friend.  You even came up with a name for my new stuffed pink dog.”
I next asked my son Jess, whom I admire for his groundedness, his reasoned forthrightness, and his ability to tell me roughly how much money my ex husband has made in the stock market.  He rated me a 4, citing what he called my intelligence and my “unfilteredness.”  Because  “Unfilteredness” is not a word he ordinarily uses, I assume it emerged from a conversation he had with his fiancée last week after I met her parents for the first time. 
When I asked my son Alex, who is unusual in several ineffable ways, he said promptly that I am a 3.8, but when I asked him to explain, he said, “I don’t know,” and, knowing him well enough to know that if I asked again, he would only grow impatient with our telephone call, I didn’t ask again, after which he promptly surprised me by asking when I was coming to visit.
Finally I asked Chuck, with whom I have lived for twelve years. “You’re not strange,” he said.  “What do mean I’m not strange?” I said.“Oh.  Would you rather I said you were?” he said.I pretended I didn’t hear that question, and he didn’t ask it a second time.
The only other way that I can answer this question is that it always interests me when people respond to what they call the weird things in my stories, since, to me, a lot of the things aren’t weird at all, they’re normal.  My sister Liz understood this best when she rated me a 3, explaining that most people are 3’s because most people are weird.  I aruged that didn’t make sense, because if everybody were a 3, being weird and being normal would be identical, to which she said, “Yeah, that’s what I’m saying.”
You’ve written both short stories and novels--is the process different for you? Do you prefer one of the other? Or since, these wonderful stories are all sort of linked thematically, does it feel like writing a longer piece of work?
 Aside from the stories all having something to do with childhood, the links didn’t make themselves known to me until just a few years ago when I began to compile them into a book, at which time I realized that my childhood neighborhood and many of my childhood friends, neighbors, babysitters, family members and pastimes were included in them.  Once I realized that these links were present, I played them up a little in revision, not in hopes of creating a book of linked stories, since of course this book is not, but rather to bring myself, and my reader, nearer emotionally to the world out of which the stories emerged. They were written over a period of nearly twenty years, during which time I wrote three novels which have nothing to do with each other.  I don’t have a preference as to writing novels or writing stories.  It’s an equal opportunity struggle for me to write one or the other, and there is equal enjoyment..  What I DO enjoy struggling most over are the individual sentences, no matter of what they are a part.
The collection is so unexpectedly funny even as it deals with really serious issues--the death of a spouse, for example. But I also love the language. In Choir practice, Emily signs her letter “your fateful friend,” which is actually more accurate than if she had used the word faithful. Have you always been attuned to the frisky possibility of language?
 The other day I asked Chuck if he could explain the meaning to me of a dream I had had the night before.  I loved the dream and was scared by it but I didn’t have a clue what it meant. I told him that in the dream we were walking in a place that is like most of the places in the dreams I have been having lately, a place both inside and outside, a forested, verdant landscape studded with architectural elements like columns and archways and doorways guarded by rabbits.  In this particular dream, Chuck and I were walking, and a beautiful but unfamiliar wild creature that in the dream was understood to be a lion kept leaping out at me and nibbling gently at my hand, and when I looked at my hand there was a large, gaping hole in it that went all the way through to the other side, but it didn’t hurt and there was no blood.
Chuck said, That’s easy. You were dreaming about Ike.
Ike was our dog who died a few months ago.  He was a golden retriever.  He looked like a lion, and I often used to say to him,  “You’re a ly’in on the bed!” or “You’re a ly’inon the floor!”  He made me and Chuck whole, but now that he’s gone there is a hole in us.  When I used to cry, Ike always came up and sat near me. The foster dog we now have is at this moment entirely oblivious to my crying, and she is not a ly’in on the pillow. She is a foster dog on a pillow.  This doesn’t mean that I won’t someday fall in love with her, Chuck says…and when I tell her I love her, she believes that I do, and at this point, that’s what matters.
 I want to ask about your publisher, Narrative Library, which is part of Narrative Magazine--which I love. Their tagline is “storytelling in the digital age.” So, I have to ask, what was the experience like and how did it differ from working with traditional publishers? 
Editorially, the experience I’ve been having with Narrative Library is every bit as good and as warm as the best of my editorial experiences with more conventional presses. The people at Narrative have been on top of everything and have taken me through five or six readings with three different people.  They’re really in it for the labor of love aspect…and they would be the first to admit that they can offer comparatively little by way of conventional distribution and sales, which is something I’m happy enough to live with, given that I haven’t ever made a sales splash anyway.  Since they’re in it for the love, and since I am too, I know that we won’t disappoint each other. 
What’s obsessing you now and why?  
My sister, Sylvia was just named a judge by the governor of New Mexico (The reason I didn’t ask her to rate my strangeness is because she’s in the middle of all that right now)  and what’s obsessing me is precisely how I will make it to the  swearing-in ceremony and still make the trip I was supposed to take with Chuck and his son and daughter-in-law before going to teach in Vermont this winter.  I WILL  manage, I’m sure, but I hate logistics and making travel arrangements and thus I tend to obsess over them.  Other than that, physical exercise is always at the top of my list.
What question didn't I ask that I should have?
As Alex might say, there are 3.8 of them but I don’t know what they are.

Eileen McGervey at One More Page Books talks about books, wine, chocolate, being part of one the Most Well Read Cities, and so much more

One More Page books not only offers every book you could ever possible want, but wine, chocolate and so much more. It's my pleasure to host them on my blog! Thank you so much, Eileen McGervey,    for letting me badger you with questions.

OK, you had me at being a bookstore, but you also offer wine, chocolate and gourmet foods and tastings, too! When did that start and what a perfect pairing!

I  figured if I was going to open a store, it should carry my three favorite things -- books, wine AND chocolate.  They go hand-in-hand. We've offered all of these since the store opened in January 2011 and it's been great fun. People are always stopping in to grab a bottle of wine for dinner or some chocolate to satisfy a sweet tooth. We host monthly tastings so that our customers can get together and sample new flavors. We're always looking for unique gourmet foods and wine.

I love the hilarious bios of all of you who work at One More Page Books, which makes me know that when you are working at a job you love, in a place that nurtures you (and others), it's never work. I'm on a mission to try to get someone to open a bookstore in Hoboken, where I live (we have only one used bookstore), and have offered to work there a few hours a day free in return. How tough do you think it is to open a bookstore these days and what are the secrets to keeping it alive and thriving? It's very true -- it doesn't feel like work. There are challenges, of course, but all of us on staff love books and love being in the store.  I feel so fortunate to have opened One More Page in a community that 1) is so well-read and 2) supports local businesses. Customers are always constantly telling us how happy they are to find an indie bookstore in the area. We keep up with what's going on in the book world and we stock books that fit our customer base (especially fiction, histories and foreign-based mysteries). This holiday season, we'll even offer e-readers because we want to encourage people to read -- in any form. Partnering with schools, hosting author visits -- which bring in people who may never have found us otherwise -- as well as book club discussions and fundraisers have been key to our success.

Can you tell us about Small Business Saturday?
Small Business Saturday is a wonderful campaign that started in 2010 to encourage people to shop at their local independent stores during one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year. There are so many reasons to shop locally! For starters, it keeps more dollars and jobs in the community, nurtures entrepreneurship, and even helps the environment. This year, Small Business Saturday will be held on Saturday, November 24 and One More Page will be offering some special discounts!
Alexandria's been named one of the most Well Read Cities? How do you account for that and what can other cities do to catch up?The Washington, DC area is chock-full of educated, informed, well-traveled, interesting and curious people who love to read.  There are great schools and universities here, good jobs and a vast arts culture -- all of which attracts bibliophiles.
I also love that you have a Young Writers Group, for kids as young as 9, which promotes a love of writing and reading, without making kids feel like its homework. I'd love to know more about that, as well. 
We're so lucky to have Sallie Lowenstein in our local area. She's a huge supporter of the store and of fostering a love of reading and writing in children. Every Thursday evening she meets with a group of kids and teens so they can share their writings and offer encouragement and suggestions.
What three books are you now pressing into everyone's hands?
It's so difficult to pick just three, but we love How Not to Read by Dan Wilbur, The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe, and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

Lisa Chavez, at One More Page Books talks about books, wine, chocolate, being part of one the Most Well Read Cities, and so much more

One More Page books not only offers every book you could ever possible want, but wine, chocolate and so much more. It's my pleasure to host them on my blog! Thank you so much, Lisa for letting me badger you with questions.

OK, you had me at being a bookstore, but you also offer wine, chocolate and gourmet foods and tastings, too! When did that start and what a perfect pairing!

I  figured if I was going to open a store, it should carry my three favorite things -- books, wine AND chocolate.  They go hand-in-hand. We've offered all of these since the store opened in January 2011 and it's been great fun. People are always stopping in to grab a bottle of wine for dinner or some chocolate to satisfy a sweet tooth. We host monthly tastings so that our customers can get together and sample new flavors. We're always looking for unique gourmet foods and wine.

I love the hilarious bios of all of you who work at One More Page Books, which makes me know that when you are working at a job you love, in a place that nurtures you (and others), it's never work. I'm on a mission to try to get someone to open a bookstore in Hoboken, where I live (we have only one used bookstore), and have offered to work there a few hours a day free in return. How tough do you think it is to open a bookstore these days and what are the secrets to keeping it alive and thriving? It's very true -- it doesn't feel like work. There are challenges, of course, but all of us on staff love books and love being in the store.  I feel so fortunate to have opened One More Page in a community that 1) is so well-read and 2) supports local businesses. Customers are always constantly telling us how happy they are to find an indie bookstore in the area. We keep up with what's going on in the book world and we stock books that fit our customer base (especially fiction, histories and foreign-based mysteries). This holiday season, we'll even offer e-readers because we want to encourage people to read -- in any form. Partnering with schools, hosting author visits -- which bring in people who may never have found us otherwise -- as well as book club discussions and fundraisers have been key to our success.

Can you tell us about Small Business Saturday?
Small Business Saturday is a wonderful campaign that started in 2010 to encourage people to shop at their local independent stores during one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year. There are so many reasons to shop locally! For starters, it keeps more dollars and jobs in the community, nurtures entrepreneurship, and even helps the environment. This year, Small Business Saturday will be held on Saturday, November 24 and One More Page will be offering some special discounts!
Alexandria's been named one of the most Well Read Cities? How do you account for that and what can other cities do to catch up?The Washington, DC area is chock-full of educated, informed, well-traveled, interesting and curious people who love to read.  There are great schools and universities here, good jobs and a vast arts culture -- all of which attracts bibliophiles.
I also love that you have a Young Writers Group, for kids as young as 9, which promotes a love of writing and reading, without making kids feel like its homework. I'd love to know more about that, as well. 
We're so lucky to have Sallie Lowenstein in our local area. She's a huge supporter of the store and of fostering a love of reading and writing in children. Every Thursday evening she meets with a group of kids and teens so they can share their writings and offer encouragement and suggestions.
What three books are you now pressing into everyone's hands?
It's so difficult to pick just three, but we love How Not to Read by Dan Wilbur, The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe, and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

Candace Walsh talks about Licking the Spoon, identity, food, and so much more

I first met Candace Walsh in person, in Manhattan, with her then fiance (and now wife) Laura M. André, at a little cafe--and we had a blast. She's warm, hilarious, smart, and one of the bravest people I know. Her memoir, LICKING THE SPOON is a different sort of memoir, about food and identity and how we come to be who we are. 
She's the managing editor of New Mexico Magazine. She edited Seal Press anthologies Dear John, I Love Jane: Women Write About Leaving Men for Women, (a Lambda Literary Award finalist) and Ask Me About My Divorce: Women Open Up About Moving On. Her essays have been published in the anthology Here Come the Brides, onSlate.com, and in the Santa Fe Reporter. She lives in Santa Fe with her wife Laura M. André, their two children, and two dogs.
Thanks, thanks, Candace! 

Food is such an integral part of our lives--I've always said I don't trust anyone who doesn't have a passion for food because it almost always means they don't have a passion for life. Would you agree? And can you talk a bit about your changing relationship with food?
I honestly can't think of anyone who doesn't have a passion for food. I'm sure they exist, but they haven't outed themselves to me. I can think of people who are very stringent about what they allow themselves to eat, but they simultaneously give off extremely lusty vibes of longing when they're presented with food. I once had lunch at a restaurant with one of those types. She allowed herself to have a piece of chocolate cake because it was her birthday--and she proceeded to make such loud, orgasmic noises as she ate it that it was a little bit embarrassing. 
My relationship to food is always evolving. In the same week that I crave something familiar, like red and green chile-smothered huevos rancheros, I'll also be on a tear, trying to master the art of macarons. When I'm on vacation or not working full-time, I have the bandwidth to try lots and lots of new recipes in a row. But if I'm working full-time (as I am now), I'm thinking about getting my family's basic needs met, quickly and nutritiously, and then I save up my adventurousness for weekend or once-a-month excursions into new recipes and cuisines. On the one hand, cooking is an art form. On the other hand, it's like filling a gas tank. And in the middle, there's lots of room for inventiveness and enjoyment.
What was it like writing a memoir? I so admire the bravery in this memoir! Were there ever moments when you felt you were revealing yourself too much--or not enough? 
It was rather terrifying and also very exhilarating. When I think about how it felt, the image of being at the prow of a ship as it pushes through the ocean comes to mind. I definitely had moments when I regretted choosing to write my story in the form of a memoir and not go the thinly veiled autobiography route. I've put super-intimate stuff out there, because why bother writing a memoir if you're going to be cagey and occluded? It seemed to defeat the purpose. I've always respected the advice of writing teachers, like Tanya Taylor Rubinstein and Theo Pauline Nestor, who encourage writers to write the most cringe-inducing material that they can think of. You may not end up including it in your book--heaven knows I left a lot on the cutting room floor--but when there are elephants in the room of a memoir writer, the reader can feel it and it doesn't inspire them to stick with your story. 
I sometimes flip through my book and get a bit of an "Oh, crap," feeling, when I think of all of the nodding acquaintances who read the book and now know disproportionately intimate things about me. It just comes with the territory.
In terms of not revealing myself enough, I guess the one thing that surprised me was that I thought I'd be more forthcoming when it came to writing about sex. When it came right down to it, I decided that I didn't feel comfortable going into too much detail. I have small kids; I didn't want my exes, or my wife, to feel overly exposed. And I'm glad that I followed my gut. 
I also loved the very matter-of-fact way you wrote about the fluidity of sexuality and how you found your true love, your remarkable wife. Can you talk a bit about that?
The evolution of my sexuality was very matter-of-fact. When my marriage was ending, I said to myself, "I think I'll date women now." Of course that was preceded by a big same-sex crush, and a kind of falling in love with the idea of being in same-sex relationships. It seemed like a fantasy land of mutual empathy, making Caesar salads together every night, listening to Tracy Chapman, hiking, edgy piercings and tattoos, being far away from the stiflingly normal world of middle class married heterosexuality-with-two-kids. 
My relationship with my wife, Laura (we got married in October of 2010) has nothing to do with piercings, tattoos, or hiking (she hates hiking). We do like Tracy Chapman but never seek her music out, per se. We live a very middle class life with our two kids, and the only difference is that I don't find it stifling. It doesn't feel stifling because I am so much happier partnered with a woman that what used to feel like drudgery feels a lot closer to butterflies and rainbows.
The book brings the reader through the journey a lot more specifically and with much more of an arc. When I was in kindergarten, I wanted to marry my best friend Stacy. As soon as I voiced that, I started learning how much pursuing that elemental desire would cost. It took me a long time to be strong enough to take it on, and surprise, it wasn't that big of a deal. I wish I'd been stronger, earlier.
You also went through eating disorders to now come to a very different relationship with food. Can you talk about that, too?
I definitely had an Eating Disorder Lite. On the one hand, my father pushed food on me--on all of us in the family. Seconds on dinner and dessert were very much a default part of every day. On the other hand, my mother was very judgmental of her own body and went on a series of fad diets. She also projected that onto myself and my sister. I wanted very much to keep the peace, so it made sense to eat as much as my dad wanted me to, then to throw it up so that I wouldn't get fat and disappoint my mother. 
As an adult, any time that I ate a big meal that made my stomach feel stuffed, I'd have a very strong desire to throw up (and I did so until I was 35). It was like my stomach was conditioned by those early experiences. But I didn't binge and purge systematically, or feel like I needed to be a size six or anything. 
The first time that I made myself throw up after I started dating Laura, I didn't tell her for two weeks. She didn't know that about me. But I noticed that it created a distance between us, perhaps one that only I noticed. I knew that if I kept on doing that, I'd be isolating myself from her, more and more. I didn't want anything to come between us, so I told her the truth and also told her that I'd tell her if I felt like I needed to make myself throw up, or if I had done it. She was very understanding and yes, empathetic. I've only slipped up one or two times in the last five years. It's much easier to just stop eating before I get too full. 
So without that rewind button, I've embraced exercise more, I've become more mindful of my eating, gotten in better touch with my body. It's been such a blessing to embrace healthier ways of being moderate. 
What's obsessing you now and why?
French macarons with floral or herbal flavorings. I made my first batch of rose macarons last month after tasting one from Laduree in France. It was like eating the sensation of smelling rose perfume on a beautiful woman's neck. I also want to make lavender ones, bergamot ones, violet cassis ones...
I'm also obsessed with the writing conference I'm teaching at March 15-17, the Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat, keynoted by Cheryl Strayed. It's at the Sleeping Lady Resort outside of Seattle, and other teachers include EJ Levy, Suzanne Finnamore Luckenbach, Ariel Gore, and of course, the visionary who dreamed it all up, Theo Pauline Nestor. I'll be teaching on the topics of how to write about sex and sexual identity; and how we can parlay our obsessions into memoir. Here's the link to find out more: http://bit.ly/VsNZ5K. 
What question didn't I ask that I should have? 
What's your next book going to be about? I would like it to be a work of fiction. I have an idea brewing, and it feels very seductive.  
Thank you so much for sharing my book and this interview with your wonderful, intelligent, and charming readers! I'd love them to to connect with me here: @candacewalsh on twitter, my writer page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WriterCandaceWalshon my website, candacewalsh.com. My book's website/blog is lickingthespoonbook.com. 

J. Robert Lennon talks about Familiar, rock and roll, his wife the fabulous novelist Rhian Ellis, and so much more

J. Robert Lennon is one of the most interesting writers around. Not only is his prose gorgeous, but his books are strange, eerie and unsettling in the best of all ways. FAMILIAR, his latest, about a woman who may or may not be leading parallel lives, just knocked me out. Adjectives like "genius," "brilliant," and more bubble up to the surface here. I don't know him, but I actually was thrilled to meet his wife in cyberspace about two years ago when I wrote a blog post about one of my favorite novels of all time, her AFTERLIFE.

The author of six novels (Light of Falling Stars, Mailman, The Funnies, On the Night Plane, Castles, and Pieces for the Left Hand), Lennon also teaches English and creative writing at Cornell. Thank you, thank you so much for coming on my blog and letting me pester you with questions!

I love books that cast you in this eerie, unsettling world where reality and non-reality blur. Elisa could be in a strange new world, or she could be suffering delusions, and the whole novel juggles this uneasy balance. How difficult was it to keep the reader off-centered?

Not too difficult, because I was off-centered while writing it! I honestly didn't know whether I was going to come down on the side of making it a "real" parallel world, a psychotic break, or something else. In the end, I enjoyed the uncertainty and decided that this was part of what the book was about. So I committed myself to not knowing.

As someone who loves anything that even vaguely smacks of quantum physics, I have to ask you about the parallel universe theory that crops up in the novel. What was your research like? Do you think such a thing is possible scientifically?

Well, Brian Greene not only believes it's possible, he believes all the possible universes exist, and are out there. I initially heard him talk about this on the radio show Radiolab, then I read his book on the multiverse. I read a few other books, too, and grabbed some more fanciful stuff from the internet. The science here is wonky, but based in present research--for instance, the vibrating flange experiment at Caltech which Elisa encounters is a real thing.

I also wanted to ask about the gaming details in the book, which were fascinating. You play or did you research? And what was the research like on that?

I'm interested in gaming, but don't really have the time to play many games. (This will change during my upcoming sabbatical, I hope: Portal 2 at last!) My kids are interested in games, though, and have done some hobbyist coding of simple ones, and this got me thinking. As research, I read Tom Bissell's terrific book Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter, and a lot of Silas's rhetoric about games consists of things Bissell argued, filtered through a rather arrogant and cynical fictional consciousness. Tom also proofread the game section for me and suggested changes, most of which I made.

Elisa’s second chance turns out to have surprising ramifications. Was this all planned out before you began to write or did it happen organically? And what’s your daily writing life like?

This is the least preconceived book I've ever written. Most of the stuff in it that's any good arose naturally during the many rewrites I did. My daily writing life is nonexistent at the moment, as I'm teaching and promoting the book--but on breaks I try to write a few pages daily. I've mostly been writing short stories this year--weird little things between 4 and 12 pages long. When I'm off from work, I generally write in the mornings and do other things in the afternoon--reading, taking photos, hanging out with my family, playing music.

Your wife Rhian Ellis wrote a novel AfterLife that I blogged about a while ago as being one of my favorite works of all times, that’s been reissued by Nancy Pearl. What’s it like being in a household of writers?

It's great. Rhian is my first and best critic, and we talk about books and writing every day. Our kids are great readers, too, and they are beginning to join in the conversations. Collectively, we have the approximate earning power of, say, a third-rate liquor store, but we have a good time together.

What’s obsessing you now?

Rock and roll! I'm in a band for the first time in many years--it consists of four writers and a lawyer. I don't want to speak too soon but this may figure into some writing I may be doing.

What question did I totally forget to ask?

A lot of people ask how teaching writing affects my writing. The answer is, I'm not sure. Teaching is time-consuming and emotionally demanding, but it also puts me in a position to have interesting discussions about books with energetic young people every day. On balance, it's a good way for a writer to pay the bills. As long as we have to have bills!

The incredible Megan Abbott talks about Dare Me, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, feeling slightly crazy and so much more

Come on, who doesn't love The End of Everything and Dare Me? Both novels are gorgeously written and filled with unease, dread, and yup, brilliance. I've admired Edgar-winning author Megan Abbott's work for years and when I saw she had befriended me on Twitter, I pounced and begged her to come on the blog. 

The End of Everything was on the Best Books of the Year lists from Publisher's Weekly, The Boston Globe, Baltimore City Paper and the Washington Examiner. Megan now teaches at the Crime Fiction Academy at New York City's Center for Fiction and her work has appeared in the New York Times, Salon, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Believer, and more. And, she's also the author of The Street Was Mine: White Masculinity in hardboiled Fiction and Film Noir, and the editor of A Hell of a Woman, an anthology of female crime fiction. She's been nominated for three Edgar Awards, Hammett Prize, the Macavity, Anthony and Barry Awards, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Pushcart Prize. Oh, and did I mention she is writing the script for her Hollywood optioned, Dare Me?
I'm thrilled to have her here. Thank you, thank you, Megan.


What I so deeply admire about your work is the lean, mean and fiercely gorgeous prose you employ. So, what kind of writer are you? Do you plot things out or fly by the seat of your pen? Do you write every day or when the muse’s whispers begin to turn into shouts? What’s your writing life like?
Thank you for your kind words! I force myself to be rigorously disciplined because I find writing it infinitely hard and isolating and would like to be doing almost anything else. (At the same time, however, I only feel truly happy when I’ve written, so there’s the rub.) Because I’m slow I have to block out the day and even though I don’t write the whole time, I need to live in the world of the book all day, writing it fits and starts off and on from early morning through the afternoon. Which makes me pretty unpleasant to be around in the daylight hours!

You tunneled into the dark heart of girls in Dare Me so expertly that it felt as if you were chaneling them. What kind of research did you do for this novel, and what was that like? And why do you think the territory of adolescent girls is so rich--and such a minefield for events?
About half of it was compulsive online eavesdropping, primarily through chatrooms and message boards focused on cheerleading. The other half was my own vivid memories of being a teenager. The intensity of feeling at that age, the yearning, the passionate friendships—filled with highs and lows, betrayals, breakups. It’s your practice for adult (or young adult) relationships. And it’s thrilling and devastating. I thought I’d forgotten all that until I started writing the book. It all came flooding back, all the heartbreak, exhilaration and humiliation. That stuff is ageless, and leaves it marks.
So Dare Me is headed for the Silver Screen and you’re writing the script. Is it hard to re-envision your novel as a film?
I tend to be pretty inspired by movies and this book in particularly so. The cheer stunts seem to call out for visual spectacle. The trickiest part is a somewhat unreliable narrator that means I need to find different ways to render her interior life. But the challenge is exciting.
Does anything surprise you about the writing? Anything make you want to hurl yourself out of a window?
It always feels slightly crazy to say so, but my characters constantly surprise me. The protagonists inevitably turn out to harbor darker motives. The more troubled characters, or antagonists, tend to work their charms on me. That’s the best part. The “hurl out the window” part for me is revisions. That sudden awareness that the world you thought you’d rendered so perfectly, so richly isn’t working yet. And you’ve got to find a way to make it work, to live for the reader as it lives for you. Thankfully, my two first readers, my agent Dan Conaway and my editor Reagan Arthur, are so expert I feel unduly lucky in that capacity.
You said on your blog that “writers and artists really have no choice but to convey their own peculiar views, no matter how strange the picture may be.” I think this is one of the most astute descriptions of what it means to make art that I’ve read. Can you talk a bit more about this, please?
Ah, that’s not me, that’s the wonderful writer Karolina Waclawiak (How to Get into the Twin Palms), who guested on our blog, though I absolutely agree. While we perhaps do have a choice, I don’t quite understand what the purpose would be. To me, the primary pleasure in writing is in the relationship between author and reader. It’s what I love about reading too. There’s this crackling possibility that you will connect—that your weirdnesses may be theirs too, or will become so. It makes the world feel more intimate, richer, less lonely. And that, in turn, they will share something with you that makes everything look and feel different. That opens up new vistas. That exchange between writer and reader is about as magnificent as life can get.
What’s obsessing you now and why?
I’m reading the most wonderful biography of Charlotte Brontë, by Rebecca Fraser. I’ve always been fascinated by the Brontë household, these elaborate fantasy worlds—Angria, Glass Town, Gondal—the siblings created, growing up in such a remote yet exotic location as the moors. And I don’t think I ever realized quite how maligned all three sisters were for the subversive qualities of their books. What they were writing was seen as radical, dangerous, wild. And, of course, it is. I’ve always been drawn to writers or artists who formulated full-scale imaginary universes—another obsession is the work of Henry Darger, a self-taught artist who devoted most of his solitary life to creating these elaborate collage paintings chronicling the heroic adventures of the “Vivian Girls,” seven little girls who faced war, enslavement and countless travails. They’re powerful to see.
What question dDo you faithfully DVR The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and watch it with unabashed delight? And I guess that’s its own answer.
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Filmmaker Steve Jones talks about Cracked Eggs, screenwriting, novel writing, and so much more: an interview by Meg Pokrass

 I'm thrilled that Meg Pokrass is interviewing author, playwright, screenwriter and producer Steve Jones here. His film, Cracked Eggs, was selected for the London Independent Film Festival, and you can watch it here.  It featured Jared Harris, who plays Ulysses S. Grant in Spielberg's Lincoln. As well as co-authoring a memoir, Steve is currently working on a novel, a play, and a black, comedy drama feature film as writer producer. Thank you, Meg (and thank you Steve) for this wonderful interview.)
Steve, how did your interest in becoming a screenwriter and film producer begin? Where did you begin your journey?I guess it started out as a mix of inspiration and ignorance -- blissful ignorance!How do you mean?In the early ‘90s I worked for a design agency in Frankfurt and wrote my first ever article on the subject of digital design for a German magazine called “Page.” One day I was sitting at my desk writing Apple Mac troubleshooting guides for the designers and I thought to myself, I could turn this stuff into a book. I didn't know anything about publishing but, by coincidence, I found out that the Frankfurt book fair was kicking off the following week. I somehow managed to get an entry pass and walked in, found the publisher that I thought would be suitable for  my book, pitched the guy on the stand, showed him my magazine articles and he said, "Great, we'll send you the contract next week." That was it. I wrote the book in 6 months and it was published a year later. I really thought that this path of zero resistance from idea to manifestation would be the model going forward in the creative world. Oh boy, how wrong I was on that one. I was blissfully ignorant of the challenges that lay ahead and this naivety, coupled with an inspiration and a passion to write, eventually propelled me into new adventures further afield, whether it was pitch meetings on Hollywood studio lots or on the terraces of the beach hotels in Cannes. But those are long stories.So you transitioned into creative writing?Yes. I moved back to London and -- having written some poems in college, just for myself really – I decided that I wanted to write a novel.Was it published?Not even close. I abandoned it after about 6 or 7 pages.What happened?Theater is what happened. I discovered the works of playwrights such as Pinter, Beckett and Mamet. I was also inspired by Tarantino's “Pulp Fiction” which was out at the time. Setting aside the arguments regarding gratuitous violence, the dialogue in that film just blew me away. It was the first time I'd ever heard friends and work colleagues rave about dialogue. And I guess dialogue was something I honed in on; especially in the context of darkly-comic pieces that had an absurdist skew. How does this relate to the novel?I was watching a lot of theatre at the time and the osmosis of that experience kicked in. Whenever I sat down to write, these three characters -- who were sitting in this dingy room -- kept popping into my head. But there was a problem: these guys weren’t out of a book; they were out of a play. And they were demanding my attention. I was curious to know what was going on in that room so I switched to play format and began hammering out dialogue. And I just kept on writing. This then turned into the play, “Charlie Don’t Surf.”What’s the play about?Three drug addicts in a squat waiting for a drug dealer -- who never turns up.The Beckett influence?Indeed. An agent described it as “Waiting For Godot” meets “Trainspotting,” although, as the play has evolved over time and transitioned into a non-linear screenplay (with multiple story lines), the Beckett influence is less apparent.Please talk about the evolution of your short-film "Cracked Eggs." What an engrossing twelve minutes of a movie, both spooky and at times, darkly funny. Watching feels like a world you don't want to leave, as though you could jump in and learn more, like the best short stories do...Thank you. Well of course film is a collaborative medium, and we were lucky to have such a great cast: Carol Starks; John McGuiness; Jonathan Hansler; and of course Jared Harris, who was recently Emmy-nominated for his role in “Mad Men.” But cast on its own does not guarantee the success of a film. I think we’ve all seen plays or films, with great actors, fail because of misdirection. So, I have to give credit to my long term collaborator and the film’s director, Eric Loren. Eric, a seasoned actor himself, is brilliant at steering actors in a subtle but incremental way, guiding them from cold reading to blistering performance. On first glance his directorial style appears to be quite calm, gentle but after a while I realized that he’s boiling the frog slowly. How do you mean?It’s subtle but demanding; an incremental turning up of the heat so that, by the end of the rehearsal period, the actors are performing at their peak. You see it in those final, climatic scenes of “Cracked Eggs.” And of course Eric’s visual talent was key when it came to adapting the short play into a film especially in the egg scene which, in the play, was left to the audience’s imagination. That’s the subtle interplay with theatre: the audience fills in the gaps. So “Cracked Eggs” was a short play initially?Yes. And that’s an interesting story. Going back to my journey as a writer: after I’d knocked out a first draft of “Charlie Don’t Surf” I looked round and thought to myself, who do I know? The answer came back: no-one. I had no contacts in either the theatre or film industry. I knew Eric was a professional actor but we didn’t really know each other. I also didn’t know that Eric was a director. All I knew was that he was the only name on my ‘warm contacts’ list. I got the script to him via a mutual friend. In the meantime, I sent out the script to agents and artistic directors and experienced the baptism of fire that is the ‘rejection letter.’ How did that feel?As a first-timer, it was tough. In those early days a rejection letter could throw me off kilter for one or two days but later I learned to shrug them off much faster. The best mantra for rejection is one word, “Next!”What happened next?More rejection letters: some encouraging, some not. Then Eric called. He told me that he liked the play and wanted to organize a reading with some of his actor friends. This was a defining experience for me. These were all professional actors and two of them went on to become household names in the UK. To see actors of that caliber read my words, and to respond in a very positive way to a play which started out as a kind of tangential detour, was an exhilarating experience. It was the first time that I thought to myself, maybe I can do this. I then received a letter from a London-based fringe theatre saying that they had read “Charlie Don’t Surf” and wanted to commission me to write a short play, as part of a new writer’s season.And that’s when you wrote “Cracked Eggs?”Yes and no. The theme of the writer’s season was, “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It.” So I dreamed up this post-apocalyptic, wacky, light comedy set in New York. I went through weeks of work-shopping the piece and I had about one week left to submit the final draft. Rehearsals were pending and Eric was attached to direct. He called me. He wanted to meet up. I assumed that he wanted to give me some last minute notes. I was wrong. We met in a coffee shop in Oxford Street and he hit me with the news: he didn’t feel that this was the right play for me, at that time and that my first staged play needed to be have more impact. I agreed. What that meant however, was this: all the weeks of work-shopping with the artistic directors and the other writers was now lost time. I had a week to write a short play that would have to be written, submitted and accepted from the get-go. On the way home certain images came into my mind: stories I’d heard, distant ‘80s London experiences recalled, urban myths remembered. By the time I arrived home I had the bare bones of the darkly-comedic “No Exit”-like scenario that is “Cracked Eggs.” I wrote the play over a weekend and it premiered a few weeks later.So, how did “Cracked Eggs” end up as a short film featuring Jared Harris?Well, that’s a long story but it ties in with my transition from a writer to a writer-producer. I turned to producing on the advice of a Hollywood agent who offered to meet me, but not, represent me. We met for breakfast one morning in a cafe on Santa Monica Boulevard. And it also ties in with my other film/animation projects; the commissioned book-adaptation work; and to the memoir that I am co-authoring. In fact, the memoir project only came about by chance, as a result of another film meeting in Santa Monica itself. Sometimes you don’t find stories – stories find you.[image error]

NYT bestselling author Lesley Kagen talks about Mare's Nest, the brave new world of publishing, horse people, and so much more!

Lesley Kagen is not only hilariously funny, whip-smart, and generously warm, she's also the New York Times bestselling author of such acclaimed novels as Whistling in the Dark, Good Graces, Land of a Hundred Wonders, Tomorrow River, and her newest, Mare's Nest. I'm thrilled and honored to have her here on the blog to talk about it. Thank you, Lesley!


Publishing is a brave new world. Recently, the acclaimed novelist Jon Clinch outed himself as the self-published writer Sam Winston. You're a NYT bestselling author and you've decided to self-publish your new novel, Mare's Nest. How did this decision come about? What's the process been like so far? Would you go back to traditional publishing or do you feel this is the wave of the future?
The decision to publish MARE'S NEST myself was years in the making.  I could go on and on, but the crux?  I'd grown disenchanted with traditional publishing and began to yearn for a different, happier experience.  One, in which, I called the shots.  (I'm a live-by-the-pen, die-by-the-pen kinda gal.)  The self-pub process has been fantastic so far.  I've enjoyed designing the cover, picking the type, deciding on the formatting...all the things that are required to create a book.  It's a little like wrapping a Christmas present that I made from scratch for someone I love. 
Yeah, I'm positive that you'll see more and more well-known authors moving in the same direction in order to keep a roof over their head on food on their tables.  From what I can tell, the Big 6 seem primarily interested in debut authors or mega-sellers right now.  I can't tell you the number of my friends---wonderful authors all--- who do not fit into these categories.  As a result, they are finding it almost impossible to secure deals.   It's disheartening.  And shocking.  A brutal reminder that as much as we all revere books---publishing is a business. 
As far as going back to traditional publishing, if the situation was right--if I connected with an editor I admire, who felt the same way about my work, or a house that was enthusiastic about my book and would do there best to market it-- then sure, I'd consider it.  On the other hand, I was in the record business for a lot of years.  If you had told me back in those days that there'd come a time that there wouldn't be records, or record stores, I would've called the men in the white jackets to come pick you up.  If the book business follows the same path, which it looks like it's doing, e-pubbing will be where it's at.
Mare's Nest took you ten years to write! Tell us about that. Was there ever a moment when you felt you were in over your head? How long does it usually take you to write a book?
Everything about this book is different than my previous four.  It usually takes me around a year and a half to complete a story, so working on Mare's Nest sporadically over the past ten years has been an odd way to go about it.   It's a novel based on a true story, and I'd never written anything like that before.  It's also told over a fourteen year period, more, if you consider the narrator's backstory, and most of my stories take place over a summer.  Was there ever a moment when I felt like I was in over my head?  Are you kidding?  Was there ever a moment that I didn't?  I'm incredibly pleased and proud of the book, but wow...blood, sweat, and tears, ya know?
You've said that Mare's Nest is based on a true story. What was that story and what was it about it that caught you and wouldn't let go? 
The book is a heartfelt and redemptive love story about mothers and daughters.  But it's also serves as a caveat emptor.  Mare's Nest is set in the horse  world, which is not what most people think it is.  All high-falutin'.  It can be very nasty, and sometimes--deadly, both for horses and their owners.  Riding is dangerous, not only physically, but fiscally.  And...emotionally.  I am passionate about writing, and horses, and most of all--parenting.  Keeping our kids safe is a theme in all my books, most especially in this one.  Over the years, I've seen families swindled, lied to, childrens' hearts and extremities broken, horses drugged, or killed for insurance money, and so on.  As a recipient of a few of the heinous acts,  I wanted to put others in the know.  To the best of my knowledge, nobody's written a book about the down and dirty of the sport, the behind the scenes stuff.  I'm sure there are parallels in other sports, gymnastics, ice skating, etc., but horseback riding and showing...it's the little girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead.  When it's good, it's very, very good, and when it's bad it's horrid.
Mare's Nest is very much about horses, which makes me want to know how do you know what you know? Are you a horse person or did you research? What sparked the whole idea of the novel?
I've been riding since I was eight years old.  I'm now...cough...cough...which is quite a bit older than that.  My parents were in the business of buying and selling horses before they were driven under financially and ended up going bankrupt, and divorcing, remarrying, and divorcing again.  As a kid, I was their little salesgirl.  I showed horses all over the Midwest, won tons of awards, ribbons, and championships.  But considering how that all ended up, the last thing in the world I wanted was for my daughter, Casey, to get on the back of a horse.  But she was not to be denied.  She's been riding and showing first saddlebreds and then hunter/jumper ponies and horses for over fourteen years now, and we're still involved.  Most kids in the sport are girls, so I imagine when she has a daughter, her girl will ride as well.  Seems to be something in our wiring.  
One of the themes of the novel is whether or not history repeats itself. Do you think history usually does? And is that necessarily a bad thing?
If you had a loving, supportive childhood, history repeating itself is what we're hoping for when we parent.  But a replication of my childhood , which left quite a bit to be desired, was not what I wanted for my daughter and son.  I was so desperate to prevent traumatizing them, that I think I overcorrected, the way you do when you're trying to avoid a head-on crash.   In the book, I wanted to explore the power of redemption.  And what influence our parents have on our own parenting.  Do we all try to set the record straight?  To give to our children that which we feel we still need?  Do we end up creating an entirely new set of problems?
What's obsessing you now?
I am an obsessive, so unless you have a couple of hours... (Laughs.)  If you mean writing-wise, I've begun a new story about an emotionally troubled middle-aged woman who finds herself disenfranchised from her family. When she's diagnosed with a life threatening disease, she comes up with a rather unusual support system to help her make it through the crisis.  It's funny and sweet, I think.  I hope. 
What question didn't I ask that I should have?
If after exposing its underbelly, I fear repercussions from the horse world, which can be notoriously vindictive.
My flip answer is---You mean like a horse head in the bed thing?  Not really too concerned.  I'm kind of a bad-ass, myself.  But it'll be interesting to see the reactions to the book from both horse people and non-horse people.  I wrote the story keeping both in mind and hope like heck that I pulled it off.  Fingers crossed.
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