Caroline Leavitt's Blog, page 140

In which the Paper Rats interview each other!

Everyone knows how much I adore the Paper Rats. Their Inside the Writers Studio videos are hilarious (and they have great swag you can buy, so it's technically not really swag, but you'll want it anyway). I offered them space on my blog to talk about their books, and being the Paper Rats, they decided they wanted to interview each other (and who am I not to let them?)
Kristen Tsetsi's Homefront was inspired by the year she spent waiting for her husband to survive his tour in Iraq. Surreal...

Read This Book: The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell

For me, there are certain books that you feel compelled to reread every year. After You'd Gone by Maggie O'Farrell was one of those books that I carried around with me because I couldn't stop reading it. She has an astonishing new book out, The Hand That First Held Mine, and already it's getting dog-eared. Tracking two different London women, fifty years apart, the novel meditates on memory, art, longing, motherhood--and loss. I was thrilled that Maggie offered to answer some questions...

Ann Hood talks about her new novel, The Red Thread

I first heard of Ann Hood years ago, back when I picked up her extraordinary debut, Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine . I was enthralled and began following her career obsessively, to the extent that though we've never met, I feel, because her work is so bold and brave, (Read Comfort for its blazingly honest exploration of loss), that I feel that I do.

Ann's new novel, The Red Thread is a gorgeous story based on her own experiences adopting a baby girl from China following the death of her...

In which Caroline guest stars in a Paper Rats Video

I've blogged here before about how much I love the Paper Rats and I talked myself into a video with them, which is now ready for viewing! A
Sublime authors Kristen Tsetsi (Homefront) and R. J. Keller (Waiting for Spring), otherwise known as The Paper Rats, gave me a list of expressions to film (rolling my eyes, looking appalled, smiling, blank stare), and a list of scenarios (do five things you'd do if you were bored--I chose playing with my one-legged Barbie, lifting weights, playing with my ...

Anne Lamott talks about Imperfect Birds

Anne Lamott should be a national treasure (complete with a holiday named after her.) Her book on writing (Bird by Bird) is required reading for any budding writer (or anxiety written pro), her book on having a child (Operating Instructions) should be tucked inside every diaper bag, and her novels simply soar. Her newest, Imperfect Birds, returns to one of her earlier novels, Rosie, to tell the story of teenage drug culture and parents being terrified for their the safety of their kids. It's...

In which I happily humiliate myself!

I've written about my love of Paper Rats videos and now I'm going to be in one! They won't tell me what it's going to look like, but they've given me directions for filming (shots of bored, rolling my eyes, saying certain things) and they have this preview!

Barbara DeMarco-Barrett talks about writing and Orange Country Noir

Barbara DeMarco-Barrett's the host of the fabulous radio show Writers on Writing, the award-winning author of Pen On Fire, and one of her short stories has just appeared in the anthology Orange County Noir. Since I'm a sucker for anything noir (and I happen to revere the films Barbara mentions here), I couldn't wait to ask Barbara questions. Thanks so much, Barbara!

So when you were asked to write a piece for Orange County Noir, what went through your head? Do you usually think of your...

In praise of deadlines

Usually if I don't have a deadline, I can spend three whole months on one sentence. I've been working on this new novel set in the 1950s for almost a year now. I was working on another novel at the same time, and then shelved it to work on this one, called The Missing Ones (at least for now. I'm not very good with titles, but that's a whole other story.) A few months ago, I realized I had no idea what I was doing and began talking the story out with another writer and finally realized what...

READ THIS BOOK: Connie May Fowler's How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly

I've loved Connie May Fowler's books years before I knew and loved her. Yes, she's a friend, and the first thing you have to know about her is how warm, funny and smart she is, the kind of person who's always on your side. Essayist, screenwriter, and novelist, she's the author of six novels, most recently The Problem with Murmur Lee, and a memoir, When Katie Wakes. In 1996, she published Before Women Had Wings, which became a paperback bestseller and was made into a successful Oprah...

Pictures of You

I am dazed, amazed and thrilled to present the cover of my new novel Pictures of You (coming November 2, the Amazon date of January is wrong and will be fixed soon.) I really love this cover (I tend to draw wings on objects all the time and I have a big huge pair of white feather wings in my office), and I really love being with Algonquin, who are just splendiferous. (Love my editor, love my agent, love the publicity department.)
I'm already going to be at BEA signing books and speaking at a...