Ayelet’s Comments (group member since Jun 08, 2011)

Ayelet’s comments from the Ask Ayelet Waldman group.

Dear Mary,

Did you write your NaNoWriMo book? That always scares me...just a month! To write a novel! But I'm always tempted.

Dear Mimi,

I usually start with a vague story idea...the emotion comes from the characters. I had no idea that this story would be one about the tension between the ways we love different children. I thought it would be simply about grief. It's always a surprise where the characters take you.

I'm working on a novel that I thought would be about love, from the point of view of 3 different young women. It turns out that it's from the points of view of the men who love them, and it's about so much more than that...

Lorette,
I don't think I've ever written an essay about my process, though I do usually answer questions about it when I do live events. Feel free to ask me anything!

K2, I am so grateful to you for supporting our Voice of Witness project. I actually am just doing the final edits this week. It's been a difficult and painful process, but I feel so blessed to have been able to spend time with these remarkable women. The book will be out in the fall.

Dear Anne,
I hope the book doesn't disappoint you...please let me know what you think, either here on Goodreads or via my website or facebook!

Clare! How are you? SO nice to "see" you again.

Thanks so much Amanda...I'm going to tell people from now on that the book is about "embracing heritage, family and tradition." That's PERFECT!

Thank you so much Wendy! Where in Canada? My family is from Montreal. I'd kill for a Montreal bagel about now!

Hope, tell that five year old to lay off! ;)

Melki! You made my day. xo xo from one Bad Mother to another.

Best book I read recently (weirdly) was this awesome WW2 book called "Between Silk and Cyanide." Code breakers. LOVED IT. Worst lately? I can't say because I don't want to hurt this very very talented young novelist's feelings (not that she reads my goodreads page, but still). But a total snooze fest.

Thanks so much, Joan...for your lovely comments and for YOUR honesty!

So sorry I've been absent today...had a little craziness. Michael and I were making a big dinner for friends, and somehow we ended up stuck in the hell of red rice. Has anyone cooked red rice? I swear it's been boiling for 90 minutes and it still feels like it's raw!

Mimi -- I usually hit a wall in the middle of a book. The beginning was so long ago, and the end is so far away. It feels like you've always been writing the book and you'll always be writing the book. Thank god that period passes...

Jackie...that breaks my heart...I have this fond wish that my kids will each think I love them best, but I fear it's probably the opposite.

Funny, Sarah! One sermon. Like one book! Some of my favorite authors just keep writing the same book over and over again. Calling Mr. Roth...

Reid -- I am adamant about reading while I write. I have one rule -- I only read writers who are better than I am. That way when I imitate it's to my advantage! I think writers who are afraid to read are WAY too precious about their prose. I'll put it this way -- the only published writer I've ever heard say that wrote unmitigated schlock. We were on a panel together and my reply was, "Well, I don't know about you,but I think if a little Jane Austen gets into my work, it can only improve it."

I am a fan of the rigid schedule. In fact, I have to go to bed NOW so I can be up by 8 to write for 3 hours.

Well, that depends Immod...I rewrite and rewrite and rewrite until the book is handed in and final copy editing is finished. Then I try NEVER to look at it again, or I will tear my hair out. When I do readings I often make little edits in the book....not edits I'll ever pass on for later drafts, just things I wish I'd done differently.

Hey Reid,
Thanks for writing! I actually write about that a lot in Bad Mother -- why I wrote the essay, how my kids reacted. In a nutshell, I wrote it for a literary anthology that probably sold, at best, a few thousand copies. It never occurred to me when writing it that it would have a wider audience. Then the NY Times picked it up, and I was mostly so excited about being in the New York Times (my paper of record!) that I never bothered to consider the ramifications of, oh, I don't know, FIVE MILLION people reading my deepest darkest secrets. Stupid, I know.

And then, well, Oprah. I mostly went on Oprah to sell books...my kids are money pits and I need to support their addictions to Honey Nut Cheerios. And I also knew Oprah agreed with me and would provide a "friendly" forum. Er...not quite what happened. Though she did, in the end, manage to turn the crowd in my favor.

But in all honesty, I think I've been part of a change in the culture -- small as it is. I think it's no longer quite as fashionable to prioritize your children above ALL else, including marriage, community, work. I think I've helped to provide a voice in favor of balance, and I'm proud of that.

My kids are pretty secure. They know they're loved (too much, according to the teenagers!) and it provides them with a huge sense of security that they come from a happy home.