Author Interview: Laura Zigman

Yesterday, I posted a review of a very humorous book, Piece of Work, by Laura Zigman. Despite the hectic holidays, Ms. Zigman was kind enough to answer some interview question for us, and I will be posted them here for you today. You might want to grab a cup of coffee for a relatable heart to heart conversion with this one time publicist turned author.

As I mentioned in my review, your characters are so authentic, it was like reading about my own life. What is your technique for creating believable characters?

I’m embarrassed to admit that my “technique” is drawing from my own experiences or those of close friends. In the case of dealing with a spouse who’d lost his job, I had several friends who’d gone through this – husbands who had lost their jobs which required a whole change in the division of family labor – so I felt like I had some idea of what that would be like. Since I’ve been lucky enough to work at home since my son was born, the feelings I ascribed to Julia about going back to work and having to leave her son behind were my own: I would have been very sad to have had to do that. As for Mary Ford, the beast of a has-been – well, she was real, too. Based on a mixture of celebrity authors I traveled with when I was a publicist for Random House 15 years ago.

In Piece of Work, Julia Einstein really has her hands full with a difficult client. As a publishing industry insider, I’m sure you’ve seen your share of difficult personalities. What are some of the most outrageous demands you’ve heard writer’s make? What’s your best advice for writers who want to develop positive relationships with their agents, editors and book publicists?

You know, the worst demands were made by Hollywood celebrities who occasionally crossed over into book publishing: those celebrities who had written (or who had paid someone to write) their memoirs. Hollywood demands make publishing demands look ridiculously small, since the scope of everything in the movie business – money, fame, power – dwarfs everything else. Most of the time those celebrity memoirs were written by has-beens – people whose careers had waned slightly or significantly – and because of the ebb in their fame they come into the publication of their book already insecure and feeling entitled. They want to be pampered, catered to, treated like a star, and their demands are ridiculous. Everyone has a right to have preferences – certain pens, certain food and drink – but the level of accommodation becomes insane when you are forced to drive around Cincinnati for two hours looking for a particular brand of water. Even non-Hollywood authors made outrageous demands – everyone wants their 15 minutes. And when you’re the publicist that 15 minutes can seem like a lifetime.

 The best advice for any author is to treat everyone they come in contact with politely. This probably seems ridiculous to actually articulate – it’s common sense, right? – but you’d be surprised how many authors are rude and petulant and extremely unpleasant to deal with. If you want your publicist or your agent or your publisher to listen to you and do as much to promote you and your book as they possibly can, you have to be nice. That means saying please and thank you. A lot. Which really isn’t that hard.

In previous interviews you explained that your first book (Animal Husbandry) took five years to write do to the demands of a full-time job, while you wrote your second book (Dating Big Bird) over the course of three months in a rented beach house. What is writing like now that you’re a mom?

It’s funny. When I was writing Animal Husbandry – single, living in New York, completely convinced that I would never finish my book and that even if I did it would suck and never get published – writing was much more difficult than it is now. Back then, I would have to be in the mood to write, which, quite frankly, happened maybe once or twice a year. That meant all the rest of the time I’d have to get myself in the mood – I’d have to have cigarettes. I’d have to be sitting in a certain position. The planets would have to be aligned in a certain way. Needless to say, I didn’t write very much (but luckily when I did, I would write a lot and for long stretches of time).

 Now things are very different. I’m the breadwinner of the family and so writing has become what I do for a living, which makes doing it easier in certain fundamental aspects. It takes away all the emotional parts of writing that often get in the way – there is no room for being in the mood, or not feeling like it, or feeling like a giant loser or a shitty writer. I have to do it. So when I’m working on something – like a book, or an article – the minute my son goes to school and I come home, I’m working. And I work until he comes home. It’s that simple.

 Of course, there are plenty of times I’m not working – when I’m in between projects, or “thinking,” or busy with housework or bill-paying or dishwasher unloading or sock-drawer organizing – and on those days I don’t write at all. When you “work at home” that kind of includes all kinds of work. And some days the work doesn’t include writing.

Your third book (Her) was published in 2002, while your latest novel Piece of Work was first release in 2006. In what ways did you four-year hiatus mirror Julia’s?

You know, one of the things I learned during that time was that success isn’t permanent. I’d been very lucky with my first few books – generous advances had allowed me to take my time between books. But after HER was published I seemed to hit a rough patch. HER didn’t sell as well as we’d all hoped it would. I wrote a mystery that my publisher (and about 10 other publishers) didn’t want. I had to “break-up” with my long-term agent who had become a very close friend. Movie options were dropped and with them potential income was lost. Basically, I had to deal with a whole host of career dominos that could have fallen one way but ended up falling another. Lots of things went wrong and I found myself up to my eyeballs in failure – or, more correctly, in my sense of failure. Failure is relative, and so is success, and how we feel about where we are has almost everything to do with how we define each of those points. For me, I was less concerned with the narcissistic elements of my alleged failures and much more concerned with their tangible ramifications: as the breadwinner I become completely terrified that I was not going to be able to continue pulling off the magic hat trick of paying the mortgage while remaining a stay-at-home mother. When I started writing Piece of Work I was truly feeling like a has-been and so that idea really infused the book: Julia feels like a has-been who has to make a comeback as a publicist; Mary Ford is has-been desperate for a comeback to reclaim her fame; Peter, Julia’s husband, feels like a has been because he’s lost his job and can’t find another one. It sounds like such a cliché but life is full of ups and downs and we’re constantly in flux between the two states of being.

On your website you describe your novels as thinly disguised autobiographies? How does your family feel about the characters in your novels? Do they ever recognize themselves or do they argue that you’ve grossly misrepresented them? Or have you ever created a fictional character that someone misconstrued as themselves?

That’s a great question – my parents were actually disappointed to find out that they weren’t in Animal Husbandry. They’d spent all those years while I was writing it wondering how they would be portrayed – pretending to be nervous and scared at what I would say about them – and so I got the last laugh! They actually love being in the books – I described they’re ridiculous way it takes them 3 weeks to pack for a one week trip in Dating Big Bird, and then in Piece of Work I show them being themselves – Costco chickens and impromptu games of Jewish Geography and all. I also talk about Julia’s parents having lost a child and how that has affected their family and that is based on my family too: my parents lost their first child and its something cast a long shadow on their lives, and mine.

 As for my husband – he’s a very very good sport. I based Donald from HER on him in certain ways – he’s hilarious in a kind of out-there way – and I had a lot of fun with that character. Luckily, he saw the humor in it too.

In Piece of Work, you draw some parallels between managing a domestic environment and managing a business environment. What is the significance of this parallel for you?

No matter how difficult it is to manage a home situation – and I don’t even have it that bad since we have only one child as compared to other people with two or three or four – nothing compares to the stress of an office job for me. Maybe it was the job itself – I was a book publicist for 10 years at Random House in New York – that made me so crazy but to me that’s the worst possible stress situation. Give me 20 snacks and 40 lunches to make and I’ll take that any day over getting prepared for a marketing meeting. The only exception to this is playdates: having playdates at my house completely unhinge me.

On your blog you link to the website Work it, Mom! where co-founder Nataly Kogan posted a rant about the term “mompreneur”. She noted how no one calls male entrepreneurs “dadpreneurs.” I think Julia Einstein beautifully illustrates the conflicted feelings that many women are trying to resolve through new business models. Do you think there is a tendency for men to compartmentalize their roles while women long to integrate them? Why do think women feel so compelled to be all things at once? Do you think we can do it successfully?

I love that piece Nataly wrote because it’s so true – not just in the business world where she’s absolutely right that no one calls men in business who are dads “dadpreneurs” – but also in writing. No matter what I write now – if there’s a woman in it it gets slapped as either “chick lit” or “mommy lit.” Period. I’m not sure why this is and I feel like I’ve been a really good sport about the Chick Lit thing – people have a lot worse problems, I’ve always believed, then not loving the fact that their novels are categorized in a pejorative way – but now it’s getting a little annoying. I’d like to write a memoir about having moved home to where I grew up and what it’s like being at this point in life – 45, married, with a young child – but I just know with any kind of framing like that it will be thrown into the Mommy Lit pile and labeled accordingly. Women do, as you say, live their lives in a more integrated way – they multi-task without thinking while men do not. I think the only thing that gets us into trouble is thinking that we can do it all at the same time. We can’t. We can do a lot of things just not necessary all at once. So we should forgive ourselves for “failing.”

In your Washington Post article on The Writing Life: How to summon forth the Secret Author Person within you, you talk about repressing the desire to write in order to fit in with social expectations (i.e. a respectable career). Is that why you took the Radcliffe Publishing Procedures Course—to find a respectable job within the publishing industry? As a former insider, what can you tell us about industries perspective on “chic lit/mom lit”? What should women writing within this genre know?

I took the Radcliffe Publishing Course mainly because I truly didn’t know what I was going to do for work when I grew up. I knew I couldn’t work at IHOP for the rest of my life. But I couldn’t do math and sucked at standardized tests which meant that there was no way I could go to law school, much less make it through the LSAT. My parents, while supportive of my writing in general, were very discouraging about the idea that I would be able to earn a living doing it. They’d grown up in the Depression and to them the only acceptable way to approach life was with a job with benefits in hand. So I grew up believing that, too. I was not one of those brave people who started out taking a different route. I took the safest route I could – which meant trying to find a job in an industry that was interesting. And book publishing was perfect.

 As for the genre of “chick lit” or “mom lit” – all I can say is that instead of trying to write into a certain genre, you should write about what you feel passionately about. When I was writing Animal Husbandry, chick lit didn’t exist. It happened afterwards, when my book and a bunch of other books proved that a collective consciousness exists and at the time that collective consciousness was focused on single women who were trying to figure out their lives. “Mommy Lit’ is sort of an extension of this: the same single women who are now married with children are still trying to figure out their lives. The only thing to remember when writing is that you have to – have to – be passionately engaged in the world you’re writing about because writing a book takes a long time.

Have you started a new project? What is the initial writing phase like for you?

Speaking of failure: I wrote about 100 pages of a non-fiction book on failure – all the different ways we “fail” which actually lead to success – but, well, it failed to sell to a publisher. Which means I officially failed at failure. Luckily, I’m collaborating on a book with Patti Novak, star of the A&E reality show “Confessions of a Matchmaker” and real-life hilarious matchmaker from Buffalo, New York, and I’m really excited about it. There’s a big relief writing about someone else – telling someone else’s story — instead of my own. And now I have a partner instead of having to do it all by myself.

Author Interview: Robin Gerber

Yesterday, I posted the review of a fabulous new book Eleanor Vs. Ike by Robin Gerber. If you missed the review, I highly encourage you to check it out. In my opinion, Eleanor Vs. Ike is a must read for every registered voter.  Gerber’s credentials are extensive, with over fifteen years of experience on Capitol Hill as a committee staffer, a chief lobbyist and a political director.

Currently, Ms. Gerber is a lawyer, senior faculty for the Gallup Organization, and senior fellow at the University of Maryland. (And I thought I was a multi-tasker!) Gerber is also an experienced writer. Gerber pens one of the most popular columns for Reader’s Digest, “You Be the Judge,” as well as opinion pieces that frequently appear in national newspapers. Gerber also authored the non-fiction titles Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt Way: Timeless Strategies from the First Lady of Courage and Katherine Graham: The Leadership Journey of an American Icon. 

Over the New Year’s Holiday, Ms. Gerber was kind enough to answer a few questions for us here at Modern Matriarch. In the following interview, she talks about her novel, addresses current political issues, and shares the joys and challenges of writing both fiction and non-fiction. I hope you enjoy meeting Robin Gerber as much as I did. 

Eleanor Vs. Ike is a fascinating work of fiction that imaginatively foreshadows the political race of 2008. The fictional campaign revolves around the real foreign and domestic issues that dominated the 1952 election. How do those issues parallel those faced by the current presidential candidates?  

The similarities between 1952 and 2008 are truly striking. In 1952, the United States was mired in an unpopular war in Korea that the Democratic President, Harry Truman, had gotten into with dubious support from Congress. The candidates had vigorous arguments over disentangling from Korea, which was as un-winnable a situation for the U.S. then as Iraq is for us now. Truman, like President Bush, was extremely unpopular, not only because of the war but because of scandals in his administration. Truman chose not to run for reelection, but like President Bush, his unpopular legacy was a detriment to his party. Most shocking, perhaps, is that President Truman had failed in his effort to get universal health care so that, like today, it was part of the candidates’ debate.  Finally, just as today’s candidates talk about how they would deal with terrorism, the candidates in 1952 had to reassure voters that they had a plan for dealing with the threat of Communism. 

If nominated for the Democratic ticket, which issues will prove the most troublesome for Hillary Clinton? 

The war in Iraq, and the possibility of armed engagement with other countries like Iran are a potential Achilles heel for Hillary Clinton. Even though she serves on the Senate Armed Services, and met over eighty foreign leaders as First Lady, stereotypes about women being poor military leaders will persist. Hopefully, Senator Clinton, like Great Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, can successfully overcome the idea that a woman can’t be  strong on defense. 

In your novel, the struggle for Civil Rights plays a big role in Eleanor’s campaign for the presidency, unifying the African American community and a mobilized force of Woman voters. What are the chances of us seeing a Clinton-Obama democratic ticket in 2008? Do you think this will help or hurt the candidates? 

It’s quite amazing and encouraging that we could even be talking about such a ticket! I’m sure Eleanor would be pleased if she were around. In political terms, however, Clinton picking Obama as a running mate wouldn’t make good sense. Democrats are already highly energized in 2008, and African Americans historically vote Democratic in overwhelming numbers. To the extent that a Vice-President generates votes for the ticket, which is questionable, it’s more likely that Clinton would pick a Latino running mate. Someone like New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who is currently running for President, would be a good candidate to energize the large Latino vote for Democrats.

In the novel, the issue of voting for a candidate solely based on gender is a major consideration. Do you think contemporary voters are more or less likely to vote based on gender?

I’d like to say that the gender issue is completely in the past, but it’s not. Of course, there is less sex discrimination than in 1952, but on the simple questions, “Would you be willing to vote for a female President?” we still don’t get 100% of voters saying ‘yes’ as they would for a male. We’re also seen that women are supporting Clinton much more strongly than men. I think there are enough voters willing to vote based on qualifications rather than “hair, hemlines and husbands” to elect Clinton, but I’m looking forward to the day when gender isn’t a consideration at all.

Eleanor Roosevelt wrote the daily syndicated column ‘My Day’ from 1935-1962, which you mention in your book, expressing her views on current social and political issues. (I guess that makes her one of the first women “bloggers.”) Her column has an authenticity that we don’t see in the polished sound bites and press releases of modern politicians. With the dominance of carefully crafted political messages, it seems odd to me that Hillary Clinton is the only candidate voters suspect will capitulate to the polls.  Why do you think this is?

Women leaders face a double-bind. If they exhibit the qualities we say we want in leaders: being strong, assertive, take charge and dominant, they aren’t liked or trusted. Research shows this double-bind exists in every sector from politics to business to the military. And Eleanor Roosevelt faced it too. She was vilified every time she tried to lead on an issue, like when she proposed the creation of the National Youth Administration during the Depression. She was so roundly criticized so often that she coined this phrase which Clinton frequently uses, “You have to get skin as thick as a rhinoceros hide.”   

On more than one occasion in the novel, Eleanor Roosevelt pulls a letter out of her purse and reads it from the speaker’s podium. This struck me as very symbolic because a woman’s purse is often viewed as frivolous fashion rather than utilitarian (like a briefcase). Eleanor’s habit of setting hers on the podium seems to draw attention to her femininity, while quoting from a letter seems to draw attention to the first acceptable form of feminine writing. Is any of this symbolism intentional or was this behavior drawn from historical fact? 

I love your interpretation, but I have to confess that she did carry a purse. And although she never used notes for her speeches, she did have what I would call “affirmations” in her bag. I think it’s wonderful, and clearly was a comfort to her. 

In the novel, General Eisenhower’s political advisors first characterize Eleanor as a “grandmother” in order to make her seem less potent as a political figure. The term not only makes her sound old and archaic, it also strips away her sexuality. Do you think there’s still an unspoken assumption that a woman’s true value is based on her ability to conceive and rear children?  

I think that was truer in 1952 when far fewer women were in the workplace and families were in a post-war baby boom.  There was a great acceptance that a woman’s place was in the home in the 1950’s. The women’s movement of the 1960’s, and books like Betty Friedan’s, “The Feminine Mystique,” began to change traditional views of women’s roles. Today, more than seventy percent of mothers work full or part-time and there’s much greater acceptance of the idea that women have value in many roles, as do men.  

In the author interview included at the back of the book, you mention how much you enjoyed writing this, your first work of fiction. You also allude to the huge learning curve that took place. Can you tell us more about that? How is the process of writing non-fiction different from writing fiction? 

In nonfiction I’m taking information and trying to organize and relate it in the most interesting way, but I don’t make anything up. With “Eleanor vs. Ike” I was able to play with real events, like Nixon’s Checker’s speech, and ask myself, “what would Eleanor have done?” Since she didn’t actually run for President, I was able to make up the answer, build the scenes, plug in fun facts like FDR’s Fala speech and move the story along. The process had a puzzle-like quality because I knew the ending, but wasn’t sure how to get there in a way that would be suspenseful and believable. Being freed of the worry of not making a factual mistake, which is always hovering over you in nonfiction, was very exhilarating. I also had to learn to write dialog, which I’d never done, and build “color” into the scenes. Luckily, I had a wonderful editor who helped me! 

Gerber’s novel Eleanor Vs. Ike will go on sale next Tuesday, January 8^th.  For more information visit website at www.robingerber.com. Gerber also maintains a blog in the voice of Eleanor Roosevelt at http://robingerber.wordpress.com.

Author Interview: Nina Munteanu

Welcome back everyone! If you read my review of Nina Munteanu’s latest work Darwin’s Paradox, you know how much I appreciated the symbolism laced throughout this new eco-thriller. Today, Ms. Munteanu is here to answer some questions about the metaphoric content found in the book.

TA: I have to admit, although speculative fiction is a guilty pleasure of mine, it has been a while since I’ve actually had the chance to read any. Although I was prepared for the technical language and scientific theory, I was pleasantly surprised by the level of literary allusion, symbolism, and metaphor found throughout Darwin’s Paradox. I notice that names appropriately reference a French Utopian movement, a British social movement, and Greek mythology, but I was intrigued by your choice to name your antagonist Gaia. Considering her objective in the story, I was wondering why you chose to name her after an ancient earth goddess.

NM: Well, without wishing to give away any spoilers, part of the answer lies in that character’s own vision of herself (e.g., she gave herself that name) as an all powerful (and benevolent) goddess. She doesn’t really see herself as a villain in her own story. In truth, this character is very much in tune with the planet and what’s happening. In the end, we find that she is the one who has guessed the truth all along. It’s just how she applies what she knows that is rather dubious and underhanded. So, I played with the whole good vs evil thing here. Giving the “villain” a name that basically stands for all that is good and nurturing in the world also points out that every person, no matter how bad, has good in them; that even a “villain” is a well rounded, complex person with some meritorious traits. In the end, if you think about it, she does end up triggering some good things. And it also points out that most villains don’t see themselves as villains. I needed to create a powerful, charismatic and intelligent antagonist as a foil for the main character; someone you would be drawn to; someone alluring yet dangerous and deadly. The antagonist needed a name that would reflect her paradoxical, well-meaning yet self-serving character. Hence, the paradox in her name. “Darwin” is full of paradoxes like that.

TA: Yes, I noticed the repetition of the word paradox to describe a number of people and situations throughout the novel. There is a definite sense of dualism. Forces are not only in opposition but interconnected. If I recall correctly, that is the basis of the chaos theory referenced throughout the book correct?

NM: Yes…chaos theory embraces paradox. Aspects of it, like synchrony and self-organization defy the second law of thermodynamics. Evolution through cooperation vs. the neo-Darwininan concept of the “selfish gene” and evolution by competition ( e.g., survival of the fittest) is another posit that defies traditional definitive science. The stuff Lynn Margulis talked about decades ago with endosymbiosis. We live with paradox all the time, in our lives. We just don’t realize it often, and certainly don’t embrace it most of the time. Biology is full of it. It’s messy, complex and in some ways not understandable. The title of my book encompasses many aspects of paradox, from the main character down to the concept of evolution. I like inter-layering themes in my stories. Makes them more interesting–and meaningful–for me and hopefully for the reader.

TA: WOW! That’s a lot of science for a literature major like myself, but I understand the basic concept. During the Victorian and Modern periods, Darwin became quite a “pop icon,” and heavily influenced literature and society in general. Today, the phrase “survival of the fittest” seems to carry as much weight as the proverb “Do unto others.” The idea of cooperative evolution is definitely a fresh perspective, and one of the elements I enjoyed in your book, which brings me to the governing body–the Circle. Interesting concept. Would you like to tell us more about it?

NM: Well, it’s basically the governing body of North America, which now encompasses Canada and the United Stares, and includes as its members the mayors of each self-contained megalopolis or Icaria, as they are called ( e.g., Icaria-1, Icaria-2, etc.). That name, of course has its own symbology (. . . wry grin). The Circle runs on consensus; that is, in order for a decision to be ratified, ALL members must agree in one form or another. The Circle as symbol is an interesting one and I didn’t choose it whimsically either to represent the arcane governing body of Icaria. Like the “mandala” of ancient times, the “circle” is a basic structure of creation and can be found throughout the natural world from the tiniest atom to our beloved planet Earth. There is something beautiful and sacred about this shape, that represents wholeness, infinity and eternity. So, just like our “villain” paradoxically giving herself the name of Gaia (rightly AND wrongly), the government, responsible in some ways for the escalating environmental problem, gave itself a name that also seemed paradoxical. Yet, the paradox reconciles with itself in the end.

TA: I see. The fact that all members must agree with a decision once again points to a cooperative rather than a competitive existence. It sounds a lot like a Native American ideology. Did the Iroquois Nation serve as a model for the Circle in any way?

NM: I don’t think they did consciously for me when I conceived it. But it’s interesting that you mention them. It does very much resemble their model, doesn’t it? Including the name, “the Circle”… that’s how they arrange themselves during their council meetings. And the Native American teepee is a conical shape built around a pole that represents the “axis mundi” or world axis…another “mandala” or circle… I honestly didn’t think of this until now. Which brings to mind how intuitive writing is, which is wonderful. Intuition is seeing the “truth” without having all the facts. When a writer reports the “truth” through metaphor, symbology, or imagery (often unknowingly; often intuitively), they are tapping into something much larger than themselves. They are resonating with an autopoietic tapestry of thought, energy–call it what you want…a muse–some might call it God–that guides the writer. We all have felt it as writers…when that certain scene just sings to us, or the hairs on the back of our neck stand up at a phrase or action in what we’ve just set down on paper or screen. Oh…but I’ve probably slid off topic with this, Tricia.

TA: No, I think you are most definitely on subject. As writers, symbolism is not merely something we choose, but something that chooses us—the cultural and environmental awareness that is embedded in the back of our psyche. The evolving meaning of symbolism in literature is a testament to this cooperative evolution featured in Darwin’s Paradox. Writers take traditional meaning and infuse them with ideas of their own. Of course, now that we’re discussing conscious and sub-conscious symbolism, I’m curious about the derogatory comments made about both the protagonist and the antagonist. At various times throughout the novel they are both referred to as witches. Although it doesn’t carry the linguistic taboo of other female derogatories, it is filled with historical and religious connotations. Was that symbolism intentional or another “Freudian” slip?
NM: WOW! Really? I wasn’t aware of that, Tricia. I guess that was another Freudian slip. But now that you’ve brought it up, I’ve read a fair bit lately about the history and phenomenon of “witches”. It’s a concept I explore in my current novel, in fact…the one I’m writing now, which takes place in medieval times. I find the whole concept of witches compelling. How women with power and intelligence were branded by a basically patriarchal society (mostly the Church) who obviously felt threatened…and rightly so, I suppose…They feared being supplanted. Which is exactly what is happening today… (LOL)…The two main characters, protagonist and antagonist, are women, and both are women with power. Julie possesses a gift for transforming an entire world. Gaia possesses hidden knowledge that could do the same. Transformation…Sacred knowledge…These are elements fiercely guarded by a patriarchal power and also the purview of the “witch”. So, yes…though it was unintentional, my reference to witches, particularly for these two main characters, certainly makes sense. Thanks for pointing it out!

TA: Yes, there’s almost a trilogy of female power in the book between Gaia, Julia, and Julia’s daughter Angel. What motivated you to write an eco-thriller in which women represent the proactive force in the novel?

NM: Well, the thought behind that…even though again it likely wasn’t a conscious one…is that our life-force, the energy of our planet is decidedly female: Mother Earth; the goddess Gaia, etc. It’s only fitting to have the drama of our co-evolution on this planet is played out by strong female characters, who each in her own way embodies the life-force of our beloved planet Earth: 1) Gaia, of course, representing the powerful goddess of Earth herself, the character wishing to orchestrate evolution from her supposedly wise point of view; 2) Angel, Julie’s daughter, who embraces the natural world like a child of nature, and who brings a simple yet elegant sense of natural ecology to problem solving that even her own parents don’t come up with; and 3) Julie, the main character, who, of course as Darwin’s Paradox bridges the dichotomies of the opposing worlds of Icaria and the wilderness in both horrific and wonderful ways that will translate into something quite spectacular for the human race.

TA: Darwin’s Paradox tells a very simple story (the need for balance) in a very exciting way (the eco thriller). Can you tell us a little bit about your process? How do you transform an idea into a novel?

NM: WOW! I like how you said that! I’m glad you called it simple because I strive for that: simplicity. It’s also a large part of what makes up balance, I think. I think doing one achieves the other. Which leads me to your next question, about how my ideas get transformed into stories. That too is a balance, a balance between my conscious, often scientific and rational mind and my unconscious intuitive thoughts…My muse, I suppose. I’m a scientist, Tricia. What that means is that I’ve been trained to think in a certain way, to look for proof of reality. At the same time the other part of me, the part that always wanted to be a paper back writer muses not on the question of proving it but what it means. That’s where the novel comes in. It’s one thing to have a great idea; it’s another to translate it into a story that has resonance. The idea is the premise, the what if, which is usually carried by the plot. In Darwin it would be the question of what would happen if an intelligent virus joined with an intelligent machine. But a good story isn’t just an idea. The story has to take that idea and apply it to an issue, usually carried by the main protagonist. The issue could be healing and forgiveness or control and letting go, or trust…and so on. In great stories the premise/plot and theme/issue(s) resonate both directly and metaphorically to produce a multilayered story arc that is seamlessly intertwined. Hopefully I achieved a little bit of that with Darwin’s Paradox… (silly grin).

TA: Interesting response, Nina. In The Heroine’s Journey, Maureen Murdock sites the ‘integration of the masculine and feminine’ (the rational and the intuitive) as the ultimate goal in the woman’s quest for wholeness. It is a paraodx that brings balance and unity. Before I ask you my final question, I’ld like to thank you for your time and the insights you’ve shared with us today. As a writer who is deeply concerned about the messages embedded in writing, what advice would you give your fellow authors? As a mentor to aspiring women writers, what is the most important lesson you would like to share with them?

NM: First, you’re very welcome, Tricia. And my thanks to you for doing this interview. I really enjoyed your questions. Well, this last question is very interesting and rather wonderfully timed. I just finished giving a seminar to a class of 17-year old girls interesting in writing at the University of British Columbia and my single piece of advice to them is to find what they are passionate about and write about that. Find your passion. Everything will come from that. With passion comes the courage to write from the heart, even if it is subversive–especially if it is subversive. With courage comes faith in oneself, and the ability to surmount all the obstacles that come your way (like all those rejections you are sure to get; I still get them!). With faith comes perseverence in the project you are pursuing (including all those rejections…LOL). And with perseverence comes success. Only passion will sustain the journey. It fuels the writer’s drive to be inspired, tap the muse, and the motivation to learn her craft and the tools she will require in her career. We need more women writers in the SF genre, Tricia, so I hope this helps. Now, I’ve just opened another topic, but perhaps we’ll leave that for another time.

If you would like to read more about Ms. Munteanu’s new book, you can find excerpts and book tour dates at darwinsparadox.com and if you’ld like to read more of Ms. Munteanu’s work, check out her blog, The Alien Next Door.

Podcasts: Literary News and Publication Buzz

 

Ooops. Sorry I fell into the black hole of my master’s thesis again. Right now I’m on a grueling reading schedule that is making it difficult to find a little writing time. All of this academic reading also makes it difficult to keep up with current literary news. If it wasn’t for the occasional tidbits I glean from wordsy.com, I’d have no idea what was going on in the publishing world.

 

In fact, listening to the weekly Wordsy podcast really opened my eyes to everything I’m missing. While downloading their recent podcast on iTunes, I decided to search for other book related podcasts. What I discovered was a bibliophiles dream.

Almost everyone is podcasting, from Havard University Press to The New Yorker. (Well, now I’m really glad Hans gave me the chance to get that first interview under my belt.) Even iTunes produces a “Meet the Author” podcast.  

Since I have an iPod, I download my favorite podcasts through the iTunes store and I can take them with me. Subscribing is not only easy, it’s free. Now I can stay on top of all of the latest reviews and interviews without adding to my already over-taxed reading list. Don’t worry, you don’t need an iTunes account or an MP3 player, you can also access the podcasts directly from the producer’s website.

 

As always, I wanted to share this little discovery with my readers. Perhaps many of you already know about them, but if you’re as clueless as I was, well then, I present some of my favorites with a little bow on top. Yes, they are that good:

 

Harvard University Press: Off the Page with . . .

The New Yorker: Fiction

NPR: Book Tour

Princeton University Press Podcasts

Washington Post Book World

BBC World Book Club

 

Enjoy!

Wordsy Asks “Why do You Blog?”: Podcast Interview

My regular readers know how much I love Wordsy. It’s the Digg of the literary world. Their tag line reads “We love Books,” but you might not know that they love blogs, too. Many of the Wordsy contributors are bloggers as well, so when Wordsy began podcasting, Hans decided to reach out to the Wordsy bloggers and get the stories behind the screen names.

I was thrilled when Hans contacted me about an interview. I enjoy his witty banter with Richard during the regular weekly podcast (they discuss the latest literary news posted in the Wordsy community), so I was excited to have the opportunity to work with Hans myself.

First interviews are always nerve racking, but Hans makes the process painless. Despite early technical difficulties (and a little time zone confusion), our final interview went off without a hitch. Well almost. Due to rescheduling, my three year old was at home instead of the park with her Daddy as planned, so I’m afraid I had to step away from the mic for minute.

Unfortunately, I was distracted during my response to the question “So what are you reading now?” You will hear me mention a speculative fiction book by Nina Munteanu (which should be pronounce Mun-te-ānew, by the way, sorry Nina). It was at this point that my daughter yells “Mooooomy”. Dooh.

Anyway, Hans (being forewarned about the possible interruption) kept the podcast rolling along. So smoothly in fact, I completely forgot about mentioning the TITLE of the book I was reading: Darwin’s Paradox.

Darwin’s Paradox is a fast paced eco-thriller. I was intrigued by the strong female characters and the cooperative philosophies underscoring the action-adventure, so Nina was kind enough to let me have an advanced peek of the book (Due to be released November 15th). You’ll learn more about the book and author in an upcoming review and interview, where I will get to ask the questions.

Aside from this little ‘book plug that never was,’ my first podcast interview went well. I’m glad I had the opportunity to get my feet wet over at Wordsy, where Hans really cares about his community. If you stop by Wordsy to hear my interview, or any of the other thought provoking podcasts, leave a review at the itunes store (where you can also download their entire podcast library for free). They’d love to hear what you think.

Interview with Award Winning Author Jane Porter

Jane Porter is an award winning author, publishing both Classic Romance and Modern Lit, and has more than 4 million books in print. With a Bachelor’s degree from UCLA and a Master’s degree from the University of San Francisco, Porter delivers more than just romantic escapism. But don’t be fooled by the pedigree. Just because her writing provides a little literary substance, doesn’t mean it can’t have a happy ending. jane Porter is the girl next door, and she likes to write that way. Her ability to craft a book with both style and substance is probably why her novel Flirting with Forty has gone through seven reprints and was optioned by Sony.

Her new book, Odd Mom Out features Marta Zinsser, a hardworking single mom who finds her New York independence doesn’t really mesh with the social politics of her new upscale neighbors. (See yesterdays post for a full review.) We have the good fortune of having Ms. Porter with us today, and she’s going to answer a few questions about her new novel and the writing process in general.

Marta Zinsser is very proud of her nonconformity and reluctant to change, while her daughter quickly begins to identify with suburban ideals of Bellevue. Would you attribute this mother daughter conflict to culture shock and the ability of children to adapt faster than adults, or is it just a child’s rebellious impulse?

While I think environment plays a part in socializing children, I believe without a doubt babies come out of the womb uniquely hardwired. My two boys are 3 and a half year apart and they look quite similar and yet their personalities are very different. Eva–like her mother before her–walks to the beat of her own drum. She just happens to crave a different world than the one her mother craved, and maybe it is rebelliousness, but its also a desire for that which she doesn’t know. The traditional family is so appealing to Eva because its the world she’s never known. Marta grew up in a traditional family with a traditional stay at home mom. Marta found it stifling as a child and she was determined to give her daughter a more creative childhood, one with different opportunities and yet Eva takes the freedom and creativity for granted. It’s her norm. Her norm isn’t mom and dad and siblings around the dinner table so suburbia appeals to her. Suburban moms seem like the ideal mom to her but as she discovers in the book, there’s no one right way of doing things. There’s no right way to be a mom, either.

All of the characters in this book are very image conscious in one way or another, at the same time nobody escapes the prejudice associated with the image they have chosen for themselves. Is this an irony you have observed in life or do you simply like playing the devil’s advocate?

Both! I was a funny looking little girl. I was an Eva growing up. Legally blind by third grade, I wore thick glasses until high school. I wore braces for two years s in middle school. Had some problems with acne. I didn’t grow up knowing how to style my hair so it was always really short, an unflattering Dorothy Hamill haircut and frankly, I was a bookworm, an eager beaver student who always knew the answer. I tried too hard to be liked. Like Eva, I did everything I could to try to impress people but that only made others laugh at me and it wasn’t until I was a jr high school teacher myself I realized that kids are just kids, and for some reason kids have to be cruel to the children they don’t understand. Those years of being unattractive and unpopular made a lasting impression and by the time I hit UCLA I took what I’d learned in theater to create a new character named Jane Porter. I reinvented myself with contacts and long hair and confidence–even if I was just faking it. Because I looked different and pretended to be confident, people perceived me differently and treated me differently. I became one of the pretty UCLA coeds and yet I was still the same person just with a different outside packaging.

I find it ironic that at 43 that I’m more or less the same person I was at 13. I still try too hard. I still dream too big. I still want to please. But now I’m accepted, even admired. And part of it is because of how I look, and I know it. I even work it. I’ve taken the sixteen years of being an outsider, of being funny looking Jane, and channel the hurt and hope and need into my characters, my children, my ambition. Image can be powerful. I’m not saying I like it but I’m saying I get it. And maybe that’s why I include image issues in my books because we’re not going to make the image issue go away so let’s at least be aware of the game that’s being played around us…with or without our participation. Life isn’t about being pretty, but life does require self-esteem.

The question of what it means to be a successful woman is one of the underlying themes in the book. Why do you think this is such a hard thing for women to define?

Women by and large are perfectionists. We expect so much from ourselves, and we end up accomplishing so much, that many of us end up just setting the bar higher and higher so that we never really feel successful. Instead we always feel like we’re struggling, striving, which can be incredibly exhausting if we don’t ever give ourselves a place to sit back and relax and soak in all we’ve learned and done. I also think success is so hard for women to internalize because we crave intangibles—peace, hope, love, joy, respect. Women don’t merely want a corner office or a beautiful company car. Women want the entire emotional package, too. Women want to feel loved and needed as well as cherished and respected. I think unless we find our place in the world, as well as peace and acceptance within ourselves, we never really feel successful. And maybe that’s one of the themes I find myself writing about over and over again. Women need to learn to cut themselves slack and give themselves the love and approval we’ve been looking for since we were little girls.

In Odd Mom Out, you address a lot of the same issues we’ve discussed at here Modern Matriarch: the representation of women, woman to woman mentorship, and the difficulties of work/life balance for women in the corporate world. How have these concerns shaped you as a writer?

 If we want the world different for our daughters we have to be the ones to demand change and although I have boys not girls, I want the world different for all the little girls coming after me. I want to be strong, powerful, courageous. I want to be brave and confront discrimination, prejudice, pettiness, fear and say let’s talk about these things, let’s talk about what makes us hurt and what makes us hope and make sure that we’re part of the decision making. I want to be sure younger women know what I’ve only just learned: life’s hard, sometimes very hard, but its also gorgeous and fascinating, challenging, rewarding and complex. There will be times life is going to smack you and hurt you and knock you to your knees. It’s going to suck. Falling and failing taste bad, feels bad but it won’t kill you and it won’t break you. Falling and failing happen to all of us. The secret is to get up again. The secret is knowing you can take a hit. But the first couple times you take that hit you don’t know what’s clobbered you. Which is when mentorship becomes so important. For me mentorship means extending a hand in front of you and behind you, saying, you can do it. We can do it. No one gets left behind. That’s why I write. That’s what I write. No one gets left behind. We all deserve love, joy, freedom, peace and respect. We all deserve the good stuff. Each and every one of us.

Like many of us who work from home, Marta struggles to keep her work from taking over her personal life. As a writer, are you able to manage your time and environment so that you can meet your deadlines and still have quality time with your sons? If you do, what are some of your secrets?

I try to plan in advance as much as possible and then block out time. If I know I’m on deadline for a book, the last 4-6 weeks will be grueling with 10-18 hour days at the computer so before and after I block out dedicated mom time, time where I don’t need the sitter over, and I plan a fun trip or weekend activity with the boys. Same thing for my social life. Once I’ve been freed from my deadline, I try to catch up with girl friends and have coffees and lunch as when I’m writing hardcore I literally only leave my house to take kids to school and sport events. When the pressure is on me, everything falls away but work and kids.

With that said, I have a more difficult personal life at times in that my former husband is a paraplegic who has been very ill these last several years and sometimes we’re operating in a crisis to crisis mode. I find keeping the kids okay and stable and steady require huge amounts of focus and determination on my part. I don’t have a lot of energy for a thousand different things. I will never be the PTA President. I will never chair a big school fundraiser or be a Cub Scout leader, and not because those things aren’t valuable but I’ve learned my limitations. I can get my kids from Point A to Point B but only if I take care of myself physically, mentally and emotionally, too. I learned the hard way by kids don’t stand a chance if I don’t look out for all of us. Moms have to learn to be selfish to protect themselves and their families. Moms have to say, time out, I need a time out, because when we make sure we’re healthy our families are healthier, too.

This is your third novel. What lessons did you learn from the publication of your first 5 Spot novel and how did you apply it to this one?

Odd Mom Out is my third novel for 5 Spot, and I’ve learned a lot between The Frog Prince, Flirting with Forty and Odd Mom Out. I discovered that readers don’t always just want a fun escape but they want to feel good, heart good, soul good, at the end of a book. They want a quick, easy read but at the same they want to be nourished, the same way you might feel after lunch or coffee with a great friend. My books are meant to be friends, encouraging and empowering. If I’ve done that, then I’ve succeeded.

Finally, what advice do you have for aspiring writers?

As with anything, don’t give up. Don’t accept defeat. Keep learning, keep applying what you learn about the craft, about the world, about you to the story. Writing is a muscle and requires muscle. Learning to write well takes time. It’s like hitting the gym to build a bicep. You only get a better, stronger muscle by working it. Well, the same is true for writing. Of course good writers make it look easier than it is so don’t be discouraged if you have to write and rewrite. It took me fifteen years to sell my first book. I had over twelve rejected manuscripts before I finally sold my first book in January 2000. I actually write for two publishers–very different stuff–and since January 2000 I have written and sold 30 novels. It’s been an a lot of work but I’m living my dream. I’m read around the world. I’m published in over twenty-five countries and nineteen languages. I even have Sony and Lifetime making a movie out of one of my books (Flirting with Forty). This is why I didn’t quit. I wanted to see if I could do it. I wanted to know I could achieve it. I wanted to prove that anything is possible.

Anything is possible.

To find out more about the author, visit her website at http://www.janeporter.com/

Challenging the Idea that Beauty is Only Skin Deep

Judy Mi Cha over at Mi Chic has honored me with her Beauty of the Month. I was a little perplexed until she explained it’s about inner and outer beauty. Well, ok then, that I can accept.

Judy Mi Chi is a talented writer who I actually met months ago on Editred.com (a writing community where she workshops some of her poetry). She’s also a contributing writer on Gather.com and with the social media group Associated Content. Judy is passionate about beauty. Not just cosmetics and fashion, but that inner glow that truly makes someone shine. Judy is an excellent example of women who are be both beautiful and intelligent.

Riding the middle road of average looks, I’ve never had to face the prejudice of being beautiful. Treated as male tokens, beautiful women are often viewed as shallow and a bit ditzy. That’s rarely true. However, it’s easy to see how such a mystique would develop. Some of these beautiful, intelligent women do play the dumb card, because they find it’s an easy way to get what they want. Let’s face it; a dumb beautiful woman meets less resistance than a smart one.

Sadly, many women feel they have to pin their hair back and don a pair of glasses before anyone will take them seriously. The pressure to down play their beauty comes from both sexes. Many women rage that make-up and high heels are masculine contraptions used to alter females into their ideal image. Men generally insist the business women should look more like business men.

I won’t deny the patriarchal history of many of our beauty traditions, but then again, I don’t deny the pagan pedigree of many of our Christian holidays. The important question is: what does it mean to you today? Does fashion make you feel beautiful and confident? Then by all means, gussy-up. (In fact, you should visit Judy’s blog, Mi Chic. She has a lot of great beauty tips.) Just don’t forget to nourish your inner beauty.

Finding your inner passion and cultivating it will make you a force to be reckoned with, no matter what external image you choose to portray. Whether it’s blogging about beauty or the representation of women, your conviction will shine through and you’ll gain the respect and admiration of others.

Author Interview: Ellen Meister

Welcome fellow readers. Please, help yourself to some coffee and take a seat. Today we have a special guest, Ellen Meister, who is here to answer a few questions about her book Secret Confessions of The Applewood PTA.

According to Library Journal, “Meister’s debut novel is heartbreakingly funny, her characters facing life’s dramas and disappointments head on with wit and spunk.” I have to agree. I enjoyed Applewood immensely, and as a writer myself, I’m excited to have the opportunity to chat with Ellen about her characters and their relationships.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s review, I found your characters to be one of the most interesting facets of Applewood. How did you go about “casting” the character types for your novel?
Most of the women in my town seem to think I found all my characters at a PTA meeting! Actually, the choice of characters was driven by the plot and theme. I knew from the start that this would be a book that looked beneath the surface of picture perfect suburbia to reveal the secret pain and passion of these women, so I wanted at least one character who wrestled with the idea of staying home with her children versus being in the workforce. Hence, Maddie was born. I wrapped her career issues around a troubled marriage, and very intentionally gave her problems that resulted as much from her own internal conflicts as anything going on in her life. This way, she was able to have an arc that allowed her to mend her marriage by mending herself. Ruth, who wears her wealth on the outside, was created to drive home the idea that even the women who seem most enviable can be hiding secret pain. That’s why I gave her a giant heart and a disabled husband. And timid Lisa was created to balance Ruth’s brashness, and wound up becoming one of my favorite and tenderest characters.

The heroines of Applewood are all very complex characters with both admirable qualities and critical flaws. How did go about creating such well rounded characters?
Thanks for that compliment, Trish! I think the trick, for any writer, is to find something about the character she can relate to on a very basic emotional level. Once you do that, the rest falls into place.

The women of Applewood are also very dynamic, developing as individuals over the course of the story. When faced with personal challenges many of your characters transition from a state of self-absorption to participants in win/win solutions. Was this intended as a critical element of their characterization or an aesthetic choice to tie up all the loose plot lines?
All of the above. It was very important for me to give them all arcs. I wanted each character to learn and grow by the end of the book, and to have that tied to their friendship. As far as inventing win-win solutions, I’m a gal who believes in happy endings, and wanted to deliver on that for my readers.

Your main characters are all women and the relationships between them and the other minor characters are diverse and intricate. Why do you think women are so fascinated by relationships ?
I think we’re hard-wired to be social creatures. As a mom to two boys and one girl, I see that dynamic playing out in my children. To us humans of the female variety, everything is about relationships.

Just like many of your characters, you appear to be quite the multi-tasker. How did you find the time to complete a novel length work while juggling all of your other responsibilities?
It’s hard, but if you saw the way my house looks most of the time, you’d know the answer to that! In truth, the only way I was able to get this novel written was to get up at 5:00 every morning and work for two hours before the family awoke. I guess some people can accomplish this by writing at night after the children go to sleep, but I’m a morning person. I’m at my sharpest in the wee hours, after my first cup of coffee. It’s all downhill from there.

Once you get through the long process of writing (and re-writing), it’s time to publish. Tell us about some of the unique challenges you faced as a female author in this industry?
Woman or man, getting commercially published is tremendously difficult. To succeed, you have to start by being a perfectionist about your work and end by being relentless in your pursuit of the goal. In such a competitive field, a bit of luck is also essential. In my case, I somehow wound up with a dream team of the world’s best agents and editor.

Chic lit and Mom lit still seem to be struggling with credibility in literary circles. Does that frustrate you as a writer or do you think the commercial success of these genres are vindication enough?
Most of the harping against commercially successful genres has the distinct tang of sour grapes, and I feel sad for individuals who wallow in that. It ’s a bit frustrating to see how close-minded some people can be, but I don’t dwell on it.

Booklist gave you rave reviews stating that “with sexy characters, sharp, dialogue, and snappy pacing, Meister’s sexy, saucy debut novel could well turn into a movie of its own”. Now be honest, did you cast George Clooney as the Hollywood hunk just in case that should happen? Do you secretly harbor a Beryl like fascination for him?
 If someone ever decides to make a movie of this book and actually casts George Clooney to play himself, I’ll have to spend a lot of time on the set to make sure he gets it right. My cross to bear. Oh, the sacrifices we make for art!

Ellen Meister is a PTA mom herself, with a background in writing advertising copy and short stories. She currently lives in Long Island with her husband and three children where she says, “I write, I swear, I sing, I dance. All from the front seat of my minivan.” For more information on the author, visit her website at: http://www.ellenmeister.com.

Click here to read my review of Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA.

Secret Confessions of Applewood is now available through Amazon.com.