fruitful

Book Giveaway!

2012-01-25T23:20:00.000-08:00

What electrifies you as a writer? If you let me know over at my She Writes blog by this Friday, you could win a copy of The Book of Live Wires (the grand prize includes an ebook, a rare physical edition and a copy of The Book of Dead Birds.) I've been so touched by all of the comments people have left so far--it's deeply inspiring to see what makes people tick as writers. You need to become a member of She Writes to enter--something I highly encourage; it's a wonderful community for women writers.

I also recently posted Knocking on Your Door (On reframing self promotion) (if you check it out, you can see a copy of the first page of the neighborhood newspaper I created when I was 11.)

And going back a couple of months, here are my last three NaNoWriMo blogs for She Writes, in reverse chronological order:Writing Into (and Out of) the Void, Thanksgiving, NaNoWriMo Edition and On Perfectionism: A NaNoWriMo No No.

I look forward to finding out what sets your writing self on fire!

2011-11-15T22:06:00.000-08:00

I received my contributor's copies of Sudden Flash Youth today; it's a very cool collection of short short stories (all under 1000 words) focusing on young people, published by Persea Books. I'm honored to appear with people like Alice Walker and Dave Eggers and Steve Almond and Naomi Shihab Nye in its pages.

I'm sorry I haven't been appearing on this page very often. I feel as if I should enter some sort of blogger confessional booth, saying how long it's been since my last blog post (way too long, for sure). And, to admit even more bloggerly sins, I've been blogging elsewhere, forsaking my own blog. I will try to do a better job of keeping the blog fires alive here. In order to catch you up to date, here is where I've been over the last month or so...

I am currently blogging about NaNoWriMo for She Writes every Friday. Here are my first two posts:
--The NaNoWriMo Adventure Begins!
--Road Maps (or On Writing with an Outline for the First Time)

I have done some guest blogs about my decision to release The Book of Live Wires as an ebook (and I promise I will write about that more thoroughly here, as well):
--Tricia O'Brien interviewed me for her wonderful blog, Talespinning
--I wrote a guest blog for The Office of Letters & Light, the organization responsible for NaNoWriMo
--I also touched upon the e-book in my blog for Red Room on civil disobedience and writing, Action is the Antidote to Despair

Thanks to Red Room, I also have a piece up on Huffington Post about My Life with the Lincolns and the new MLK, Jr. Monument.

I feel as if I am forgetting some other posts--will share them as I remember them, and will try stay more on top of letting you know about my upcoming events (if any of you are in the Ventura area, I'll be speaking at the AAUW luncheon there this coming Saturday the 19th.) I hope you'll forgive my bloggerly sins!

2011-10-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

I first met Cindy Bokma about 9 years ago on an online writers' forum; she was so bubbly and charming and so excited about the process of writing--I immediately knew I wanted to be her friend. When I met her in person at a writers' conference, that feeling was amply confirmed; I am lucky to be able to call her my friend indeed (and I love that we live less than an hour away from one another so we can meet midway for breakfast every once in a while--although not often enough!) Cindy is a treasure. It's been so wonderful to watch her grow as a writer, crafting one funny, lively manuscript with insanely commercial potential after another. My only frustration is the fact that she hasn't gotten the recognition she deserves yet--this woman should have multiple best selling books and blockbuster movies and her own tv show and line of perfume by now. One day (as I keep telling) her, her work is going to break through and hit the big time. Until then, we are lucky to be able to read her first novel, Here if You Need Me as an ebook, and we can also get regular Cindy infusions through her beauty blog, Hello Dollface and her book blog, Cindy Reads.

I asked Cindy a few questions about her writing (I was especially interested in her ebook experience, as I am going to be launching my own ebook, The Book of Live Wires--the sequel to The Book of Dead Birds--next week. Stay tuned for more info...)

1. When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I have a copy of the little school newspaper from the third grade where I wrote a short story and a notebook full of poems and stories from when I was a kid. I worked on my highschool newspaper, yearbook and literary club. Ever since a young age, I loved to read and always had a book in my hands!

2. You've had quite a journey with this book. Could you tell a bit about the inspiration for the novel?

I began it at the time I ran my celebrity gossip website. I wondered what would happen if someone with a normal, non famous life got caught up in the glamorous life of a celebrity. I wanted my character to be a bitchy girl who really gets sucked into the whole Hollywood lifestyle and has a big character arc where she changes completely. I ended up having to rewrite my main character because people (and every single agent I queried) did not have any sympathy for her.

3. I'd love to hear why you chose to re-release the novel as an ebook, with a new title.

I wasn’t totally happy with the way A Thousand Dollars for a Kiss turned out. I felt the editing wasn’t as tight as it should have been. I read all the reviews and took some of the harsh critiques to heart. I knew the plot needed some work and the main character needed to be softened up a bit. I left an ambiguous ending with one of the characters but realized she needed her story wrapped up.

I rewrote much of the book and gave it a new title, Here If You Need Me, which pertains to the character of Barrett wanting so badly to be a part of pop star Kat’s life. I felt like releasing it as an ebook would give new life to the book and expose my writing to a whole other pool of readers- those with Kindles and Nooks and ipads!

4. How has the process of e-publishing been different from the process of more traditional publishing? What are your thoughts about ebooks and ereaders, in general?

With the e-publishing, you don’t need a publishing contract, an agent or an editor. You can do everything yourself via places like Smashwords or Kindle Publishing which is good and bad. I think its very helpful to have someone to give you a critique and point out what the manuscript needs as well as edit the grammar. I’ve been working with a publisher for a girls book I have coming out in the spring and I love the process of working with an editor and having a time line.

I was very, very resistant to having an ereader myself. I love books and pages and holding a book in my hands. But for travel, I think its very handy to have a Kindle in my purse! I can have several books with me and not have to fill up a carry-on which is what I usually do. I normally take no less than six novels with me! So for travel, an e-reader for sure. But for everyday, I want a real book. I go to bed every night and read for an hour or two.

5. You are one of the most ambitious people I know--I so admire your persistence and drive. What are your deepest dreams and hopes for your writing career?

Thank you Gayle! You’ve been such a mentor from day one and I appreciate it. My dream for many years has been to be a best- selling novelist. My stories are very commercial and I want to see them translated on to the big screen. I wish for a book contract to write a novel a year and have a hand in the process of bringing the stories to film or television. I have a big imagination and a lot of creativity so my hopes would be to earn a living doing what I love- writing and creating.

6. What are you working on now?

I try to do daily updates on my beauty blog, HelloDollface and weekly updates on CindyReads, my book review site. I have a kids TV show I’d like to pitch, a novel about Marilyn Monroe I’m trying to edit and I am getting ready to commit to National Novel Writing Month!

7. What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

I’ve been rejected by more agents than I can count over the years and I’m still at my little desk, writing every single day. I would tell aspiring writers to keep writing and not to stop. And don’t take rejection personally. Get back on that proverbial horse and keep going! Work towards those dreams.

Thanks so much, Cindy. I look forward to our next breakfast together (and to reading more of your work. Good luck with all of your projects!)

2011-09-14T17:06:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, I'll be reading from/discussing/signing Delta Girls at the Corona Public Library at 2pm. Would love to see you there!

2011-07-11T12:11:00.000-07:00

A lovely bit of magnolia-scented synchronicity in my life as a writer/editor...

I am delighted to announce the publication of Magnolia: A Journal of Women's Literature. I was invited to be guest editor for the inaugural print edition, which focuses on socially engaged fiction by women. Magnolia is an offshoot of the wonderful Her Circle Ezine: Feminine Experience and Socially Engaged Creative Practice and is now also a project of the Institute of Arts and Social Engagement, so it's mission is very close to my writer-activist heart. The anthology is a wonder, full of poems, fiction and creative non-fiction that delve into women's experience--in the body, in the world--with great honesty and power. Here is the official description of the collection:

In this first volume of a new series dedicated to socially engaged literature by women, guest editor Gayle Brandeis introduces us to powerful storytelling that speaks out loud the atrocities of our world, breaking the silence and taking pause. Included are the traumatic tale of a mother’s loss during a clandestine border crossing, the unionization of a women’s light bulb factory in pre-World War II Chicago, a child whose life has been stunted by a futuristic device she is stored in on a daily basis, and many more.

This year’s writers represent a diversity of geographies, stylistic sensibilities, and perspectives. Through poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction, they universally challenge us to reconsider what “women’s experience” looks and sounds like—they require us to break our hearts, celebrate even the smallest triumphs, and to critically examine the seemingly mundane moments of everyday life, all through the medium of language. Featuring new and established voices, this collection is a must read for compassionate and thoughtful readers from all walks of life.

Pick up a copy today! (They are also starting to read submissions for next year's edition, edited by Karen Connelly, so if this project appeals to your own sensibilities as a writer, be sure to send in your work.)

In other Magnolia news, I will be reading my vintage essay, "Meditations on Magnolia" to help celebrate the online launch of Inlandia: A Literary Journey (for which I am an associate fiction editor) this Saturday, 1pm at the Arlington Library, 9556 Magnolia Avenue (fitting address!) in Riverside. Please join me and many other local writers as we explore the Inland Empire through the written (and spoken) word!

Now I feel like finding a magnolia tree and staring up into the lush, startling beauty of its blossoms...

2011-07-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled and honored to be on the Advisory Board for the Afghan Women's Writing Project, which offers online writing instruction for women in Afghanistan and a rare, deeply important, chance to get their voices out into the world. The AWWP recently launched a campaign, The Freedom to Tell Your Story, to raise funds to reach more Afghan women and unleash more of their hidden words. Through July 31, if you donate at least $20 (tax deductible) to the AWWP, you will be entered in a drawing to win a variety of wonderful prizes, from handmade jewelry to signed books (including ones by Amy Tan, Khaled Hosseini, Jennifer Egan and yours truly), cds and films. Donations will fund an internet cafe in Kabul, an expansion of AWWP in Herat, and an oral history project.

Please donate to this special campaign today. As the AWWP website says, to tell one's story is a human right. You can help restore that right to countless women whose voices have not yet been heard.

“When I don’t write, I am like an orphan child searching love of parents — I am like a broken lover — I am like a blasted Kabul street full of blood.” -- Roya

2011-06-30T23:26:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder that I'll be part of the Women Behaving Badly reading this Saturday, July 2, 7:30pm, at Beyond Baroque in Venice, CA, sponsored by CODEPINK. I'm excited to share the stage with Jo Scott-Coe, Stephanie Hammer and Donna Hilbert--amazing writers all. As the flyer says, "Four SoCal women writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry share their work and raise their voices: naughty, naked, notorious—and necessary." I plan to read some short stories, and maybe a poem or two, that I haven't shared in public before. Can't wait to hear what the other misbehaving women have to share!

This coming Thursday, July 7, at 6;30pm, I'll be reading from (and doing a little power point presentation about) My Life with the Lincolns at the Riverside Public Library, thanks to the Inlandia Institute. Hope to see local friends there! There will probably be less misbehaving at this reading--although you never know...I could be asked about the word in the book that's gotten me in trouble!

A fun bit of literary news--my novel Self Storage was published in Romania! Here is the cover; I am tickled that they recreated the original cover image in their own way--it makes me smile to think of someone in the art department scouring Romanian stores (or maybe their own apartment) for a red bra and a canning jar. The title translates to "Flan's Auction" (well, technically "Flange's Auction", but hopefully people will realize the title is about a person named Flan, and not metal rims!) I hope the book will find a happy audience in that part of the world.

2011-06-11T22:17:00.000-07:00

I took a dance improvisation class today and it felt like coming home--my body remembering its own idiosyncrasies, its own freedom. It's been over 20 years (??!!?!) since I danced improv on a regular basis, yet my body slipped--albeit a bit rustily--right into the playful flow of the class, moving through space with other bodies-in-the-moment...such an invigorating, inspiring experience. I had forgotten how simple movements like walking, running, standing still, can become profound when done with intention, and in community. And then doing duet and trio work, playing with sharing of weight, sculpting of space--an amazing process. I felt more like myself than I have in quite a long time. I'm going to be sore tomorrow, and already have bruises on my knees and shins, but it's well worth it.

A great moment of synchronicity...after class, the wonderful teacher Sue asked if I was familiar with the work of dancer and writerSimone Forti. I felt such a jolt...Just a few days ago, I had found Simone Forti's book, Handbook in Motion, in a box in my basement after not seeing it for years, and brought it upstairs to soak in its inspiration anew. It's the one thing I can remember consciously stealing--I took it from the University of Redlands' library, probably in 1987, because I was worried I wouldn't be able to find it anywhere else, and it had impacted me so deeply, I couldn't bear the thought of living without it. It turns out that Sue sometimes uses exercises by Simone Forti in her improv class that combine writing and movement--I nearly swooned when she told me. In dusting off that old book and now taking this class (which unfortunately meets only once a month--although it may meet more frequently over the summer), it feels like I've started dusting off parts of myself that I never meant to put in storage.

Another synchronicity--Simone Forti's more recent work has been published by Beyond Baroque, and I have a couple of events coming up at BB in the very near future (please forgive me for not mentioning these earlier--I had every intention to do so, but time is a slippery devil...)

Tomorrow, I will be part of the Hitched series, where established authors are paired with emerging ones (it feels weird to me to be in the "established" slot--I still don't feel as if I have really emerged yet.) I have been hitched to the fabulous Tisha Reichle, a friend and former student who does a beautiful job of marrying art and social change in her work. We will be reading with the wonderful poets Laurel Ann Bogen and Helena Lipstadt. Festivities begin at 5:00pm, 681 Venice Boulevard, Venice, CA.

On July 2 at 7:30pm, I will be back at Beyond Baroque for "Women Behaving Badly", with the amazing writers Jo Scott-Coe, Stephanie Barbe Hammer, and Donna Hilbert--an evening presented by CODEPINK: Women for Peace. A night of fiercely independent work to celebrate Independence Day!

Both events cost $7, which will help keep Beyond Baroque, a most-needed, not to mention storied and historic, literary center, up and running.

I've also been wanting to share the link to this interview I did for the Canadian novelist Lori Ann Bloomfield's blog, First Line Fiction. It's always a delight to find writers with kindred spirits; I've found one in Lori who is a yoga teacher as well as a writer and shares my belief that a writer's most important job is to pay attention to the world. I loved that so much of today's dance class was about paying attention, too--keeping each cell open and ready to respond. It's good to find that intersection in creative processes--today's experience should help me prepare for the seminar I'll be teaching at the Antioch MFA residency a week from today: "'You must change your life': Finding inspiration in other art forms." We teach what we need to learn, yes? I have so much to learn (and re-learn. Glad I was able to do a bit of that today.)

2011-05-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

I want to pull my head above water long enough to let you know about a couple of books...

I have a chapter, "Raising a Ruckus with CODEPINK" in the powerful new collection The 21st Century Motherhood Movement: Mothers Speak Out on Why We Need to Change the World and How to Do It", edited by Andrea O'Reilly of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement. I was a keynote speaker at MIRCI's recent conference on Motherhood, Activism, Advocacy, Agency in Toronto, and was so inspired and empowered by the voices of mothers coming together to make a difference. This book is an amazing compilation of the profound work mothers are doing around the globe to ensure a better future for the world our children will inherit.

I recently blurbed another incredible book about women, this one Moon Tides; Jeju Island Grannies of the Sea by Brenda Paik Sunoo. If you've read my novel The Book of Dead Birds, you are aware of the women divers on Jeju Island; the haenyeo are a dying breed, and this book explores their lives with such beauty and deep respect. I wish it had existed as I was researching my novel! It's funny--about a year ago, a friend sent me a link to some of the photos from the book, and I recognized the name of the photographer/author--we had gone to graduate school together! Brenda herself contacted me a few months later and asked if I might consider writing a blurb for the book; such a small world. Here is my endorsement: "With a compassionate eye and a generous heart, Brenda Paik Sunoo has beautifully captured the fascinating, dwindling world of the haenyeo. I am grateful she has given voice to these 'grannies of the sea' and their powerful, moving stories. Dive into this book and prepare to be amazed."

I've also been wanting to let you know that I am the fiction judge this year for the Tiferet Journal Writing Contest. Alicia Ostriker is the poetry judge and Josip Novakovich is judging non-fiction. Deadline is June 1st (which would have been my mom's 72nd birthday)--enter soon; I'd love to read your work!

2011-04-29T23:41:00.000-07:00

And the bird saga continues...

Today, as Asher and I were heading out to meet Michael for lunch, a blue jay screeched and screeched in the wisteria vines above me. My heart went out to it--I figured it was keening for the baby bird that had died yesterday.

I picked up Michael at his office and we drove over to the Barn on campus to grab a bite before heading to the UCR library so I could do more research for my upcoming talk. I pulled the stroller out of the trunk and was about to drop the diaper bag into the basket in back when I noticed something my brain couldn't quite compute. At first I thought it was Asher's toy bird that chirps when you squeeze it, but it looked too detailed, not plush enough. Then I wondered if somehow the dead baby bird from yesterday had fallen into the stroller by accident as Michael was trying to dispose of it. I looked closer, though, and saw that the little gray body was breathing. A live baby bird in the stroller. The stroller I had left outside overnight, which I rarely ever do; the stroller I had nonchalantly folded up and tossed in the trunk without a second thought. That poor blue jay in the wisteria, watching me birdnap her baby--no wonder she was screeching!

I felt such a rush of emotions...fear, confusion, guilt, awe, giddiness, the promise of a second chance, all racing through my veins at once. I told Michael I felt as if I was living in a myth. "Because there's a bird in the stroller?" he asked, amused at my penchant to turn every little thing into Story. But yes, finding a living bird inside a stroller, a stroller that had been folded up in the trunk, no less, felt magical, somehow--certainly a much different, more hopeful, narrative than finding a dead bird on the driveway.

I'm afraid I am too exhausted to continue the saga tonight--I will let you know what happened next soon...

2011-04-28T23:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, a dead baby bird showed up on my driveway, likely a little blue jay. My heart sank at the sight of it--I wanted to see it as some sort of good omen, the way I did when a dead crow appeared on my patio just as I was ready to give up on writing The Book of Dead Birds, but it just made me sad. Probably because I have my own little baby, who has a bad cold, and the thought of any young life snuffed out rattles me deeply. But also probably because I feel so disconnected from my writing right now--I have so little time, so little energy, am so far behind on email, etc.; I am not sure I feel ready for or deserving of a good writing omen.

Still, little writing nudges are coming my way.

I have an author profile on Red Room, and every once in a while, the site invites authors to submit pieces to their affiliate sites at Aol.com. I sent along a piece I had written a while ago about my unexpected adventures as Annie Oakley in a community theater production of Annie Get Your Gun. Gina at Red Room liked the essay (the piece went live today; you can read it here) and told me an assignment had just come up--writing about Kate Middleton's last night of freedom. Would I like to take it on? At first I balked inside--I didn't have the time, didn't have any interest in the royal wedding--but then something in me said "Say yes." And I'm glad I did--it was a fun piece to write (you can read it here.) Beyond the enjoyment of it, though, it reminded me that I *can* find time to write, and if I can carve out time to write an 800 word piece on a subject that I never would have chosen on my own, I can certainly find time to write about subjects that are calling me.

And subjects have indeed been calling me. A novel, a YA novel, a memoir, all vying for my attention. And they're all starting to get louder. I just need to figure out which to focus on. I just need to get past my own resistance, my own fears about having lost my ability to write, my own fears of failure. I need to give my writing the time it deserves. Toward that end, I actually signed Asher up for two half days a week of daycare this month, but he's already gotten sick twice and is so miserable when I bring him there, I'm questioning whether to continue. Somehow, though, I need to find a time other than late at night, when I'm half asleep, to put some words on a page (if you could see me right now, you'd know I am slumped against a headboard in the guest room, my eyes barely open).

I'm currently working on a talk about mothering, fiction writing and compassion for a Motherhood and Activism conference in Toronto next month, and in my research about mother novelists am finding that there were very few before the 1960s, at least ones who were published. For so long, women were told they could have either books or babies, not both. When my older kids were little, I somehow had no problem finding moments to write, but this go around, I'm having a much harder time with the balance. I am finding myself enraged by the historical silencing of mothers, and don't want to follow that tradition by silencing myself. So that is giving me motivation to write. A recent visit with a very lovely and enthusiastic book club to discuss Delta Girls put some writerly fire back in my belly, as well.

Also, I'm going to be a guest on Cassie Premio Steele's Co-Creating Show Friday, May 6. I want to get some good writing done before then so I won't feel like a hypocrite talking about creativity!

And another thing that's helping me along...friends. My amazing friend Laraine recently sent a very loving kick in the pants via email, and a dear friend, Kari Pope, sent me a series of Fruitflesh Meditations she has written as part of her own creative process. What a treat to see my own form written in someone else's hand, mirrored back at me to offer the same inspiration that I had hoped to offer others. I want to share one here:

Banana

I always enjoy waiting for a banana’s voice to change. Green at the tips, its song is not quite ready, but when the peel starts to freckle you may release it to sing its sweet perfume into the world.

The banana helps me remember that there is such a thing as being ready to write. Whether you achieve this preparedness through a writing ritual, through finding distance from your subject, or through hitting upon a pocket of time, space, thought, or emotion in which to write, you can and will be prepared to bring forth your own song. It’s a natural ripening, not to be rushed or undercut. You will find it, or it will find you. You will be ready.

Thanks so much, Kari. I think I'm almost ripe.

2011-03-08T00:27:00.000-08:00

Happy International Women's Day!

As a woman, a mother, a founding member of the Women Creating Peace Collective, a national staff member of CODEPINK: Women for Peace and an advisory board member of the Afghan Women's Writing Project, this day has great meaning for me. I love connecting with women around the world to share our stories, our strength. This is the 100th year of International Women's Day, and we have a couple of local events planned to celebrate the occasion.

Today (Tuesday, March 8), the Women Creating Peace Collective will stand on the Mt. Rubidoux Ave. bridge (over Mission Inn Ave.) in Riverside in solidarity with CODEPINK, Women for Women International, and women standing up for peace all around the globe. The bridge movement was inspired by brave women in the Congo and Rwanda who joined together on a bridge bordering their two countries to stand up for peace and an end to violence against women. Please join us at 4pm, or find a bridge in your own area here.

The Women Creating Peace Collective will continue to celebrate International Women's Day on Saturday, March 26 at our 7th annual Gather the Women Conference. In the past, the event has been held at Cal State San Bernardino; we are excited to bring the event to downtown Riverside this year, where it will be more accessible to the wider community.

The conference will feature a day of inspiring, empowering workshops on creativity, sustainability, activism, spirituality and more. Our keynote speaker is internationally known drummer Rowan Storm, whose address will be "Women's Work Throughout the Ages: Timekeepers, Drummers, Weavers of Community." The conference runs from 9-5; at 8:30, we will gather at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 3657 Lemon St., Riverside, CA 92501, and break out into concurrent workshops at various downtown venues. There will be a women's marketplace in the library plaza throughout the day and an evening concert of dance, music and spoken word at the Riverside Woman's Club, 4092 10th St., Riverside, CA 92501, 7-9pm. For more information, to register for the conference, or apply to be a vendor in the women's marketplace, please visit www.womencreatingpeace.org (the site which Michael put together for us, through many late nights with WCP creatrix Nancy, even in the midst of his double vision). It will be a beautiful day--please join us if you can.

2011-01-10T16:25:00.000-08:00

Riverside area friends...

I hope you will be able to join me for an intimate Performances for Peace concert this Saturday evening at 7:30pm, featuring two world-renowned Middle Eastern musicians, percussionist Dror Sinai and musician, singer and composer, Naser Musa. I love that both of them see music as a way of both creating and sustaining peace, bringing people together through sacred sound. It is quite amazing that they are going to be playing together in our area (we have my friend Nancy to thank for that!)--please take advantage of this rare and beautiful convergence. Marguerite Kusuhara will perform a whirling piece, and my troupe may do a dance or two. :)

I am thrilled that Dror Sinai will also be teaching a drumming workshop at my home (aka the Peace Lodge) Saturday afternoon from 4-6. People of all drumming abilities (including first timers) are welcome.

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit Facebook.com/Saahiras.Gypsy.Soul

2010-12-28T10:36:00.001-08:00

For those interested in writing to make a difference, I want to let you know of two opportunities (sorry about the last minute notice--I've been meaning to post this for ages)...

--My friend, Naomi Benaron, whose incredible novel, Running the Rift, won the 2010 Bellwether Prize and will be published by Algonquin in 2012, is teaching an online short fiction class, Witness: Writing the Fine Line of Trauma. Naomi is an amazing, compassionate writer and teacher, and will help you write that which is unspeakable.

--I am guest editing the annual print issue of Magnolia Journal, which features socially engaged poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction by women. The deadline is December 30--two days from now!--so if you have work that interacts with and challenges social injustices, please send it soon.

Thanks so much! Here's to writing to change the world!

2010-11-07T16:34:00.000-08:00

Lifting LIFT

When my friend Rebecca O'Connor's memoir, LIFT, came out last year, I meant to invite her to do a Q&A on this blog. LIFT is an amazing, honest, powerful book about her life as a falconer, and I wanted to let everyone know about it. But life, as you know, has a tendency to run off the rails, and much to my chagrin, I never got around to the interview or a post. When I read Rebecca's beautiful, passionate blog post today about her rocky journey toward (and through) publishing, I knew I had to share it and to urge all of you to buy her book. Her post and the link to the Dear Sugar column she includes within it are among the most galvanizing, inspiring--and realistic--pieces about writing I've read in a long while. It reminded me, too, how important it is for writers--and friends--to support one another.

My blurb for her book reads "Rebecca K. O’Connor writes that falconry is a religion; she has found a new and true believer in this vegetarian soul. I love how she explores both the pain and majesty of the natural world and the pain and majesty of a woman’s heart. Lift is a thrilling, moving read." Read it for yourself--you will be changed and amazed.

2010-11-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Happy National Novel Writing Month to those of you partaking in this crazy writing adventure! I am not jumping in myself this year, but I recently unearthed the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo 8 years ago, The Book of Live Wires, and was shocked to discover it has some real life in it. I honestly thought that I had written it just for myself, just to get back into my own creative flow. I honestly thought that it was an incoherent mess, that it was not anything I'd ever consider sharing with the world. Now I have enough distance to see it has some real juice. It needs work, of course, but there are passages that may be among the strongest I've written. I'm floored. My beloved first reader, Laraine is looking at it now, as is my agent. I am so eager to get their notes and see whether the story might have some potential.

The Book of Live Wires is a sequel, of sorts, to The Book of Dead Birds--perhaps it is technically more of a spin off or a follow up, since it is narrated by Darryl, not Ava. It's wild to see how much resonance the story has with my own life today--Darryl and Ava have a baby, so there's that connection, plus Darryl is still dealing with the loss of his first wife, so grief plays a major role in the story. I had not experienced much grief when I wrote the draft, and in reading it now am surprised by how much my writing about loss rings true. Again, a reminder of how we know more than we know we know when we write.

I'll keep you posted. In the meanwhile, may all of you NaNoWriMo-ers have swift fingers and wild hearts (and, most importantly, have a lot of fun!)

2010-10-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

You've read Mama, Redux, the blog, now read Mama, Redux, the essay over at Milk and Ink. :)

You can also read a brief interview with me at Cynsations, the blog of bestselling author for young readers, Cynthia Leitich Smith.

Interesting that in both, I speak about being too exhausted to write now that I have a baby. Definitely something I need to work on...

2010-09-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

A few events on the (very near) horizon that I've been meaning to let you know about...

Tomorrow, Saturday the 18th, at 10am, I'll be the guest speaker at the Southern California Writers Association meeting. You can find information here (it says I'll be speaking on The Art of Humor, which is funny in itself, since that isn't what I plan to talk about. I'll see if I can occasionally throw in a laugh here and there.) :)

Sunday, September 19, I'll be dancing at the Shimmy for Critters fundraising show at the Animal Shelter in Riverside. My troupe, Saahira's Gypsy Soul, led by my amazing friend Nancy/Saahira, is scheduled to perform at noon. (I'm trying to come up with my own belly dance name. What do you all think of Ghaliya? It means "beloved" in Arabic, and sounds enough like Gayle that it wouldn't feel too unfamiliar. I actually considered changing the spelling of my name to Ghael in college--I'm glad I didn't, but this could be a fun way to play with something somewhat similar. Other possibilities are Nashita, which means "full of life", Rahima, which means "compassionate", and Shairah, which means "poetess.") :)

Sunday, September 26, I'll be at the always fabulous West Hollywood Book Fair, reading from My Life with the Lincolns on the Teen Stage at 11am.

It would be lovely to see you at any of these events...

2010-08-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

I recently heard from a man named Pat Jacobsen, who runs the website www.fruitcratelabels.com. It turns out that he supplied the label that my publisher used to make the cover for Delta Girls! Until I heard from Pat, I hadn't realized that the cover was based on an actual label; I had thought it was the art department's own creation. How cool to see the genesis, to see how the artist at Random House used the shapes of the label as design elements, to learn, after doing some research online, that the Noia family was Portugese, like the Vieira family in Delta Girls!

Thank you to everyone who came to my recent Delta Girls readings...I was especially touched by all of the hometown support at the Riverside Library. Riverside readers rock!

If you missed my readings, you can hear me reading from Delta Girls and discussing the book with David Wilk at his wonderful site, WritersCast (which is full of great interviews and readings; check it out!)

I also loved reading at the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands; thanks to all who attended. There was a new display about Abe in pop culture, complete with Abe in sunglasses--great fun to see! The Redlands Daily Facts did a little write up, which you can see below. You can also read more about my life with My Life with the Lincolns in the interview, Accessing Her Inner Lincoln at Authorlink.

Thanks again to everyone who has read the books and helped get the word out!

2010-07-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

The Pear Fair may well be my favorite book selling experience to date. It was so much fun to have my own booth (you can see a bit of it here--my little assistant definitely helped attract passersby!) Several people who stopped to chat had heard me (and Asher, crying in the background) on the radio last week, and seemed excited about having a book set in their area. What a pleasure to be back there, in the land of my characters (and the real people who helped me so much during the research process. Thank you again, Tim and Laura, for all of your kindness--and all of your pears!) I sold out of books about halfway into the festival--I should have brought more, but it was also cool to be able to walk around and enjoy the fair with Michael and Asher (who, you can see, was handed his first balloon. He loved it so much. It seemed to love him, too--that night, after he fell asleep, the balloon hovered directly above him, as if protecting him or waiting for him to wake up and play.) The day was beautiful--not at all the oven we had anticipated; we had a blast eating pear tamales and drinking pear aguas frescas and even taking a little pear portrait-painting class. Even the seven hour car trip, which I had feared with a baby, was fun (especially because I had apricot pie a la mode for lunch in apricot country on the drive home!)

I really want to find more alternative book selling venues like this. I'm excited about my event this Saturday, July 31 at the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands at 1pm. Just as I researched Delta Girls at the Pear Fair, I researched My Life with the Lincolns at the Lincoln Shrine, and it will be lovely to return there with the published book and be surrounded by Lincoln ephemera (including some of Abe's hair!) as I read and share my little power point.

Just a reminder...I will also be at more traditional--and deeply beloved--venues next week: the Riverside Public Library on Thursday, August 5 at 7pm (as part of Arts Walk) and the fabulous Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena on Friday, August 6 at 7pm. Oh, and I'll be shaking my postpartum belly at the Orange County Fair tomorrow, Friday, July 30, at 4pm with Saahira's Gypsy Soul troupe. :) I'd love to see you at any of these events!

2010-07-23T08:14:00.000-07:00

We're on our way to the Delta! I'm so excited to be able to walk the paths of my characters again (we'll even be staying at a hotel where the characters stay!) and to see the pear farmers who were so generous with their time and information as I researched Delta Girls.

If you're in the area, I'll be reading at Avid Reader Bookstore in Sacramento on Saturday, July 24 at 2pm and will have my own little booth at the Pear Fair in Courtland on July 25 from 9am-6pm (assuming we last that long in the heat; we may just put up our shingle for part of the day. I am eager to be surrounded by pears again!)

2010-07-15T23:19:00.001-07:00

A few more links:

--A feature article about me at The Press-Enterprise

--My fantasy casting for My Life with the Lincolns over at My Book, The Movie (this was a lot of fun to do.)

--My recent interview with Book Bites for Kids is now archived and can be listened to here.

An aside: Asher is teething (his top four teeth are coming in) so none of us have had much sleep lately. A few nights ago, I had a series of sleep-deprivation-fueled lucid dreams where I was convinced that Asher's real crying and nursing were somehow being used to promote my books. It all made perfect sense in my weird awake dreaming state (and in these dreams, my cousin Bobby--who owns a wonderful book store and was just in town for a truly fabulous family reunion, which I hope to write about soon--told me that this technique is usually just used for vampire books like Twilight, but I should give it a try.) I wish that the nighttime crying/nursing cycle could actually be used for such positive purposes! In the meantime, I will continue to blearily post book promotion-related links here.

2010-07-12T21:57:00.001-07:00

Popping my head in to share a few links:

Great reviews of My Life with the Lincolns over at The Trades (which gives it an A+!) and Readergirlz, and a lovely review of Delta Girls at BookLoons.

Also, did Delta Girls pass the p. 69 test? Click here to find out. :)

2010-07-05T22:32:00.000-07:00

I share a few thoughts about pear (and pear eau de vie) imagery in Delta Girls over at Dory Adams' wonderful blog, In This Light: A Weekly Blog of Images and Narrative. Be sure to take time to peruse her site--it's full of lovely photography and writing.

2010-07-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

Three happy things to share re. Delta Girls today:

--Delta Girls was named a "Best New Paperback" by Entertainment Weekly. I am beyond thrilled about this. I've only seen a pdf of the article, and look forward to seeing it in real life--there's a big photo of my book cover on the top of the page.

--January Magazine gave Delta Girls a review that makes my heart flutter.

--The wonderful Tricia O'Brien interviewed me for her always thoughtful and engaging blog, Talespinning (you can win a copy of the book if you comment there!)

I know it's important to look within for a source of happiness, but sometimes having some external validation really helps. Just walking down the street with Asher in the stroller earlier today, I felt different, lighter, due to these lovely affirmations for the book. Thank you to everyone who has already embraced Delta Girls, and thank you to those who are considering reading it now.

2010-06-29T22:46:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let you know I'll be interviewed about My Life with the Lincolns on Book Bites for Kids, an online radio show, tomorrow (Wednesday, June 30) at 12pm PST. You can listen through the link above, and you can even call in with comments or questions at 646-716-9239. MLWTL received a lovely review over at the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.

I've been so encouraged by early reader response I've received for Delta Girls--thank you to everyone who has emailed me about the book. I recently wrote a Delta Girls-related guest post, What We Don't Know We Know for Christina Baker Kline's fabulous and continually inspiring blog, Writing/Life. It was not an easy post for me to write--it delves into my mom's suicide and what came up for me when I remembered, through proofing the book, that one of my character's mothers in Delta Girls had also committed suicide--but it felt important to explore.

Thank you again for your support through all of it.

2010-06-22T16:28:00.001-07:00

In honor of the release date of Delta Girls, Asher and I put this little YouTube video together. Please excuse the poor video quality; it's the best I could do with my webcam. As you can see, I'm wearing my Pear Fair tshirt to celebrate the book launch. :)

I also was interviewed by the lovely Susan K. Perry, author of Writing in Flow, for her Psychology Today column, Creating in Flow.

On an unrelated, but also celebratory note, my friend Kryn let me know that The Book of Dead Birds is included in this Feminist Summer Reading List. So cool! I don't even mind that they misspelled my name. :)

Thanks to everyone for all of your support on this launch day!

2010-06-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you how excited I am to welcome Laraine Herring to my blog today (the launch day for Delta Girls!) I've known and loved Laraine and her work since we were in grad school together around 10 years ago. During one of our residencies at Antioch University, I had a dream that we had gone to an indoor swimming pool together. The water was full of huge sea creatures and I chose to stay safe and dry on the concrete surrounding the pool, but Laraine didn't hesitate; she dove right in. This felt like such an apt metaphor for Laraine (I even used it when I introduced her at her senior reading)--she is fearless as a writer, able to plunge in to the darkest, most painful material and emerge with something beautiful, something that holds the light. Her books about writing, Writing Begins with the Breath: Embodying Your Authentic Voice and the forthcoming follow-up, The Writing Warrior: Discovering the Courage to Free Your True Voice, are revelations--they will wake both you and your writing up and help you become a braver, stronger, truer writer. I can't recommend them enough.

It is through her amazing fiction that I first met Laraine, though, and I know that it is through her fiction that she most wants to be known as a writer. I am so thrilled to see Ghost Swamp Blues finally make its way to print after several incarnations that I've had the honor and pleasure of reading over the years. This book will knock your socks off; it will haunt you with its beauty, its rhythm, its power.

To win a copy of Ghost Swamp Blues, post a comment below about what haunts you, as a writer or a human being (make sure to include an email if you don't have a blogger profile with contact information.) I will pick a poster at random to receive this stunning novel.

Here's Laraine in her own words talking about her process of writing the book, and our process of sharing work. (In the spirit of sharing, I am also posting about the process of writing Delta Girls and our creative exchanges over on her blog--you can win a copy of Delta Girls if you comment there, as well.). Enjoy!

GHOST SWAMP BLUES: Finding the story through the swamp

I started writing Ghost Swamp Blues after reading Chitra Divakaruni’s novel The Mistress of Spices. I was fascinated by Divakaruni’s magical realism, and her primary character, Tilo, who operates a shop of spices she sells to customers to help them with their desires. I wanted to be Chitra Divakaruni, and, as long as we’re confessing, I’d read Beloved in undergrad school and I wanted to be Toni Morrison too. You can imagine the block I sustained trying to imitate them! Those two authors taught me that I could do something magical too, and I soon began to hear the voice of Lillian. However, my first connections with Lillian were not at all magical, and not at all filled with honeysuckle-laced desire. I had an image of a foggy island surrounded by tulips and a steep arched bridge that people had to cross to get to Lillian. Then I wrote a scene about her mixing tuna fish and mayonnaise in a white ceramic bowl. I bought books on tulips and put pictures of tulips in various stages of growth up around my house. A year later, I still didn’t have much writing, but I had established the most important element of fiction writing for me: the haunting.

My grandmother had died several years before, and she left some money that I used to go to graduate school. I had a complicated relationship with her, and found myself examining what it meant to use money from someone I hadn’t particularly liked to do something I loved more than anything. The more I thought about her, the more Lillian left her shrouded island of tulips and tuna fish and became a young girl who witnessed her brother lynch someone and then went silent. I didn’t know how all that tied into my grandmother, but I knew I’d found some spark. I worked on Ghost Swamp Blues, then titled Lay My Sorrows Down, all through graduate school, and its completion was my thesis. That thesis doesn’t resemble much of Ghost Swamp Blues in its current form except the character names and the initial inciting incident of the lynching.

I gave my senior reading, graduated, had a brief moment of believing that I was about to set the world on fire, and then dove head first into teaching freshman composition, like thousands of MFA’ers before me and after me. I posted an excerpt of the book on my website, and my soon-to-be agent found it, e-mailed me, and asked to see the whole thing. We signed in two weeks.

During the nine years it took to get Ghost Swamp Blues into print, I also wrote two other novels. I re-wrote Ghost Swamp Blues seven times in its entirety from that graduate thesis. I continued teaching and got another master’s degree. Time marched on. The manuscript had made the rounds. All the rounds. Then, the publishing industry imploded and people lost their jobs. We re-submitted to the new editors. Nothing. The characters, though, would not let me go. They would not stop whispering. Even through other novels, I heard them.

In the beginning was fog, tulips, and a lynching. A pink feathered hat and a swamp began to pull things together. Themes of racism, misogyny, family secrets and personal bigotries and shame began to surface as I re-read the drafts. I didn’t set out to write about racism in the South. I set out to answer the question Lillian posed for me: What would happen to someone who sees something horrible but says nothing to protect the person who perpetrated it?

Along the way, characters emerged who were eventually cut. Gabriel, the man who was lynched, had a much larger part, as did his father, who doesn’t appear in the book anymore. Faith had a big section of the book as an adult. Now, we don’t know what happened to her from her moment of birth to when she’s found dead by the creek. Jay Transom, Hannah’s father, slept with Hannah in an earlier version (neither knew their relationship at the time so it’s not as clichéd-Southern-bad-joke as that might sound). I cut that dimension out entirely – first when I was rewriting for a YA audience, but again when I rewrote again for an adult’s version, I didn’t think it was necessary. To that end, a lot of Hannah’s narrative also found its way to the special folder of deleted scenes. I liked a lot of the scenes I cut, especially those of Gabriel’s father and Hannah falling in love, but they didn’t fit.

Along the way of these multiple revisions, I began to notice something missing. The novel itself had no driving question. No unifying tug on the reader’s heart. I had a lot of great sentences and a lot of cool things happening, but they weren’t connected yet. I had been so immersed in my love for these people that I had forgotten the audience, the reader, needed to also be compelled into the story by more than just characterization and language. That burning question – what’s going to happen next? Who are the swamp sirens? What happens to Tommy? Who is Roberta and why did she kill herself? These questions needed to be fine-tuned, and the scenes that didn’t connect to those questions needed to go away so the important questions of the book would emerge with enough clarity to lure readers forward. I learned this not through graduate school, but through teaching creative writing in the subsequent years. By dissecting hundreds of student stories, I learned how to spot what was missing in my own. By learning to answer the questions students had, I learned my craft even better. And by falling in love with revision, I learned to let things go.

Throughout this journey was Gayle Brandeis. We met in graduate school and worked in the same group for most of the time. Gayle surprised me with her softness and her strength, and her unflagging commitment to her work. She and I and another grad-school friend spent weeks together in Venice Beach while we attended our residencies talking about all that was possible in language, all that we hoped our stories and poems could be, and why literature will continue to matter. After graduation, we stayed in touch, sent updates on our careers and personal lives, and began to send work to each other.

Gayle has been the first set of eyes on just about all of my work since grad school. Her astute eye, honesty, and kindness create a trust that is very difficult to find. I don’t do everything she recommends, nor does she do everything I recommend for her work, but we listen to each other. I know that whatever she says has merit. This is writer’s gold. Gayle was an original cheerleader for my novel and my writing. Her first book was coming out, Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write while we were still in school. She inspired me. She has been a step ahead of me in the publishing world and she’s been gracious with her input and assistance. Not this, but that. More here, less there. What do you mean here? And the coveted, “I got chills” help me see my own work more clearly than I could ever do alone.

Perhaps more than any other lesson, a writer needs to realize that she will not see her work as others do, no matter how many degrees, classes, and seminars she’s taught or taken. Gayle saw my characters both as I saw them and as a reader might, and from this place, she helped me sculpt my work. I imagined her reading as I wrote. I took in everything she said. I wanted to write a book she would want to read. I wish all of you this gift. I may not have come to terms with my actual relationship with my grandmother within the text, but I did soften towards her, and I do honor that I had the opportunity to immerse myself in my art for two years, and that privilege is something I would not have been able to do without her financial support. None of us stands alone. No book is written in a vacuum.

My biggest hope is that the final product of Ghost Swamp Blues, which is not only the effort of the author, but the efforts of Gayle, my mentor Alma, my agent Linda, my editors Jenn and Molly, and the women in my first writer’s group many years ago, is a book you will want to read as well.

2010-06-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

My novel Delta Girls comes out in three days and I'm full of nerves. The two trade reviews I've received so far have not been great (the nicest thing Publishers Weekly had to say is that the book is "heartwarming but forgettable." I suppose I could be like those movie ads that take snippets from bad reviews and use them to their favor--turning something like "This movie is the most stupendous waste of time" into "Stupendous!" on billboards--and just say "Publisher's Weekly called my book heartwarming!" but that feels disingenuous.) I was starting to doubt myself as a writer, starting to think that the book is bound to bomb, that I'll never be able to publish my work or be taken seriously as an author again, but then I started hearing from readers who've read early copies and I'm feeling a little bit more hopeful (not that the doubts have gone away entirely. Why is doubt such an integral part of the writing life?)

Cindy at CindyREADS posted lovely reviews of both Delta Girls and My Life with the Lincolns on her site and ubiquitous review Harriet Klausner says "The Delta Girls is a delightful compelling character study that rotates subplots between Izzy and Karen as the tale looks deeply at mother-daughter relationships...With a great twist that brings the two sagas together, fans who appreciate a discerning look at motherhood will enjoy this thoughtful tale." (Okay, I left out the sentence in between where she says the storyline meanders a bit as the characters are established, but she still gives it five stars.)

The lousy thing about the lousy trade reviews is that they're right at the top of the Amazon page for everyone to see as they contemplate buying the book. So I am going to step outside my normal reticence over such things and gently ask that if you enjoy reading Delta Girls, please post a review at Amazon (or your favorite bookselling site--I especially love Powells.com). It's very hard for me to make such a request, but the publishing industry is hurting and writers are scared, and it's so hard for any one non-blockbuster book to get much attention, so a positive review would make a big difference in helping readers find the novel. I suggest you do this for all books you love, especially those by little known authors. Writers appreciate it beyond words. I know I do. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my warm but forgettable heart. ;)

2010-05-30T23:04:00.001-07:00

I wrote this op-ed last week but haven't had any luck placing it, so I thought I'd post it here. After spending so much time researching the Chicago Freedom Movement as I was writing My Life with the Lincolns, I couldn't stay silent when Rand Paul made his inane comments about the "obscurity" of civil rights:

In his recent interview with Rachel Maddow, Rand Paul said he would have marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s clear to me, however, that he wouldn’t have marched with the civil rights leader when Dr. King moved his campaign north to Chicago to focus on issues of housing discrimination.

The Chicago Freedom Movement, a joint effort between the Coordinating Council of City Organizations and Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Council, sought to end slums through open housing. In 1966, hundreds of dedicated African American volunteers (sometimes accompanied by white supporters) “tested” real estate offices all over the Chicago area to see whether they would be offered services. Most of the time, they weren’t.

If Rand Paul had his way, and private businesses were declared exempt from the Civil Rights Act, such discrimination would occur over and over again—in restaurants, in taxis, in hotels, in private schools.

I think about the marches during the Chicago Freedom Movement. Thousands demonstrated peacefully in white neighborhoods such as Marquette Park to raise awareness about fair, open housing, but members of those communities weren’t always non-violent in response. Ugly racial epithets were common; cars of the marchers were set on fire; stones were hurled (one of which struck Dr. King in the head). Comments such as Paul’s set the stage for the return of such racially motivated violence.

Civil rights are not an “intrusion” on corporate America, as Paul asserts. They are not “obscure.” They are human rights, ones that are just and have been hard won. They are what Americans should be most proud of. Let’s not let small minded people like Paul threaten the integrity of the Civil Rights Act and those who put their lives on the line to bring it into being.

2010-05-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

Michael updated the home page of my website to include Delta Girls (and a picture of me in ice skates as a little girl). Check it out here. :)

2010-05-28T23:49:00.000-07:00

I just read a post on Jezebel, Why the Kendra Wilkinson Sex Tape Should Make You Angry, and I definitely am upset. I have never seen any of Kendra Wilkinson's tv shows, and have no desire to view the tape in question, but I have felt a bit of a kinship with her over the last year or so because we had babies around the same time, and I would see her pregnant belly on the magazine racks growing at about the same rate as mine. Even if we didn't have this connection, though, I would still feel for her right now. I know there is some speculation that she was complicit in leaking the tape to the public, but it's hard to believe that after reading about its contents.

Supposedly in the tape, Kendra doesn't want to be filmed. She asks her partner several times to turn off the camera, tries to push it away, but he persists. His obvious disregard for her concerns, his need to put his desires before her own, is deeply troubling to me. In my novel Delta Girls, something quite similar happens. One of my characters is 18 and in her first serious relationship; her partner pulls out a video camera, which makes her incredibly nervous, but she goes with it because she feels pressured, and thinks that she needs to do whatever her partner wants in order to "keep" him. Some of the footage he takes later comes back to haunt her in ways she never could have anticipated.

As the author on Jezebel writes:

This isn't a sex tape, really. It's that thing we talk about that happens to our young women. That thing that we, as grown-ups, write about and research incessantly and condemn broadly, but don't remember so vividly. It's right here on video.

It reminds me to some extent of the Paris Hilton sex tape, but even more so here. It's that space where young women have discovered and perfected their sexuality and its value, but haven't yet figured out how it's empowering. They just know that it's something people want from them; it's something people expect from them. Something young men expect from them; something, perhaps, that young men haven't learned how to ask for politely. It's uncomfortable and new and everybody's learning, and what happens, more often than not, is that the male partner's desires come first and more forcefully, and the young woman is disrespected and disempowered and left with a sense that she's less valuable and less capable of demanding respect and control than her male counterpart - a sense than lingers into her twenties and beyond, even though she might not recognize it as such.

You should not be turned on by this. You should be pissed off.

2010-05-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

I have a few guest blog posts to share with you...

Today, the aptly named Largehearted Boy has posted my playlist for My Life with the Lincolns as part of his great Book Notes series. I did one for Self Storage and was so happy to be invited to return with My Life with the Lincolns.

I meant to share these other two weeks ago, but life kept getting in the way. I'm so grateful to have done these guest spots, as well:

I answer five (make that six) questions over at Fictionaut Five.

I offer a few thoughts for The Laughing Yeti's series of authors writing about reading.

More to come (and I'll try to be more timely with my postings!)

2010-05-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

My first two real life copies of Delta Girls just arrived in the mail--they're gorgeous (and even though the book is no longer titled Pears, two luscious pears adorn both the front and back covers. They look just like the lovely pear brooch my aunt Sylvia gave me when I was in Chicago; I'm going to have to wear it at my book events! She also gave me a strawberry pin, both of which she had had for decades. I will treasure them always.)

It is a bit wild to think about a new book coming out in a month when I feel I've barely gotten started promoting My Life with the Lincolns. Of course I know how lucky I am to be in this position, but with the baby, I'm lucky if I am able to take a shower, so doing anything beyond that feels monumental some days. My subconscious has been preparing me for the release of Delta Girls, though--images from the book have been showing up in my dreams. I had a dream a couple of weeks ago that I was swimming in a river and a massive whale sidled up next to me. I reached out my hand and felt its slick, long belly as it swam past. Another night, I dreamed that Michael and I had to perform the Bollywood program of the Olympic ice dance team Davis and White. Asher was on the ice, too, so we got a bit distracted as we were skating.

I have a couple of events on the horizon that I am excited about:

--Women and Words, Saturday, June 5 at the UCLA Covel Commons Grand Horizon Ballroom, 9am-3pm. This all day event not only celebrates women and the literary arts; it also raises money for charity (Children's Hospital, Adolescent Medicine this time around.) I will be speaking, as will the authors Patricia Smiley, Anne Cherian, Tatjani Soli and Mary Yukari Waters. Copies of Delta Girls will be available there even though it's not officially released until June 22.

--UCLA Extension Writers' Program Publication Party, Wednesday, June 9, 7pm, at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda, Los Angeles. Join me and 17 other members of the Writers' Program faculty for an evening of readings and dessert. The event is free, but you need to RSVP at writers@uclaextension.edu.

Come say hello if you're able to come to either event! I'll be the one with the pear brooch. :)

2010-05-19T22:50:00.000-07:00

I found out today that I received a starred review (my first, I believe) in Library Media Connection for My Life with the Lincolns:

This coming of age story is told through the voice of 12-year old Mina who is growing up in the challenging 1960s during the civil rights struggle and the conflict over the Vietnam War. Her father takes her to hear speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to participate in civil rights events. She is a precocious and highly intelligent Caucasian youngster who is fortunate to live history firsthand. Mina has a fantastic imagination, and she believes she is the reincarnation of one of Abraham Lincoln’s sons. Some of Mina’s thoughts are hilarious, while others are eye-opening. The story is also told through a newsletter written by Mina to promote her father’s furniture store, “Honest Abe’s,” which also provides tidbits of historical information about Lincoln and his troubled wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. One subplot involves her father’s affair with a black civil rights advocate. This is the author’s first young adult novel, but she proves her ability to capture the ways a teenager might interpret events and assign meanings to them. The intricate storylines come together and create a wonderful read for adolescents and adults. Highly Recommended. Caroline Geck, Newark (New Jersey) Public Schools

I felt a bit like a star, myself, when I spoke at a local middle school on Monday; at the end of my second presentation, one of the students asked if I would sign autographs, and when I said yes, I was mobbed. The librarian gave me a stack of blank cards from the card catalog and a purple marker that smelled like grape popsicles, and I signed my name over and over again as dozens of kids surrounded me, their hands held out, each clamoring to be next. I'm sure it's the closest I'll ever get to a taste of celebrity (and I have to say I'm grateful I won't get any closer. It was very sweet and I was touched by the enthusiasm of the kids, but I found myself also getting quite claustrophobic and overwhelmed. Talking with the kids was great, though, and I feel so lucky to have a chance to reach young readers, hopefully with words other than just my purple, sweet-smelling name.)

2010-05-10T23:57:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled to share the news that my friend Naomi Benaron has won the 2010 Bellwether Prize for her stunning manuscript, Running the Rift. I had the pleasure and honor of helping Naomi with the project, so it almost feels as if I've won the prize a second time. :) Of course Naomi deserves all the credit--she has written a moving, gorgeous, painful, haunting, eye opening novel, which helped me understand the situation in Rwanda more deeply than any news report ever could. I am so thrilled her amazing characters are going to find their way into the world (and so auspiciously!) Congratulations, Naomi!!!!

2010-05-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since my last post, it's hard to know where to begin. I've wanted to write all about my Midwestern tour, but it feels so long ago already--I'll just share a couple of snippets now. I had an amazing time, especially because I got to see so many family members and old friends, including an aunt I hadn't seen since I was a teenager, since she and my mom had become estranged. It's been very meaningful to reconnect with her after my mom's death. I saw a bit of my mom in her eyes, which was quite an amazing experience. But let me back track a bit...

This was my first family book tour--I had my little entourage with me, Michael, Asher and Hannah. Our first full day of the trip (after missing our flight and not getting into our hotel until about 1am), I got sick, one of the stomach episodes I've written about. I had been invited by a Western Michigan Humanities Council to do a couple of events (thanks to the lovely Nurya Parish), one at 9am (6am our time), and one at 4pm. With the help of some mint tea, I got through the first event with a warm and wonderful library book group. I went back to the hotel to rest afterwards, and started to feel worse and worse. When it was time to leave for the next event, a talk about crafting a writing career at Grand Valley State College, I could barely stand up. I considered canceling my talk, but didn't want to disappoint Nurya, who had worked so hard to get me there. I told her that I'd play it by ear and see how I felt after the 20 minute drive to campus. I definitely didn't feel better when we arrived, but I decided to push through after I saw how much they had been publicizing the event. I'm so glad I did.

The room was packed, and someone had even put together an amazing broadside featuring an excerpt from Fruitflesh (you can see part of it above--I have several copies; if anyone wants one, let me know. I'm not quite sure how to mail them--they're very long--but I'm sure I can figure it out.) I told the audience at the beginning that I wasn't feeling well, but said that I had been inspired by Lady Gaga, who had passed out during a recent concert and had told herself, when she came to, "Get up and finish the song, you little bitch" (not that I would ever call myself--or anyone, for that matter--that). I said that if I threw up at the podium, they could call me Lady Gag-Gag. I was worried this would mortify my daughter, but she said she was impressed; she told me she didn't think I had it in me.

I burst into a cold sweat a couple of times during the event and had to clutch the podium to stay upright, but I managed to get through the talk and book signing without passing out, and had some great conversations with the students. After the room cleared, I lay down on the floor as the pain got worse and more constant. We eventually decided I needed to get to an emergency room. On the way there, I knew I was about to throw up--I dumped as much out of my purse as I could, and then used it as a barf bag, hoping that would protect Nurya's car. Later, after several hours in the er with meds that made me goofy as Hannah sat with me and Michael tried to keep the baby happy in our hotel room (I had never been away from Asher for such a long time before), we threw the purse away, thinking the only thing still inside was Asher's rattle. Once we were almost in Chicago, though, I realized that my keys had been inside the purse, too, including the keys to the car waiting for us in a parking lot at LAX. Thankfully Michael asked if my ex husband still had a copy of the car key; I called Matt and he searched around and found the valet key, which he fed exed to us, making life so much easier than it could have been. It's all quite funny to me now, but it was quite a fraught experience at the time. I'm grateful the rest of the trip was drama-free (aside from learning my book had been censored by a couple of school librarians because it contains the word "vagina." But more on that, and my fun school visits, later.)

This is Lady Gag-Gag, over and out.

2010-04-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

As I was going through my mom's things, I found a tissue-thin carbon copy of a letter my dad had written on April 8, 1968 (six days before I was born), to Sue and Jon, my older sister and brother. They were 18 and 16 at the time, just about the same age difference between my older kids and my baby, and lived in New Jersey with their mom. The letter touches upon Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death, so it feels appropriate to share part of it today:

This has been the most dramatic week of historical and political events I can recall. Starting with President Johnson's announcement that he will not run, Hanoi's apparent change of heart about talks and Martin Luther King's tragic death and the even more tragic senseless rioting, each day could fill an entire history book.

Even Dr. King's murder carries with it a sense of hope because it gives the black and white communities their one big chance to work together with common spirit. I hope we as whites don't flub it.

Perhaps it's only the flush of excitement from these events, but I detect the beginnings of a new sense of morality and loyalty swelling upon the land. I think Sen. McCarthy's candidacy touched it off and Pres. Johnson's announcement helped to build up a momentum. Now with Dr. King's death and a chance to use his martyrdom as a rallying point, good things could start happening.

I love seeing my dad's optimism here, and while it gives me some sadness to know our culture hasn't moved forward as much as he must have hoped it would, we have made and will continue to make strides. I know what a thrill it was for my dad, who supervised segregated troops during WWII, to see Barack Obama get elected.

I loved getting to know more of MLK's history as I researched My Life with the Lincolns. Just as I, like my character Mina, thought my dad was Lincoln reincarnated, I also used to think that maybe a little bit of Dr. King got into me when I was born, 10 days after his death. Not his whole soul--maybe just a few atoms of it. I don't believe that anymore, but I would like to live as if it's true.

The Chicago Freedom Movement, which Mina and her father get involved with in 1966, ended up being a bit of a disappointment for Dr. King; he wasn't able to bring open housing to the city quite the way he had hoped. I'm sure, however, that the Fair Housing Act wouldn't have been passed two years later (sadly, a week after MLK's assassination, so he never saw it come to pass) if it hadn't been for him and the Chicago Freedom Movement campaign. This inspires me to keep pushing for change, even when, maybe especially when, it seems impossible. We have a chance to make a difference--in my dad's 42 year old words, let's not flub it.

2010-03-31T09:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I checked in, so I wanted to give you an update on all things My Life with the Lincolns related.

You have another chance to win a copy of My Life with the Lincolns (one of five, actually!) To find out how, visit my KidsBuzz page.

I was delighted to hear from Sharon Hrycewicz, a librarian in Downers Grove, where my characters live in My Life with the Lincolns. She has passed the book around to several people in town, including John Mochel, whose hardware store is mentioned in the novel. I am so excited that I'll get to visit Downers Grove in a couple of weeks and connect with readers there in person! In the meanwhile, I did an interview with Sharon, which you can read here.

I will be doing a few Midwestern book events and school visits soon. Here are the ones that are open to the public; if you're in the area, please come say hello!

Thursday, April 8

9:30-11am, discussion of The Book of Dead Birds, Wisner Center at the Cascade Township Branch of Kent District Library, Grand Rapids, MI

4-5pm, Writers Talk, Grand Valley State University, Room 2263 Kirkhof Center, Allendale Campus

Sunday, April 11

4pm, reading/book signing, My Life with the Lincolns, Nicola's Books, Ann Arbor, MI

Tuesday, April 13

7pm, reading/book signing, My Life with the Lincolns, Barbara’s Bookstore, 1218 South Halsted St., Chicago, IL 60607

Wednesday, April 14 (my birthday!)

7pm, reading/book signing, My Life with the Lincolns, Anderson's Bookshop, Downers Grove, IL

I so look forward to returning to my home town and seeing people I haven't seen in years. Hopefully Asher will be patient with all the traveling!

2010-03-12T00:31:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, I did an event for The Book of Dead Birds right before Self Storage came out, and I remember feeling a stab of sadness over the fact that I wouldn't be giving readings from that book any more, since my new novel was stepping into center stage. Turns out I didn't have to worry--The Book of Dead Birds seems to have a strange little life of its own, even on the cusp of yet another book coming out. I will be reading from Dead Birds this Sunday (edit--it's actually this SATURDAY, the 13th, at 2pm) at the La Quinta Museum as part of their Salton Sea exhibit (and will be discussing it in Michigan next month--more on that to come.) If you're in the desert, please swing on by! :)

2010-03-08T13:29:00.000-08:00

You can read my very first interview about My Life with the Lincolns, and even win a copy of the book, over at my friend Tricia (I know her as Pat) O'Brien's wonderful blog, Talespinning. If you blog or tweet about the contest, you have an even greater chance of winning!

2010-03-04T00:46:00.000-08:00

A great review from School Library Journal... :)

It's the summer of 1966, and sixth-grader Mina has her work cut out for her. Her overactive imagination has convinced her that because her father's initials spell "ABE," the Edelmans are the Lincolns reincarnated. Now she must save her family from their fate. This means making sure that she doesn't die of bilious fever, that her dad doesn't get assassinated, and that her mother doesn't go crazy. Mina is unclear what bilious fever is, but frequently sprays herself with OFF!, just in case. Her father, inspired by the history of discrimination against his Jewish heritage, decides to take her, without her mother's knowledge, to civil-rights protests in nearby Chicago where they participate in an all-night vigil and get involved in real-estate testing to prove racism in rentals. Mina's parents grow apart, and her father forms a friendship with a fellow protester and African American, Carla. At the end, Mina is ready to let go of her notion of reincarnation and wrestles with issues of injustice and discrimination. Brandeis seamlessly intersperses serious topics with laugh-out-loud humor. Mina is a budding journalist, writing a newsletter full of Lincoln lore to promote her father's furniture store, Honest Abe's. Her voice is clear and unique; her view of life's confusions is endearing and funny. The setting is perfectly captured, from Johnny Carson on television to bouffant hairdos. While the book's humor may be the first attraction for young readers, this is also a solid addition to historical-fiction collections.—Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School Library, South Portland, ME

2010-02-25T16:38:00.000-08:00

Today, I decided to do a search on Abraham Lincoln over at Etsy to see how other people have been inspired by Abe. Apparently, he is quite a muse! Lincoln appeared...

as a pimp:

in pennies:

in the desert:

several times as a zombie (here are just a couple of examples):

and, well, I'll let you decide what this is:

I think my favorite, though, is this girl holding a "go lincoln" sign. She reminds me so much of my character Mina from My Life with the Lincolns!

2010-02-24T09:46:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, I was hoping for a scandal. Some nice juicy scandal in the Olympic pairs figure skating competition--something that would keep people talking about pairs skaters for the next few months, so when my novel Delta Girls (which features an Olympics hopeful pairs skater) comes out in June, people would be hungry for more tales of skaterly scandal. Alas, the skaters behaved themselves; the gold medalists were a sweet married couple from China who now plan to have a baby, and while the woman from one of the American pairs teams is dating the man from the other pair, there is nothing scandalous about their situation.

The men offered a bit of drama--a broken lace in the middle of a routine, a slightly diva-ish rant from silver medalist Evgeni Plushenko about how if someone can win the Olympics without a quad, it's "not men's figure skating. It is dance." And of course the ice dancers from Russia brought loads of controversy with their outrageously offensive, culturally insensitive "aboriginal" routine and their use of ropes to aid their lifts in their free dance, but that wasn't the sort of newsmaking scandal I was hoping for. (An aside--ice dancing has gotten so much more interesting, hasn't it? When I was a competitive figure skater, I turned up my nose at ice dancing--it seemed so boring to me without the big jumps and throws, etc.--but I'm digging it now. White and Davis' Bollywood routine knocked my socks off.)

By the time the women's figure skating rolled around, though, I was no longer hoping for a scandal. I was just rooting for Joannie Rochette, the Canadian skater whose mother died unexpectedly on Sunday. I think about myself two days after getting the news of my mom's death--I felt like a skinned creature, all my nerves exposed to the wind--and can't imagine how she was able to perform with such poise and grace and courage under the circumstances. When she finished her passionate, assured program and flung her arms open, surrendering to tears, I wept, myself. I hope that when the shock of the news fades, when the adrenalin rush of the Olympics is over, when Rochette has time to face her loss head on--cold and stark as any span of ice--the memory of her performance, and the way the crowd embraced her, will be a balm.

2010-02-12T08:53:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday, Abe!

Don't know how to celebrate Lincoln's birth? How about pick up a copy of My Life with the Lincolns on cd? The audio book--my first!--actually came out on February 9 (you can see the slightly different cover below); I meant to post something about it that day, but my baby came down with a fever--his first--and I was too worried and distracted to do so.

I think it's unusual for an audio cd to come out so soon before the physical book, which comes out in a little over a month, but this gives you a chance to have a sneak peek (er, listen!) You can find links to various booksellers through my website or hit up your favorite local store.

Abe's pretty spry for a 201 year old, don't you think? :)

2010-02-08T13:15:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to unveil the updated version of gaylebrandeis.com. My sweet husband Michael just uploaded it last night. He had planned to noodle around with the site during his paternity leave, but so much of that time was consumed with dealing with my mom's death, and he didn't have a chance to get to it. I was about to hire a web designer, but Michael had a recent jolt of inspiration and dove head first into the project. I love what he came up with--it's clean and bright and has a groovy retro vibe (and he was able to re-use a lot of the content from the last version of the website--thanks, Eula!) We still have a few changes and additions to make, but it's ready to rock now. Check it out and let me know what you think!

The picture on the front page is me at close to eight years old, taken from my old modeling composite (the sort of calling card that agents use to try to get their models work.) You can see the front and back of the composite below, and you can read about my brief and awkward jaunt as a child model in my essay Shoot.

2010-02-04T22:53:00.000-08:00

If you've tried to pre-order My Life with the Lincoln on Amazon over the last few days, you've seen that the "Pre Order" button has disappeared. You may have noticed that the "Buy" buttons on various other books have gone missing on Amazon, as well. This is all because Amazon has decided to be a bully and stop selling all books published under the Macmillan umbrella (which includes my publisher, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, as well as St. Martin's Press, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, among others) because of a pricing dispute. I'm too tired to go into the details here--and actually I should be sleeping right now, since the baby is blessedly asleep--but you can read the details of the kerfuffle on the LA Times' book blog, Jacket Copy. Needless to say, it is quite worrisome for authors with books that have just come out from Macmillan or are coming out soon, such as my friend Ariel Gore's new book, Bluebird: Women and the New Psychology of Happiness--a book I can't wait to read, and one that I find myself wishing I could share with my mom. I linked to Powell's website, since hopefully this hullabaloo with Amazon will remind us to support the wonderful indie booksellers out there (and perhaps it will help to break writers--including myself!--of the compulsive-and-often-torturous-even-though-we-know-it's-pretty-meaningless past-time of checking one's own Amazon rankings.) Of course I do hope that Amazon will stop rattling its saber before My Life with the Lincolns comes out, but I have to remind myself that Amazon really only accounts for a small portion of book sales, plus I think that my book has its best chance in brick and mortar places where booksellers can put it directly into the hands of young readers.

Some more reviews are coming in. Kirkus (which is sadly going out of print soon and whose reviewers are notoriously hard to please) says

Brandeis has created an appealing, quirky protagonist, still childlike in her sensibilities and understanding. Convinced that she is going to die young, like her almost-namesake Willie Lincoln, she diagnoses the pain in her developing breasts as incipient heart failure. She worries that her mother will go crazy and her father will be assassinated. Middle-school readers will know better but enjoy this humorous first-person glimpse into her misconstrued world. Adults don’t see so clearly, either. In her first novel for young readers, the author goes beyond usual stories of the civil-rights movement, demonstrating well-intentioned but tone-deaf gestures of white supporters and the discomfort of change.

Booklist calls My Life with the Lincolns an "informative, clear, personal and passionate novel." And the PhiloBiblos blog has a fantastic review here.

Watch for a contest coming soon and a website relaunch (my husband Michael is doing the web design, which is very cool. He didn't think he'd have time, but it's coming together beautifully!)

Update: It appears Amazon has come to their senses. Pre-order away. :)

2010-01-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

It's wild to think that My Life with the Lincolns will be out in the world in less than two months! I recently received two copies of the hardcover; it looks gorgeous and feels so good in my hands. With everything that's been going on, it's been hard to think about book promotion, but my mom always assumed the role of my de facto publicist (sometimes to my great embarrassment, I must admit), and I know that she would want me to do whatever I could to get the book out there. If she were still alive, I wouldn't be surprised if she were to don a Lincoln hat and wear a sandwich board of the book cover over her chest! So, in her honor, I will share a few things...

An awesome blurb from Julianna Baggott, author of Ever Breath and The Prince of Fenway Park:

"Gayle Brandeis has written a richly complex novel in the voice of her brilliant, courageous, funny, young heroine Mina Edelman. Through her whip-smart perceptions, we watch one family struggle through the turbulent 60s -- the Vietnam War, feminism, and some of the most heated moments of the Civil Rights Movement in Chicago. Just as Mina sees deep connections between the nation's struggles in the 60s to those of Lincoln's presidency, readers will naturally draw correlations to present-day America -- essential ones."

My first review, a decent one from Publishers Weekly (although I think they make the book sound deathly serious; of course it deals with serious issues, but it's actually quite funny):

My Life with the Lincolns Gayle Brandeis Holt, $16.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-8050-9013-0

In her first novel for children, adult author Brandeis entwines two historical periods through the voice of narrator Mina, who is convinced that her family members are the Lincolns reincarnated (“my three main tasks were: 1. Get through age 12 without dropping dead [like Lincoln’s son, Willie]. 2. Stop Mom from going crazy. 3. Stop Dad from getting shot in the skull”). Mina’s overexuberant father invites Mina along as he joins the civil rights movement in 1960s Chicago, and they are soon participating in marches and prayer vigils, while becoming increasingly involved with a black woman and her son. Brandeis doesn’t sidestep the brazen and discomforting inequality that existed, nor the often violent reactions to integration. She weaves in tidbits of Lincoln’s life, while subtly showing readers how history repeats itself (even as Mina works to avoid just that). Familial tension, heightened by disagreements over their involvement in “the movement,” leads to an emotional climax at—where else?—the Lincoln Memorial. This strong showing should leave readers with a trove of Lincoln trivia and gratitude for the contributions of civil rights pioneers. Ages 10–up. (Mar.)

And a link where you can hear the first couple of minutes from the audio version of the book.

It's not a sandwich board, but I think my mom would approve.

2010-01-11T08:15:00.000-08:00

Receiving the bound galleys of one's own book is usually a thrilling experience. It's when the book really feels like a book for the first time. When I received the galleys for Fruitflesh, my first published book, I was so overcome at the sight of my name on the cover, I thought I might pass out or throw up. This time is different.

I recently received the galleys for both My Life with the Lincolns, my YA novel coming out in March, and Delta Girls, my novel coming out in June (you can see the cover here, now that I have a digital copy.) Of course it was exciting when they each showed up on my doorstep, but it was also bittersweet. For those who haven't seen the posting on my other blog, my mom committed suicide six weeks ago, one week after my son Asher was born. I had dedicated Delta Girls to her but hadn't told her; I had wanted to surprise her with it when the galleys came out. Now I deeply regret not telling her, and not sharing the manuscript, which she had wanted to read, with her earlier. I see the simple dedication--"For my mom"--and it takes on a whole other meaning now, and it breaks my heart. I never imagined she wouldn't be here to see it, herself, or that it would become a memorial of sorts.

We never know how much time we have with our loved ones; it makes me want to pull all of them even closer now.

2009-10-27T22:07:00.001-07:00

I hope you will read my friend Peggy Hong's breathtaking piece: Embracing the Other, a talk she gave this past Sunday at a Unitarian church in Milwaukee. Here is a taste:

I believe our task as evolving social beings is to make ourselves more comfortable with discomfort. I believe we should deliberately place ourselves in situations out of our comfort zone. Once that becomes comfortable, go to a new place and push the envelope further.

For instance, if you are white, place yourself in situations where you are the racial minority. Go to a black church, shop in a black or Latino neighborhood, ride the city bus, go to a foreign country and stay in a hostel or a 2-star hotel instead of a 5-star resort, work for an organization run by people of color, move into the central city where thousands of beautiful houses wait for refurbishing, teach for MPS.

But go not to convert, but to be converted. Go not to lead, but to follow. Go to educate yourself, not to educate others. Go in humility, not in pride. Go not to be loved, but to love.

Important, powerful words.

2009-10-27T22:03:00.000-07:00

If you're in the area, I hope you can swing by!

2009-10-21T09:28:00.001-07:00

When I was in college, I belonged to a briefly-lived guerilla theater group called Normal Jungles--we would go into public places and do strange little performance art happenings. I recall us crawling around on the floor of the Redlands Mall, whispering "Put your zucchinis on the porch" to people; eventually we met in a circle in the center of the mall, yelled "Smash all your avocados!" at the top of our lungs and then walked out of the mall as if nothing happened, leaving a lot of confused people in our wake. I am a huge fan of Improv Everywhere, which performs guerilla theater "missions" in public places, but on a much grander, yet more accessible, audience-friendly scale than our weird attempts at the avant garde. This particular performance involves fruit, too, so how I can I not love it? Forget about smashing your avocados--let's squish our fruits together!

2009-10-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

Diane Ackerman's book, A Natural History of the Senses, is one of my favorite books of all time, so I was thrilled when the San Francisco Chronicle invited me to review her latest book, Dawn Light. You can read the review here.

Update: Just wanted to mention that I received the loveliest email from Diane Ackerman in response to this review. I had wondered if she'd have a chance to read the review, but never imagined I'd hear from her. It made my day and then some!

2009-10-14T17:11:00.001-07:00

I love this quote from Michael Chabon about the parallels between writing and cooking:

As a cook, I came into this inheritance of different traditions, of the American tradition, my Jewish tradition, my mother's family and the family she grew up in. My cooking kind of emerged from both a written inheritance, actual recipes written down by my mother and grandmother, and also in the cookbooks that became important to me, and I also involve my own approach, my own changes in recipe.

I think in a way, that's sort of what you're engaged in doing as a writer, too. You come into this inheritance of things that have been done and the ways in which they have been done, and people who influence you sort of pass along what they think is important, and what they think you need to know how to do. But over time you begin to make changes, what you think are improvements or alterations, because you like the way it comes out better. In that sense, there's less a question of rejecting or accepting the past, less an anxiety of influence kind of thing, than there is an evolution of your own culinary style as applied to language and storytelling.

You tend to make the things you like to eat. For example, I don't care for fish terribly much, so I don't waste a lot of time trying to figure out how to prepare it. As a writer, I try to write books that I think I would love to read. You cook the foods you'd love to eat, you write the books you'd love to read.

2009-10-13T08:39:00.000-07:00

For the last few years, my dad has been filling up notebooks with what he calls his "wonders"--his musings about the animal world, the human world, the world of language and other amazements. As part of his 90th birthday celebration, the family decided to compile his wonders as a bound book. The Book of Wonders came out looking gorgeous (and it was so wonderful to see the surprise on his face when we presented it to him on Saturday. I wish I had a clearer image than this one to share! At least you can see the cover clearly below; the guy doing the limbo is my dad in 1969--the coolest cat ever. My mom is looking pretty groovy herself in her straw hat and sunglasses behind him.) You can order the book here and fill your own life with wonder(s).

2009-10-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

Some family kvelling...

Check out the video of the alternative high school program my brother-in-law Craig established in Toronto:

And my dad (who will be 90 in 10 days) recently published this letter to the editor in the North County Times:

I thought, when I started reading George Will's column in the September 10th NCTimes about California's problems, that I wouldn't have to grab my dictionary. He always has at least one "big"" word, usually more, that I and probably most people have never seen before. Now why does George do that? Is he just showing off? Not George. He's a rabid Chicago Cubs fan . So am I. Cubs fans have nothing to show off about. To give George his due, maybe he's trying to lift us to his vocabulary level.

At any rate, George did it again. This time, in explaining California's massive problems, he used the word "dystopia", I suppose I should understand that word. But I don't. So I reached for my Webster dictionary which defines dystopia as "an imaginary place which is depressingly wretched and whose people lead a fearful existence," Wow, this is horrible. Let's hope it's only imaginary.

George, I know you're being a bit melodramatic to illustrate your point that California is a lousy state. But, c'mon, surely you can find something a little positive to say about beautiful California.

Maybe a nice "big" word?

Buzz Brandeis
Oceanside

I feel very lucky to be part of such an engaged, passionate (and fun!) family.

Here's a fun way to be engaged, yourself: take the OMG GOP WTF?! quiz sponsored by CREDO mobile (a great progressive cell phone company). This week, every right answer will send 10 cents to CODEPINK.

2009-09-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

Here it is: the cover for My Life with the Lincolns! I wish I could figure out a way to share the entire cover so you could see the back and the flaps as well, but I haven't been able to convert the pdf into a jpg file. I absolutely love it. It's not what I had been visualizing (I had seen an image of Lincoln sitting in an Eames chair in my mind) but this is perfect; I love the groovy 60s (but also very current) vibe of the font, the colors, etc.

I got my first blurb, as well, from Lauren Baratz-Logsted, whose latest YA, Crazy Beautiful has just been released and looks fabulous (it's a contemporary retelling of Beauty and the Beast.) Here's the blurb:

Gayle Brandeis expertly marries a humorous manner to serious matter in MY LIFE WITH THE LINCOLNS, an original and timely Civil Rights Era novel about a young girl learning to take part in a cause greater than herself. It's a winner.

I received my first blurb for The Delta Girls, too, from the wonderful Jo-Ann Mapson:

Readers will fall in love with the women of The Delta Girls and cheer at the choices they make to keep their children safe. Brandeis transports the reader into California's verdant Delta country, where whales make wrong turns, where orchards bloom and must be picked in a matter of days, and reveals the lives of laborers and the industry behind them. I loved this book and wanted it to never end.

I'm so grateful for both blurbs!

As those of you who have followed this blog know, The Delta Girls has taken me on quite a wild ride. Well, the ride has taken a new turn--my second editor has left Ballantine/Random House, so now the book is with its third editor. I just spoke with her yesterday; she seems wonderful, and I trust I'll be in good hands, but it's all a bit discombobulating. At least the book hasn't been "orphaned" (such a sad term for books that lose their editors and no one else steps in to care for them); I am hopeful that my new editor will be the same sort of champion and advocate for the book that the two previous editors would have been. The manuscript is actually in production now--I should be receiving copyedits in a couple of weeks, and will hopefully get to see a cover image soon--so there isn't much true editing to be done at this point, but I definitely want to have someone in house rooting for the book. We'll see how it all unfolds. I'm sure there will be more unexpected twists and turns along the way!

2009-08-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

When I was in NY on my honeymoon/familymoon, I had the chance to meet with my lovely editor at Ballantine, Lea. It was wonderful to be able to put a face to a name--she's just as sweet as she had seemed in her emails and phone calls (and she took us to an amazing lunch at a vegetarian restaurant called GOBO: Food for the Five Senses. I'm still drooling over the tea-smoked seitan and the cold honeydew soup!) She gave us a tour of the Random House building (which is designed to look like three books inside two book ends); the lobby is awe-inspiring, filled with floor to ceiling book shelves featuring first editions of books they've published, from Moby Dick and Tom Sawyer to more current award winners. It was humbling and exciting to feel myself as a small part of this grand tradition.

I had a chance to meet Lisa, the publicist I worked with for Self Storage, as well as a bunch of other people I've had contact with over the last couple of years, which was very cool. And I met Anna, the woman who will be designing the book cover for The Delta Girls; she was just finishing reading the novel, and I was so happy to hear how enthusiastic she is about it. She told me that had the book been named Pears, she might not have been able to use pears on the cover, since they like to go against expectation, but now that the title has changed, she can bring pears into the mix. She showed me that she had actually been looking at images of pears that day; she had a whole screen full of different pear pictures on her computer. She said she especially enjoyed working on food-related covers, which was wonderful to hear! Lea told me that Anna's her favorite designer there, and showed me a couple of the books they've worked on together. You can see them here. She said that she knows Anna will come up with the perfect cover for The Delta Girls, one that will capture the spirit of the book, even if the title doesn't. I can't wait to see it!

2009-08-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

Look what I got in the mail--the first pass pages for My Life with the Lincolns! It's so cool to know what the book is going to look like on the inside. Supposedly the typeface is going to change a bit, but I love how the designer has used the Lincoln hat motif throughout the book. Yay!

I also have a potential title for what I still think of as Pears. I spoke with my editor at Ballantine today (who I'll get to meet in person next week--I can't wait!) and she said the copywriting team came up with The Delta Girls and the publisher is very excited about it. Now, this is completely different from anything that I would have come up with on my own. When I first heard it, something inside me withered a bit. I thought it sounded like a book about sorority sisters (when I brought this up with my editor, she said they hadn't considered that and she would talk to the team about it.) It doesn't have the juiciness, the poetry of the titles that you all so generously recommended (thanks again for all of your input!) In this economic climate, though, the publisher is looking for marketability, not poetry, and they think The Delta Girls will sell.

I certainly know how a title can hurt a book--even though I love The Book of Dead Birds as a title, many readers have told me that it was off putting, that they never would have picked up the book if they hadn't had to for a book club or a class, and I'm sure the title did limit its audience. Part of me cringes to think about my title being chosen by committee, being chosen with numbers, not language, in mind, but of course I'm grateful to be in this position and grateful that they want my book to reach as many people as possible.

I ended up writing a new scene that makes The Delta Girls work on a couple of levels (right now, it's just connected to the fact that most of the story takes place in the Sacramento Delta) and if my editor gives the okay to include the scene in the novel, it will definitely help me make peace with the title. The final decision has to be made by noon tomorrow (Eastern time)--I'll keep you posted. Thanks again for all of your help and support.

2009-07-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

The New York Times recently featured a wonderful essay by Mark Dow, No Choice About the Terminology, in their new Happy Days blog (which explores what happiness means during times of economic downturn.) The essay made me happy indeed; it delves into people's quirky and precise relationships with language, and it helped me fall in love with words all over again. I especially appreciated these lines:

We write things down, and hold on to them, for many different reasons. To stop time and keep the “edge of marveling” honed, or at least handy. To create pockets of order. To prove to ourselves that we exist. To be able to immerse ourselves in whatever matters to us but is gone.

I love how both reading and writing can keep the "edge of marveling" alive in our lives; this essay certainly did that for me.

2009-07-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

While I wrote about my wedding over at Mama, Redux yesterday, I thought this would be the right place to share the poetry we used during the ceremony.

Our four "chuppah sisters"--my sister Elizabeth, Michael's sister Mette, and our symbolic sisters, Nancy and Jenn, each stood at a corner of the chuppah (the ceremonial Jewish wedding canopy) and read this poem. I included their initials so you can see who read what part; it was so lovely having their four voices chiming all around us, at times joining in chorus:

The Chuppah
by Marge Piercy

E The chuppah stands on four poles.
M The home has its four corners.
J The chuppah stands on four poles.
N The marriage stands on four legs.
ALL Four points loose the winds
that blow on the walls of the house,
M the south wind that brings the warm rain,
N the east wind that brings the cold rain,
E the north wind that brings the cold sun
J and the snow, the long west wind
bringing the weather off the far plains.

ALL Here we live open to the seasons.
M Here the winds caress and cuff us
contrary and fierce as bears.
N Here the winds are caught and snarling
in the pines, a cat in a net clawing
breaking twigs to fight loose.
J Here the winds brush your face
soft in the morning as feathers
that float down from a dove’s breast

E Here the moon sails up out of the ocean
dripping like a just washed apple.
Here the sun wakes us like a baby.
ALL Therefore the chuppah has no sides.

M It is not a box.
N It is not a coffin.
J It is not a dead end.
ALL Therefore the chuppah has no walls.
M We have made a home together
open to the weather of our time.
We are mills that turn in the winds of struggle
converting fierce energy into bread.

J The canopy is the cloth of our table
where we share fruit and vegetables
of our labor, where our care for the earth
comes back and we take its body in ours.

N The canopy is the cover of our bed
where our bodies open their portals wide,
where we eat and drink the blood
of our love, where the skin shines red
as a swallowed sunrise and we burn
in one furnace of joy molten as steel
and the dream is flesh and flower.

E O my love O my love we dance
under the chuppah standing over us
like an animal on its four legs,
like a table on which we set our love
as a feast, like a tent
under which we work
not safe but no longer solitary
in the searing heat of our time.

Later in the ceremony, my anam cara, Catherine, read this poem:

Honey Locust, by Mary Oliver

Who can tell how lovely in June is the
honey locust tree, or why
a tree should be so sweet and live
in this world? Each white blossom
on a dangle of white flowers holds one green seed—
a new life. Also each blossom on a dangle of flowers
holds a flask
of fragrance called Heaven, which is never sealed.
The bees circle the tree and dive into it. They are crazy
with gratitude. They are working like farmers. They are as
happy as saints. After awhile the flowers begin to
wilt and drop down into the grass. Welcome
shines in the grass.

Every year I gather
handfuls of blossoms and eat of their mealiness; the honey
melts in my mouth, the seeds make me strong,
both when they are crisp and ripe, and even at the end
when their petals have turned dull yellow.

So it is
if the heart has devoted itself to love, there is
not a single inch of emptiness. Gladness gleams
all the way to the grave.

Marge Piercy and Mary Oliver are two of my very favorite poets, so it was wonderful to be able to incorporate their rich, wise words into the ceremony, and to have them read by such beloved friends and family.

2009-07-27T01:07:00.000-07:00

I just posted a bunch of personal news over at Mama, Redux (a boy! a wedding!), but thought I'd share some writerly news here. I recently found out that My Life with the Lincolns, my first YA novel, is going to be released as an audio book when the book comes out in February! I'm so excited--none of my other books have been recorded in this format before. I can't wait to see who they'll choose to give voice to my character Mina. You can actually pre-order the audio book already on Amazon, which is so cool. I hope to see potential covers for the book soon--I will keep you posted.

Still no news on the Pears-title front, but I'll keep you posted on that, as well. Thanks again for all of your great suggestions and support!

2009-07-08T08:11:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Sorry for my long absence--between the Antioch residency (amazing), wedding planning (fun but hectic), starting the summer session at UCR and other various life-related distractions, I haven't had time to blog. I hope you are having a wonderful summer!

I heard from my PEARS editor yesterday. I guess I can't really call her my PEARS editor anymore because Ballantine wants me to change the name of the novel. I'd grown very attached to PEARS (I'm even going to have marzipan pears on my wedding cake), but I know how important it is to have a resonant title, so I've been listing potential alternatives, and would love some input. I am hoping the title will speak, even subtly, to both threads of the story--those following the mother and daughter who end up at a pear orchard in the Sacramento Delta, as well as the pairs figure skating team bound for the Olympics. And of course I want something that will inspire people to pick up the book (Ballantine thought that PEARS wasn't evocative enough.) These are my top picks so far:

--How to Pick the Perfect Pear
--Lifting
--Compulsory Moves
--Picking Pears
--Pear Season
--Pears on Ice
--Ripening (or maybe Ripeness or Ripe)

Let me know what you think, or if you have any other suggestions. If I come up with other top picks, I'll let you know

I have a pub date now, which is exciting--July 10, 2010, almost exactly one year away. The book will be released as an original trade paperback instead of in hardcover first. With the economy the way it is, this makes a lot of sense to me (USA Today featured an article titled Trade paperbacks thrive in tough times earlier this year.) Most readers I know tend to wait until a paperback is released to buy a book, so hopefully this will bode well for the novel; my editor told me that if a hardcover doesn't do well (and none of mine have), bookstores are less likely to order many copies when the paperback comes out a year later--original trade paperbacks have more of a clean slate. So we shall see how this goes!

Thanks in advance for your help--I love the idea of this being a collective experience...

2009-06-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, June 13 at 2pm, I will be reading at the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. I was graciously invited by festival co-founder Heidi Durrow, whose novel, The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, is the most recent Bellwether Prize winner and will be published next February by Algonquin. It will be lovely to meet another Bellwether sister, and to be part of a day dedicated to celebrating multicultural stories. I have to admit, I do find myself struggling a bit with not feeling worthy of speaking at this event, since my own roots are pretty homogeneous, and all the old internal voices that told me I had no right to write The Book of Dead Birds, etc. are rising up inside me again, but I'm trying to quiet them so I can bring an open, humble, non-defensive heart to this beautiful, open-hearted festival.

2009-06-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

Happy 70th birthday, Mom!

To honor my mom's birthday, I put together this little video (well, I should say Michael actually did most of the technical putting together.) As you can hear, whatever vocal training I received for Annie Get Your Gun has flown out the door, but it was fun to sing a song to my mom that she sang to me when I was little, and such a treat to go through all of these old photographs.I hope this whole year will be a very sweet one for you, Mom (and I look forward to your own movie finding its way into the world!)

2009-05-26T13:30:00.001-07:00

As I was driving to campus today, I burst into tears when NPR announced that Prop 8 had been upheld by the California Supreme Court. Such a dark day for our sunny state. The Courage Campaign remixed their moving Fidelity video in response to the news; you can see it here (and click here to help get it on the air):

2009-05-21T13:41:00.000-07:00

Today is the National Media Day of Action on Afghanistan--people around the country are blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking, calling radio shows, writing op-eds and letters to the editor, etc. to educate the public about Afghanistan and call for the end of war there. My contribution to the day, On Afghanistan: Compassion and Action through Storytelling, is currently up on PinkTank, CODEPINK's blog. You can find many other National Media Day posts there, as well. Please use today to inform yourself about Afghanistan (and spread the word with your own blogs and tweets!)

If you don't have time to click on my post, please do click on a link I mention within the post for the Afghan Women's Writing Project, an online school my friend, the amazing Masha Hamilton, started to give Afghan women a way to develop their voices. I will be teaching a class online there later this year, and am so thrilled that I'll be able to help Afghan women--who are so often silenced--get their stories out into the world.

2009-05-04T06:44:00.000-07:00

I think I've found the blog of my dreams, Literary Food Porn: Descriptions of Food from Literature. Food, books, who could ask for more? I can even remember drooling over the picture they use for their banner as a child (although I can't remember which book it's from--The Country Mouse and the City Mouse, perhaps?) Thanks to Maud Newton for the link!

2009-05-02T17:52:00.000-07:00

I've lived in Riverside for almost 19 years, but didn't know we had wild finches in the area until just about a month ago. I was walking to the post office and noticed a swarm of small yellow birds around a feeder in a neighbor's yard.

"Those look like finches," I thought, amazed, and took a moment to enjoy their bright darting and flapping before I continued walking. A few days later, Michael and I were at a local nursery, and I saw a display of "finch socks" for sale--long mesh bags filled with thistle seed. I immediately grabbed one, and we hung it in our back yard when we got home.

The sock dangled forlornly for a couple of days--I worried that the finches would never find it, that the seeds were duds, that I had hung it in a bad spot--but eventually the birds caught on. At first just a couple of sparrow-looking birds with orange heads (I still haven't identified them)--but soon the yard was alive with goldfinches, their yellow feathers catching the sun. This morning, at least a dozen of them were swooping around the feeder, taking turns, scaring each other away, circling back for more.

When I was a kid, my family bought two finches and kept them in a bamboo cage in the corner of our dining room. We named them Romeo and Juliet, but later changed their names to Romiette and Julio after Romeo laid a few tiny eggs. We were so excited when the babies hatched; unfortunately, the parents were not. Romiette pecked a couple of the babies to death and started to attack Julio, as well. Traumatized, we consulted with the pet store and at their suggestion, bought another cage and gave Julio and the surviving baby their own place. They did okay for a while, but somehow I was never able to love our little pets the same way that I had before the carnage. I'm happy that now I can love finches again, in all their wild and greedy glory.

A bird feeder is such a simple thing, but it gives me a real thrill to be able to see and feed these creatures that I didn't even realize were my neighbors until just recently. It makes me wonder what else has been around me for 19 years and I haven't had my eyes open enough to notice...

2009-04-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

Please sign our petition at codepinkalert.org/torture to urge Nancy Pelosi to support an investigation that will expose the torture and abuse committed in our name and hold the perpetrators accountable. Thank you!

2009-04-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Michael and I went to the Inland Agency Peace Festival, a lovely event centered around a local after school arts program called A Sense of Peace. The students at Santiago High School created several life-sized canvas people, stiffened with wax, each one representing a different issue--women's rights, animal rights, school bullying, etc. A very articulate young woman, one of the students in the program, led us around the exhibit and explained the different techniques and intentions used for each figure (the animal rights one, for example, was covered with scratch marks made from forks dipped in paint and charcoal, as if animals were trying to claw their way to a better future.) I especially loved how each figure's belly was open, donated items spilling out--these students weren't just exploring social issues through their art; they were also working to make a real difference in the community. So the women's issues figure was filled with clothing for women and children that will be donated to a local women's shelter, the environmental rights figure was filled with food that is going to be donated to a local food bank, etc. I always love to see how people are finding ways to bridge art and social change, and it makes me very happy to know such projects are happening in local schools.

2009-04-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

I have some big news--much to my shock, I recently found out I am pregnant(!!!) I plan to chronicle the experience at a new blog, http://mamaredux.blogspot.com; I'll continue to post here (in my whim-driven, sporadic way), but if you'd like to follow this new adventure, please join me over at Mama, Redux.

2009-04-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to let you know about this lovely new anthology for a while, but wanted to wait until my mom and daughter had a chance to read the essay I contributed. The editor of Because I Love Her, Nicki Richesin had invited women authors to write pieces about what we had learned from our mothers and what we hoped to pass along to our daughters; "Poison Pens" explores how my mom taught me the power of the written word, and how I want to encourage my daughter to claim her true boldness (hopefully without burdening her with expectation.) The piece veers into some sensitive territory, and brought up a lot of emotion when I shared it with my mom, but it led to some deep and important conversation, for which I am grateful. And ultimately the piece is a tribute to her, and I know she knows that, even if a couple of lines rub her the wrong way. So thank you, Mom, for being so understanding, and thank you again for showing me how powerful the pen can be. Thank you, too, to Hannah for accepting the essay with such a generous spirit. I am honored to be part of this moving collection.

I also have been meaning to post a link to my short story, Generations, which first appeared on WomenWriters.net in January. I shared this story during my Rhapsodomancy reading a couple of months ago, and think I may have freaked some of the audience out a bit. It's a funky little story.

Thanks to Google Alert, I learned today that The Book of Dead Birds was one of the books featured in this great article: Environmental Activism Fiction Reflects Troubling Truths. It's very cool to be mentioned in the same breath as Edward Abbey and John Nichols and Ruth Ozeki, plus I love that the author Kate Skinner calls my novel "a lyrical, edgy little book, angular, imaginative and pure." She writes "These four titles were selected to highlight in review for the way that each deals with environmental activism. Through the eloquent expression of truth in story, we explore those difficult, profound existential questions: what is personal responsibility, what is the link between what we do and what that does to the planet and ultimately: how do we live as greater (better) human beings?" These are issues I want to continue to explore in my work (and hope I do to some extent in Pears...)

2009-03-25T23:10:00.001-07:00

Last night, Michael and I went to the Opening Ceremony and Pairs short program portion of the World Figure Skating Championships. It was perfect timing--I had received news earlier in the day that my new editor loves my novel Pears (I had sent her the revisions last week, and was so relieved I didn't have to wait long to get her response, and of course even more relieved that she likes the book.) One of the main characters of Pears is an Olympic-hopeful pairs figure skater (yes, I'm playing a bit with pears/pairs) and after spending so much time visualizing skating in my mind, it was a real treat to see it in person.

One pair in particular--Ekaterina Sokolova and Fedor Sokolov from Israel (pictured here)--reminded me of my character Karen and her partner, Nathan; not an exact mirror image, but close enough for me to feel as if I was getting a glimpse of my characters in the flesh. I also loved the fact that they skated to part of The Nutcracker, since I was in the Nutcracker on Ice every year from the time I was 5 until I was 13, and that music is so deeply ingrained in my bones (plus I recently started a writing project loosely based upon the Nutcracker, so it felt like two books merging.) The fact that the pair was wearing CODEPINK pink made me love them, too (speaking of CODEPINK, be sure to check out Medea Benjamin's article in Newsweek about CODEPINK's presence at the AIG hearings). The pair didn't fare all that well in the competition, but they were my favorites of the evening.

I found myself tearing up throughout the night--after I stopped skating, for many years, I wasn't able to watch skaters on tv without crying, but these tears were different. They weren't tears of loss, of grief; they were more tears of gratitude, of nostalgia, of amazement at watching such grace and power. I never achieved anywhere close to the ability of the skaters I witnessed last night, but as I watched them, my body could remember the soaring freedom of double jumps, the dizzy bliss of a really fast scratch spin. I'm so happy that I had the chance to honor the journey of my book and my own embodied history by sitting in those wonderful chilly stands.

2009-03-18T11:52:00.001-07:00

This video has to be one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. Who knew sheep herding could be so artful?

2009-03-18T10:02:00.000-07:00

Diane Sherlock, one of my wonderful students in the MFA program at Antioch University, recently learned that her novel, Growing Chocolate, is a quarter finalist in Amazon's Breakthrough Novel competition. Diane is an amazing writer--evocative, funny, insightful, authentic; in short, the real deal. You can help her move on to the semi finals by clicking here to read an excerpt and write a review. Thanks for your support!

2009-03-12T17:06:00.000-07:00

I recently read the charming novel, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (translated from the French by Alison Anderson) and was delighted to find a passage about two of my favorite things, books and fruit:

The cherry plum test is held in my kitchen. I place the fruit and the book on the Formica table, and as I pick up to the former to taste it, I also start on the latter. If each resists the powerful onslaught of the other, if the cherry plum fails to make me doubt the text and if the text is unable to spoil the fruit, then I know that I am in the presence of a worthwhile and, why not say it, exceptional undertaking, for there are very few works that have not dissolved--proven both ridiculous and complacent--into the extraordinary succulence of the little golden plums.

This book definitely passes the cherry plum test for me (not that I had any cherry plums as I read--I wish I had! But the book made me cry in the lobby of America's Tire while I was waiting for a repair, and that seems like an equally important test.)

The Elegance of the Hedgehog is a very philosophical novel, one that reminds me that novels can be about ideas if the ideas are deeply grounded in character; I often resist ideas (or, I should say, Ideas with a capital I) when I write fiction because I don't want my stories to become tracts, stark intellectual exercises, but this book helped me remember that stories can be powerful when they enter the realm of the mind as well as the realm of the body and heart. This novel follows two narrators, 59 year old Renee, a concierge and closet intellectual at a fancy apartment building in Paris, and 12 year old whip-smart Paloma, a resident of the building who plans to kill herself when she turns 13. It's lovely to see how both characters help one another take their light out from under their respective bushels. I read that a French psychologist prescribes this book instead of Prozac, and I can see why; it's a lovely meditation on the beauty that can be found in our world.

2009-03-05T08:44:00.000-08:00

Such a rollercoaster of a week!

This Monday, I was delighted to help introduce Sheela Free at the launch for her first book of poetry Of Fractured Clocks, Bones and Windshields. I met Sheila last year when I spoke at San Bernardino Valley College's Humanities Day; she is an English professor there, and we had a wonderful, energizing conversation about teaching and writing and the senses following my talk. She later sent me some of her poems by email, and I was moved by their raw, from-the-gut power. She had never published her work before, and asked for my advice. I had an intuitive sense that she should send her poems to Plain View Press, a small publisher in Austin, Texas committed to melding art and social change. Sheela pulled a manuscript together, sent it off, and much to our mutual thrill, Plain View wanted to publish it.

The launch was held in the same room where Sheela and I met last year. The auditorium was packed with her friends and family and students and colleagues, everyone so excited. Several people gave introductory remarks; when I gave mine, I mentioned how I felt a bit like a matchmaker or a midwife, helping the book find its way into the world (although of course it was the book, not me, that was the true propelling force). I am so proud of Sheela and so happy that I could help make such a celebratory day possible. Her reading was one of the most exciting I've ever attended; she made her poems participatory--she had all of us snapping and clapping in rhythm, doing call-and-response, standing up and pretending to hold a strap on a bus as she read a poem about her mother riding the bus to work (her mother was in the audience, beaming with pride.) She read with such passion, such humor and grace. It was truly awesome to behold.

The next morning, I was still coasting on the energy of the event when I got some not so happy news--because of the budget crisis in CA, there are no classes available for adjunct lecturers like myself at UCR next academic year. UCR is my main source of income, so this (while not unexpected) was quite a blow. So many people I know have been affected by the economic downtown, and of course now it has hit home more than ever. I trust that I'll be okay--already, other possibilities are percolating--but my heart aches for those who have lost jobs and don't know where to turn.

One thing I'm hoping is that this scary economic climate will help us remember the power of community. Friends have been talking recently about putting together a sort of co-op where we'd share food from one another's gardens, have weekly communal meals, etc. When my kids were little and we lived in Family Student Housing at UCR, we would often have neighborhood meals, each family bringing a course, and it was a way to save money and share in community--everyone was in the same boat then, poor but hopeful, and as many of us are in the same boat now, there are great opportunities for helping one another out (and keeping hope alive.) Sheela's reading was another wonderful example of the power of community--much of Sheela's work is rooted in unimaginable grief, and I could feel the room supporting her, buoying her, as she shared poems about losing her daughter, celebrating with her as she shared poems about the pleasures of delicious, sizzling dosas. It may be a cliche, but it feels truer than ever right now: when we can share our sorrow, it becomes easier to bear; when we can share our joy, our joy multiplies. Thanks for letting me do both here.

2009-02-27T09:32:00.000-08:00

Maira Kalman is as in love with Lincoln as I am. Click here and keep scrolling down to see her wonderful tribute to Abe in images and words. Now I'm fantasizing about her doing the cover for My Life with the Lincolns!

2009-02-22T12:24:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've logged in to blogger...There's so much I've been wanting to blog about, too--I wanted to say happy birthday to Abe, wanted to share with you the valentine I wrote to Obama for CODEPINK, wanted to tell you about my experiences seeing Bruce Sterling and Junot Diaz and Col. Ann Wright speak (all inspiring in very different ways). But mostly what I've wanted to share is a sense of renewal.

Last weekend, the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies (nee the Johnston Center for Individualized Learning, nee Johnston College) at the University of Redlands celebrated it's 40th anniversary, and hosted a big reunion (in this case, called a "renewal") to mark the occasion. Johnston is a progressive, innovative, alternative living/learning community where students create their own B.A. programs (mine was "Poetry and Movement: Arts of Expression, Meditation and Healing"). The weekend was full of reconnection through food and seminars and dancing and storytelling and ritual and just plain hanging out (you can check out the schedule here); so wonderful to see old friends, to hear about the amazing things that people have been up to (creating intentional communities and schools in Hawaii, doing humanitarian work around the world, raising beautiful children, creating jobs that let them live out their passions).

For me, the weekend most importantly offered a real sense of integration. The last year has been such a year of change for me that I've almost felt as if I had entered a different universe than the one I had inhabited before. At the reunion/renewal, I felt my past and present come together into one big whole; I felt my writer self, my dancer self, my activist self, my student self, my teacher self, my friend self, my entire self settle into itself more fully than I can recall. A joyous and healing time.

2009-02-05T16:04:00.000-08:00

Take a look at this great article from The Nation, Stimulus: One Perfect for the Imagination, and be sure to sign the linked petition asking Congress to allocate 1% of the stimulus package for the arts.

Newsweek recently featured a wonderful piece about Obama and the importance of the arts, Will Act for Food, that opens with a shout out to Walt Whitman:

Since election day, pundits have exhausted themselves trying to locate every last reason for Barack Obama's win. But the fine-tooth combing has missed something—or, rather, someone: Walt Whitman. Nobody has pointed out that Obama shares his victory with the generations of writers and musicians and painters in the fervently democratic tradition that descends from our national poet.

...

Since Ralph Waldo Emerson issued his call for homegrown American creativity 130 years ago, and Whitman answered him with the all-embracing poems that helped shape the psyche of our polyglot young democracy, the arts have offered the various tribes of this country some of our best chances to know ourselves and one another, and to see the pleasures and pain of our interactions more clearly: think of what we've learned from Huck and Jim, "Invisible Man," Alvin Ailey's dances, "Angels in America," the blues. Better yet, try to imagine how we'd relate to one another without them.

I am hopeful that Obama will find a way to support the arts during his time in office, but we may need to remind him to do so. Please sign the petition today.

2009-02-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

Rebecca Traister has written a cool article for Salon--The Great Girl Gross Out, with the subtitle "Female writers are getting more graphic than ever about the messy realities of their bodies. Is it too much information or enlightened honesty?" I know I fall into the latter camp, myself--I love the fact that women are being more honest about living inside our female bodies (it's why I wrote Fruitflesh, after all!) When we take what is normally hidden and unspoken and bring it to light, we remove the shame that surrounds it. We can begin to share our experiences more fully and openly. We can begin to realize we're not alone. The body is how we live in the world--by telling its stories, we honor the whole of our existence.

I am grateful that more and more women are feeling free to write about periods and sex and other bodily experiences that had been shrouded in secrecy for so long--these things are part of us and should not be excluded from our storytelling. I am especially grateful for women writers such as Anne Sexton and Sharon Olds who paved the way for women to write freely and boldly about our bodies today (Sharon Olds was instrumental for me, personally--her work truly gave me permission to be more honest in my own writing).

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter if you have a chance to read the article!

2009-01-31T10:20:00.001-08:00

My dad recently published this moving letter to the editor in the North County Times; he had titled it "The Awful Rope", but they retitled it "Images of a segregated US still resonate":

As I watched Barack Obama's inaugural address, I thought of my experience in World War 2. I'm a white man who was a lieutenant in the Quartermaster Corps assigned to a service company consisting of 4 white officers and 228 black enlisted men.

After training these men at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, we went overseas in a Liberty ship, disembarking at Liverpool, England. For our first meal in Liverpool, we entered a room and were confronted by a large rope stretched down the middle of the room with these directions: "whites on this side, blacks on the other side". That rope symbolized the segregation policy of the U.S. Armed Forces. The image of that rope remains deeply etched in my memory.

During World War 2, black soldiers were treated like second class citizens. Today, we salute Barack Obama, our country's first African- American Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces. I hope that some of the men with whom I served and were victimized by what that awful rope represented are still alive to witness this great historic time.

Buzz Brandeis
Oceanside

I'm so proud of my dad for writing this letter, so proud of him for knowing how wrong segregation was when he was in the thick of it. I was shocked as I was researching The Book of Dead Birds to learn that this sort of segregation was still happening in the US military well into the 1970s. Thank goodness our culture is continuing to evolve--I'm thankful my dad can remind me just how far we've come within his lifetime.

2009-01-26T00:14:00.000-08:00

Michael and I went to the Go Green Expo today at the LA Convention Center. We enjoyed wandering around the booths, sampling organic cookies and marveling at the softness of bamboo fabric and checking out solar panels, but the highlight of the expo was the screening of short films from the Elevate Film Festival and the panel discussion that followed.

Elevate seeks to use film as a medium for personal and social transformation, and I was so inspired to see the films themselves--moving and beautiful and funny stories (both documentary and dramatic)--and to hear the filmmakers speak about their process and intentions. Many of them spoke about Obama, and how he reminds people that we can't just sit around and wait for him to fix everything--we need to be active and involved in bringing that change forth, ourselves. As they talked about their desire to create community and inspire change through their work, I felt a deep resonance. They were speaking my language, even though we use different art forms to express it. It's so exciting to me to know that artists all over the country--and the rest of the world!--are finding ways to make the world a better place through their creativity and generosity.

Among the people on the panel were Jenny and Otis Funkmeyer. I don't think I can even begin to describe them--you are just going to have to experience them yourselves. Enjoy!

2009-01-21T12:54:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to try miracle fruit for years. I first learned about it when researching Fruitflesh--it is a berry, that, when consumed, makes sour and bitter foods taste sweet. Since then, the subject has come up many times; Miracle Fruit is the title of one of my very favorite books of poetry, and the New York Times did a cool article on flavor-tripping miracle fruit parties last year, but it wasn't until my daughter noticed that miracle fruit tablets were available on ThinkGeek.com that I took the plunge and ordered some. Last week, I did some flavor tripping, first with Hannah and Michael, then with Michael and our friends Kate and Christian. It's really quite amazing--you let the tablet dissolve on your tongue, and before too long, lemons taste like lemonade, grapefruit tastes as if it's been sugared, pickles taste more like cucumbers and wine tastes almost cloyingly sweet. The most dramatic change was in the marinated mushrooms--garlicky and vinegary before the miracle fruit tablets, they tasted as if they had been dipped in honey afterwards. It's quite wild--the texture was the same, but the flavor (especially the aftertaste) was completely transformed. I recommend the experience highly--it's great fun to taste the world in a brand new way.

The box of the tablets touts "Life Can Be Sweeter!" Even without the miracle fruit, doesn't life taste sweeter today with Obama in office?!

2009-01-20T12:54:00.000-08:00

"In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun."

--Elizabeth Alexander, from her Inaugural poem, "Praise Song for the Day"

As I sat, rapt, during Obama's stirring Inaugural address, I couldn't help but notice the way the light hit the American flag pin on his lapel. Every once in a while, the sun would shoot off the metal in radiant beams, like something from a comic book or maybe religious iconography. Today's sharp sparkle, embodied. The promise of a shimmering new beginning. The restoration of glimmer to our shared stars and stripes.

"On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light."

2009-01-19T16:51:00.000-08:00

We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the positive affirmation of peace. We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the dischords of war. Somehow, we must transform the dynamics of the world power struggle from the negative nuclear arms race, which no one can win, to a positive contest to harness humanity's creative genius for the purpose of making peace and prosperity a reality for all the nations of the world. In short, we must shift the arms race into a peace race. If we have a will- and determination- to mount such a peace offensive, we will unlock hitherto tightly sealed doors of hope and transform our imminent cosmic elegy into a psalm of creative fulfillment.

--Martin Luther King, Jr.

2009-01-16T12:03:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week, when I saw news that Random House announced more job cuts, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Today, I learned that my editor's job was among the ones eliminated.

Anika Streitfeld was the editor of my dreams. We met at Book Expo America several years ago; she was working for MacAdam/Cage at the time (where she edited, among other amazing books, two of my favorite novels: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffinegger and Sleep Toward Heaven by Amanda Eyre Ward). I had written a blurb for one of her books, and introduced myself when I saw her at the MacAdam/Cage booth. We hit it off and kept in touch; both of us spoke about how much we would like to work together some day. When I finished a draft of Self Storage, I noticed in Publishers Lunch that Anika was moving to Ballantine; I asked my agent if she could send Self Storage there. Anika ended up acquiring my novel as her first at her new publishing house (Ballantine is under the Random House umbrella). It was such a joy to work with her--she gave me thorough, thoughtful, deeply intelligent notes that helped the book grow, and helped me grow as a writer. I loved how she understood my vision for the book; our work together felt like a true collaboration.

I had been on pins and needles waiting to hear her response to my latest novel, Pears, after I turned in a draft last September. I know I shared some of my angst on the blog--I may have mentioned how I had been worried that she hated the book and just wasn't sure how to tell me yet (ah, the neuroses of a writer!) It turns out she was just extra busy with deadlines, plus dealing with the vagaries of early pregnancy. When she did call with her feedback, I was in the middle of a workshop during the December Antioch MFA residency and couldn't answer the phone. During a break, I told my students that the call had been from my editor, who I had been waiting to hear from for a few months. They encouraged me to listen to the voice mail in front of them, which I did--my heart pounding, not knowing what to expect. Whether it was good news or bad, I figured, it would be helpful to share it with the students--a way to give them a window in life as a published author. Happily, the news was good--Anika called the book "wonderful" on the message and said she looked forward to sharing her ideas for revision. It was so cool to share the moment with my students, who were very excited and supportive.

Anika and I didn't actually have a chance to speak until after the holidays, since our schedules were both so bonkers. Over the last couple of weeks, though, we finally started discussing revision strategies. As always, her notes were incredibly helpful, and while I felt a bit daunted by the amount of work ahead of me, I was also inspired and definitely excited by the opportunity to work with her to get the book where we both wanted it to be. I am sad now that I won't get to share that process with her, but I am grateful for her suggestions, grateful that the novel will be imprinted by her touch even though from this point on, I'll be working with another editor (who I will connect with soon.)

Anika assured me that she'll be okay--the layoff is actually good timing for her, since she'll be able to spend some real time with her two year old before the new baby arrives. I am eager to keep in touch with her, to share book recommendations and writerly inspirations and stories about our lives.

Thank you, Anika, for all that you have given me. I am a lucky, lucky writer indeed to have had the chance to work with you.

2009-01-14T11:43:00.001-08:00

Some events on the horizon...

--I will be on a fiction panel at the Celebration of Inland Authors at the Feldheym Library in San Bernardino at 1pm on Saturday, January 24th (I believe I'll also be reading that day, but am not sure when. I'll update when I find out.)

--I am going to introduce literary agent Betsy Amster at UCR Writers Week on Wednesday, February 4th at 11am. You can check out the full Writers Week schedule here

--I (and I'm super excited about this) will be part of the Rhapsodomancy Reading Series on Sunday, February 8th at 7pm at the Good Luck Bar in LA, a groovy little venue that looks like something out of a 1960s-era Peter Seller's movie. I'll be reading with Paul Lisicky, Carine Topal, and Lynn Thompson. This series is curated by the fabulous Wendy Ortiz.

--If you are a Johnston Center/College alum or supporter and will be at the Johnston Renewal over President's Day weekend at the University of Redlands, I will be co-teaching a class on Renewal through Fiction: Becoming 'The Other' with novelist Jo-Ann Mapson Saturday, February 14th at 1pm. It will be so wonderful to see old friends and get a dose of that great Johnston energy!

2009-01-11T22:21:00.001-08:00

I drove down to Oceanside today to have dinner with my parents and go to my mom's latest art opening (yay mom!) At some point along that route, I always lose the signal for NPR--a frustrating experience, since it usually seems to happen right in the middle of This American Life or Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me--but today I remembered I had a book on CD in the stereo (thanks to a wonderful student/friend who gave me a huge stack of them): From Fear to Fearlessness by Pema Chodron, a Buddhist nun. The audio book explores how using the Buddhist teachings and practice of lovingkindness can open our hearts and help us face the painful parts of our lives, parts of our lives that make us contract with fear.

Pema Chodron's voice washed over me as I drove past casino billboards and mountain-goat-like orange groves planted on the sides of terraced hills. I hadn't realized how much I needed to hear her words. Life has been good, more than good, but lately I've found myself grappling with a lot of sadness in the wake of my divorce being finalized. Mainly sadness about feeling estranged from the larger circle that had encompassed my marriage, the circle that tightened around Matt after I left (and that I know is still open to me, but in a changed and complicated way.) As Pema Chodron led her audience through the practice of maitri, extending lovingkindness (or, as she sometimes sweetly called it, "friendliness") first to oneself, then to those one is grateful for, then to those one is neutral to, then to those one has issues with, then to all beings, I felt myself melt. I hadn't realized that I had been feeling sorry for myself, and I could feel myself let that go as I wished happiness to all the people in that circle that has sustained me and is now sustaining Matt. And of course I wished happiness to Matt in the process, too. I hadn't been wishing anyone ill before, but to actively wish happiness felt incredibly healing.

Just as Pema Chodron said something about opening the heart, I looked up and saw a heart forming in the sky; the plane creating it was too far away to see--it looked as if the white heart was writing itself onto the blue. I felt my breath catch in my chest, then deepen, at its beauty, its perfect timing. As I continued to drive, I watched the heart change, dissipate, eventually dissolve--it, along with Pema Chodron, reminded me that change is the only constant in life, that we need to continually let go of how we think things should be in order to embrace the shifting reality of what truly is. Our own human hearts beat for such a short time before they dissolve into nothingness--it makes no sense to waste time contracting them in fear or resentment or bitterness. Open them, open them, even when (especially when) it hurts.

May all beings enjoy happiness.

2009-01-10T14:42:00.000-08:00

Last year, my amazing friend, Masha Hamilton traveled to Afghanistan and wrote a blistering piece for Salon.com on the epidemic of kidnapping there. She recently heard from a brave young Afghan woman, Meena Yousufzai, who went to Kandahar to talk to some of the schoolgirls who had been burned by acid by men who oppose education for girls and woman. Masha asked if I could get Meena's voice out--it desperately needs to be heard.

Dear Ms. Masha:

I found Kandahar to be very quiet and isolated. According to people many middle class
families have left the province to live in Kabul or emigrate back to Pakistan and Iran.

A lot of the people I met were mainly complaining about unemployment and poverty. There were only a few restaurants and hotels in the whole city. According to the natives the only well paid jobs are with the foreign NGOs and many think it is a big risk to take.

I was staying in a dormitory along with eight other absolutely adorable girls from Uruzgan and Helmand who were studying to be midwives. Surprisingly all of these girls were Persian speaking Shia citizens of their provinces where they make a very tiny minority. While asking them about the conditions in their home provinces they told me that in Uruzgan Persian speaking people have their won communities, where government has more power and Taliban are not very powerful. The also told me that Pashtuns do not let their daughters to go to school or work that is the reason why majority of the doctors, nurses and teaches are Persian speaking Shias although, in these provinces Pashtuns make the majority. According to the girls they do not even wear a burqa in Helmand and Uruzgan while they are inside their own communities. Nafisa from Helmand told me that her mother runs a special class in her house for the girls who have dropped out of school. The home school is supported by the government so her mother is paid about three and a half thousand Afghani (almost 60 USD) a month. This is a very good income in Helmand. She told me that because the government sometime helps the course students with some wheat and cooking oil, even some very conservative families let their daughters and wives to attend the class. (From this you can see how severe the poverty really is).

I was shocked when Sohila and I were stopped to enter a restaurant because we did not have a male relative with us (absolutely like Taliban rules).on the streets you can only see a few women after 12:00 at noon. Almost every woman wears a burqa and sacks to cover their feet. People over all but women especially looked so much scared of the Taliban. They were almost paranoid about it. They thought that Taliban follow each and every of them and can hurt them and their families anytime.

Unlike Kabul I did not see many signs of the central government (like our national flag, Posters of the President and etc..). The only photos even in the government owned vehicles I noticed were of the late King, Zaher Shah, and Kandahar’s former governor Gul Agha Sherzoi, who seemed to be very popular. Surprisingly, a majority of the police in Kandahar were Persian speaking (looked to me more from Parwan and Panjshair) with little familiarity to Pashto language and Pashtun culture. While asking why that would be from a Taxi driver and a friend their reply was that the government does not trust Kandaharis because they can be sympathetic to Taliban.

I met eleven out of the thirteen girls (the media was wrong about fifteen or sixteen) from the acid attack and their families. All of them had great hatred for Taliban but meanwhile had no faith in their own central government. Asking some Shias about their religious freedom in Kandahar, they were very happy that they were being somewhat treated equally by the central government.

Just a very interesting story, one of the men named Naim who had sprayed acid on the girls was not caught by the police but his own mother called the police after watching the news and told them about her suspicions about his son’s involvement in the attack. Naim was tortured and killed in Police custody.

Wearing a burqa was a very interesting experience. It was the first time I ever wore a burqa for that long. Just after getting out of the airport , my friend Sohila, who was already wearing a burqa, asked me to wear mine. I did wear mine but I pulled up the front part meaning my face was not covered. The plan was for Mr. Ted to go with a car that our contact from Human Rights commission sent. And for us was to go in a taxi, whose drivers was a family friend to Sohila. We said good bye but suddenly my instincts told me not to trust the driver of the car. Wearing my burqa but not covering my face I ran to stop the car and go in the same car with Mr. Ted. Behind me Sohila was getting mad and shouting “You are not supposed to be running with a burqa on and without covering your face”. But I did.

Of course wearing a burqa was uncomfortable but it was easy to deal with. The hardest part for me was that I had to wear a burqa because of fear of the Taliban and men’s injustice in our societies. I was wearing a burqa not because I wanted to but because I had to. Finally I decided that I would not cover my face. And I would deal with whatever might happen. It was not really like Taliban will beat you or something they do not have that much power. But people would stare at you and gave you bad looks. Of course my friend Sohila did not let me do it all the time but whenever she was not there I did it. Once after dropping Sohila home. I got myself a Pepsi and asked the driver to go through Bazar. I uncovered my burqa, relaxed and drunk my Pepsi. Nothing really happened but made me feel much better. During the nights I slept in a room with four other girls. Till late we all would be chatting. These girls were of ages 16 to 18 and some married and two already mothers. In the first night they were shy and quite but the other nights we made really good friends. I asked them about different things in their provinces especially women rights. I was so mad when almost all of them thought it is fine for men to beat their wives and sisters. And the best thing for a Muslims woman is to keep quiet and have patience. I talked a lot to them about women in Islam. They looked so thirsty for information. I told them that If it is fine for Prophet (PBUH) to divorce his wife why not for us, who are nothing but ordinary followers of him. If in the Quran it says that Nekah is Sunnah (Actions Prophet (PBUH) has done and Divorce is Farz (Muslim’s duty if husband and wife are not happy). Then who are we to do the opposite. While talking to them I felt that I would for sure work for women rights all through Afghanistan but especially in Pashtun areas. These girls told me that they are still very lucky to be born as Persian speaking. What would they do if they were Pashtun women? They girls absolutely loved the freedom we have in Kabul. It was just great for them. They had a feeling that they can not do anything. others need to change things for them. For example Nafisa from Helmad told me that “I can not wait for Americans to take out every woman’s burqa in Helmand and Kandahar”. I told her it is only us, Afghan women, who can and who will do this. It taught me something. I wear my Islamic hejab and if Allah willing I will always but I hope every Afghan women would be able to follow their religion based on their own version and personal believes, They will do it because they want to not because they have to.

Over all I found Kandaharis to be one of the biggest victims of Taliban. They are very much in need of help. They are poor, illiterate and very easy targets for Taliban to use.

Meena Yousufzai YES ‘08
January 4th , 2009

I am grateful to have this sobering window into the current Afghan female experience, which we don't hear about often enough in the media. If you feel moved to help, the Afghan Women's Mission is a wonderful organization providing health, education and other needed programs. And if you are inspired by Masha's work (which always features a beautiful blending of art and social responsibility), please consider taking one of her writing workshops; she will help you be brave in your own creative work.

2009-01-02T10:12:00.001-08:00

Happy 2009! I hope everyone had a peaceful, delicious holiday season.

Since my blogging chops are rusty right now, I think I'm just going to post my Free Will Astrology horoscope (Rob Brezny is eerily accurate almost every week):

Aries (March 21-April 19)
It's a great privilege to live in a free country. You're fortunate if you have the opportunity to pursue your dreams without having to ward off government interference or corporate brainwashing or religious fanaticism. But that's only partly useful if you have not yet won the most important struggle for liberation, which is the freedom from your own unconscious habits and conditioned responses. Becoming an independent agent who's not an unwitting slave to his or her past is one of the most heroic feats a human being can accomplish. And you, Aries, will have more mojo to do that in 2009 than you've had in a long time.

Wishing all of you the mojo to access new levels of creative freedom this year! And wishing for the world the hope and change that we have been promised--let's do whatever we can to bring it into being.

2008-11-30T12:18:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to say that things will likely be pretty quiet around here for a while--my daughter and I are packing to move to a new house (hit me up if you need my new address) and I'm gearing up to teach at the 10 day Antioch MFA residency.

I still haven't heard from my editor re. my novel Pears, and am continuing to feel very nervous about it, continuing to feel as if I turned it in too soon. I will let you know if I hear anything. I completely trust my editor's judgment, though, and know whatever feedback she gives me will help the book grow stronger, whether it ends up on her list--which of course I hope for, since I love working with her--or not. The Lincoln book has (re)taught me that a manuscript can have life beyond rejection. But I'm getting ahead of myself! I look forward to jumping fully into the revision process in my new house, where I'll have fruit trees right outside the office door.

I wish everyone a peaceful and fruitful December!

2008-11-26T19:44:00.001-08:00

On the eve of Thanksgiving, I am grateful to have found two wise posts about gratitude in today's uncertain world. One by my wise and amazing friend, Laraine Herring, which explores why writing matters even as publishers are closing their doors, and one by Michael Morford in the San Francisco Chronicle titled Change and Gratitude: How the hell can you be thankful in a time of fear and meltdown?

These words of Laraine's really spoke to me:

Write directly into the heart of the moment when reading changed you. Writing matters. Stories matter. You have a gift and a desire to tell a story. Rather than be fearful of what you might not be able to accomplish, instead be grateful for the gifts of language. Don't let the fear of the distribution (or not) of those stories get in the way of the telling. Your burdens will become greater by remaining silent. Perhaps especially in economic times like these.

Write what you were given to write and let the rest go.

These words by Michael Morford also resonated:

Maybe this Thanksgiving, it's all we can do to be grateful for, well, for change itself. Any kind of change. Because change is still required. Change is still the universal law. Without it, everything stops. Without it, we die. Change is the only thing we really know for sure. It's the only thing that actually makes any sense, even when it doesn't.

It is the grand rule: "Change and be grateful." Even here. Even now.

Yes. I am so grateful for words that can reach into my heart and make it pound harder. I am so grateful to people with whom I can share words and thoughts and moments and love. I am so grateful to be alive on this planet, which continues to be so beautiful and abundant even in these lean and confusing times. And yes, I am grateful for change, in all its terrifying, exhilarating glory.

May everyone have a gorgeous and delicious Thanksgiving!

2008-11-21T18:51:00.000-08:00

If you found your way here via my National Novel Writing Month pep talk, welcome! I hope your month of novel writing has been a fruitful one indeed. My experiences with NaNoWriMo have been so crucial to my life as a writer--both liberating and affirming. NaNoWriMo got me back into my own writing flow a few years ago, during a time when I was feeling completely frozen by expectation (mostly my own, but also what I perceived to be external expectation, as well). I found that when I churned out words that quickly, there was no time to worry about whether what I was writing was perfect and beautiful; it shut my inner editor right down. Giving yourself permission to make a big old mess on the page is incredibly freeing. I hope you're giving yourself that permission and having lots of fun with the process!

For those who aren't taking part in NaNoWriMo, here is my pep talk that went out to all the intrepid November novelists today:

Dear NaNoWriMo writer,

The metaphor of writing-as-birth is not a new one—perhaps it may even be a bit overused—but I can’t help but think about it this month. It doesn’t matter if you’re a woman or a man; you’re pregnant with a novel—congratulations!

Of course, one month is a pretty short gestation period, but hey, that’s all the time rabbits need, and NaNo certainly requires a “no time to say hello, goodbye” White Rabbit breakneck pace.

I remember how amazing it was when I was pregnant with my kids—each day, my body had transformed into something new. This month, you have transformed, too, moving from aspiring writer to novelist, from someone who has wanted to write to someone who actually is doing the hard, juicy work of getting words onto the page. You have learned new things about the creative process, about the depths of your imagination, about the themes and images central to your subconscious life. And even if you are way behind on your word count, even if you’ve only written the first scene of your novel, you have taken a profound leap. You are a writer now. How awesome is that?!

If your experience is anything my like NaNo experiences have been, this has been a time of exhilaration and frustration, inspiration and despair (and, hopefully, big slices of pumpkin pie!) A journey from that first thrill of conception, through moments when the story feels heavy and unwieldy, to times when it kicks inside you and fills you with awe. And now the end, your due-date, is in sight—at least as far as the calendar is concerned. Now you’re not just pregnant—you’re in labor.

In fact, you’re probably at what midwives call the transition stage—the point where the contractions are coming fast and furious, and you’re almost ready to start pushing your book baby, whole, out into the world. Some people get a rush of energy of at this stage, a super human surge that propels them through the birth—a mad flurry of words, a tumbling of scenes that seem to write themselves toward their own climax. Other people, when they get to this stage, suddenly feel as if they’re going to die. As if they can’t go on. As if they don’t know why they ever wanted to have a baby/sign up for NaNoWriMo in the first place. If you can breathe through this transitional period, if you can find a way to quiet those nagging critical voices and keep moving forward, your story will ultimately find its way into the bright oxygenated air (even if it’s long after November 30th.)

See if you can use this final stretch of time to stretch yourself creatively, to try something new and playful with language, to let your characters surprise you, to let yourself surprise yourself. Never let yourself forget what a profound thing you’re doing. As Margaret Atwood says “A word after a word/after a word is power.” You have that creative force inside you. You are poised to give birth to a whole new world.

Congratulations again!
Gayle Brandeis

2008-11-18T19:45:00.001-08:00

You can read a portion of "Raising a Ruckus with CODEPINK: Women for Peace", the speech I recently gave in Toronto, at CODEPINK's online magazine, PinkTank.

2008-11-17T19:22:00.000-08:00

It's always such a treat for me to visit book clubs (such as the lovely one pictured that I visited in Claremont last Friday.) I love connecting with such passionate readers; they always come up with the most wonderful, thoughtful questions and help me see my work in fresh ways. One woman at the book club on Friday wisely commented upon how Self Storage couldn't have been set in today's post-election world; the fear and intolerance that were such hallmarks of the post-9/11 Bush era wouldn't have the same resonance in a story set after Obama's win. I hadn't thought about this before, and am so grateful that Self Storage now represents only a small, dark sliver of American history.

I am also so grateful to see how the word YES has exploded since then. In 2002, YES was not so easy to come by; when my main character Flan found the word inside a box in a storage auction and decided to go in search of her own source of YES, it felt like an almost radical act. The world at the time was so full of NO. As I wrote the novel, I had no idea that in a few years, millions of people would be chanting YES WE CAN and working together to say YES to the future. Such a beautiful and joyous affirmation. The host of the book club even baked a YES cake, the letters shaped with Hershey's kisses, so we had a chance to literally embody the word.

I am visiting another book club next week; I am eager to hear their questions and see how they'll open my eyes anew.

2008-11-11T21:28:00.001-08:00

GOOD Magazine (a great newish progressive journal exploring arts and culture and the environment) recently launched a book blog; I was delighted to find this post linking Barack Obama to Walt Whitman. It closes with these lines:

At Grant Park, Obama was evidence that, as Whitman wrote in the preface to his epic “Leaves of Grass,” “The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it.” Obama absorbs Whitman, we absorb Obama, and “the United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem.”

There is mention of Abraham Lincoln, who was Whitman's contemporary, earlier in the post, as well. It's fun that I've written novels inspired by both Whitman and Lincoln, and now they've found nexus in our new President!

2008-11-05T13:47:00.000-08:00

What a day for new beginnings! As we launch into this new era for our country, we have some fresh starts in our own household, as well: my daughter just enrolled in a new school, which hopefully will prove to be a better fit for her for the time being, and my contract for my first YA novel just arrived! I was offered the deal in June, but didn't want to say anything publicly until I saw the actual contract. Now it is here and I can say with confidence that My Life with the Lincolns will be published by Henry Holt, Spring, 2010.

My Life with the Lincolns tells the story of Mina Edelman, a 12 year old girl in 1966 Chicago who believes her family is the Lincoln family reincarnated and it's her job to save them from their fate. It's set during the Chicago Freedom Movement, when she and her father get involved in Martin Luther King Jr.'s campaign to work for housing equality. I love knowing the book will be published during an Obama presidency--so much of the book is about community organizing in Chicago, which of course is such an important part of Obama's own history (be it in a different era). Plus I know Obama feels such a deep connection to Lincoln, himself. My biggest, wildest fantasy is an Obama blurb for the book, but I think the President might be a bit too busy to offer one. :)

All the happiness of this day of course is tempered by the passing of Prop 8. How heartbreaking that on a day of such celebration, a day of breaking barriers and stepping forward as a country, our state decides to take a step back toward inequality. This is proof that we can't just relax now that Obama has won; there is still so much work that needs to be done. I have faith that the American people are up for the task and will ultimately work together to ensure equal rights for all, but it's going to take time and energy and commitment. Obama's campaign proved that we have that--may we continue to band together and use it well!

2008-11-05T08:09:00.001-08:00

YES! YES! YES! YES!

So wonderful to wake up today to a new world, to find out that the dream of last night is actually real. Here are the stirring newspaper headlines people woke up to around the country and around the world.

And be sure to check out this wise and beautiful open letter to Obama by Alice Walker

I have never been so proud or happy to be an American. Yes We Can, Yes We Did, Yes We Will!

ETA: I realized I didn't share anything about my election night experience. Michael and I went to Nancy and Jenn's house for an election night dinner party; the group decided to turn on Comedy Central to see what Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert had to say about the election proceedings, and a minute or so later, Jon Stewart got all teary and declared Obama president. We couldn't believe it--it was just after 8pm; the polls in CA had just closed. When had the decision ever been made so early? We all looked at each other to say "What?" "Could this be true?" "It is live", "That's real emotion in his voice," so we switched over to MSNBC and learned that yes, it was indeed true. Obama had won. We were all in complete delighted shock; it took a moment for the reality to sink in. I'm still reeling with joy.