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...

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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!)

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...

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...

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!

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!

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!)

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.

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. :)

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.

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.

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.

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!

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 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. ;)

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.

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. :)

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.

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!)

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. :)