As the only Deb who has launched (but only for TWO MORE WEEKS because TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY both Aya’s and Heather’s books pub!!!), I’m going to focus a bit more on post-launch and let the others give you soothing words for the pre-launch. First let me say, my headline is a lie. I have no idea how one keeps one’s soul intact. I sold mine to the devil two…
We are so excited today to welcome back our former Deb, Karma Brown, whose second book, THE CHOICES WE MAKE, is publishing this Tuesday! Kirkus Reviews said it has “a compelling premise with a plot that intensifies satisfyingly.” THE CHOICES WE MAKE is a story of friendship, and motherhood, and what we’re willing to do for the ones we love. Hannah is unable to conceive, and so her best friend…
Hey look, Louise kept all her resolutions. Rah, rah, Louise. (I’m sorry, did that sound sarcastic? Because it was TOTALLY SUPPOSED TO!) Since this is a new year’s resolution check-in, it’s going to be really short. Because the answer to the question “Have you achieved your goals?” is swift and easy: No. Okay? End of post. [What do you mean 56 words isn’t long enough for a post? You want…
I am alone among the Debs in that I don’t have to fantasize about my book launch: I have already lived it. Louise wrote beautifully about her upcoming book launch. She said, “I have realized that the party is not just to celebrate the novel being published—it’s my chance to say thank you to all the people that made it possible.” I love that about Louise. She’s a generous, caring…
Katherine and I met at the Boston writing center, Grub Street. She captivated me when she told me about her book project, GRACE WITHOUT GOD: THE SEARCH FOR MEANING, PURPOSE, AND BELONGING IN A SECULAR AGE. Katherine spent three years observing, researching, and writing about the twenty-five percent of Americans who are “Nones”—the term sociologists use to describe the religiously unaffiliated. Her book tells the story of the many ways…
Historical fiction requires a completely different mindset. To lose yourself in another time, it helps to experience it. To write MODERN GIRLS, I needed to block out the twenty-first century and pretend I lived in the first half of the twentieth century. So I immersed myself in the spirit of the 1930s, using every sense I could. I looked at the paintings Dottie sees at MOMA. I listened to music…
As I wrote about when our theme was regrets, I have had more than my share of adventures in life. I’ve hitchhiked in Bulgaria, picked kiwis in Israel, and spent three months driving solo across the United States, and those are just the things I’m willing to admit to on a public website. Now I’m a middle-aged mother of two. My big excitement is the Black Manhattan my husband makes…
Even without invoking that most famous literary food of memory, I think we can all agree that food has the capability of being a direct conduit to our past. The smell of onions frying on the stove brings me back to brunch at my grandparents’ house, where my grandfather sautéed onions to add–with hardboiled eggs–to the chopped liver I adored. No one makes spaghetti sauce like my mother, and when…
We’re talking about regrets this week. Which means this is going to be a very short post. Because, as strange as this sounds, I have almost no regrets in my life. I mean, regrets? Who has time for regrets? (It is physically impossible for me to write about regret without singing “My Way”: “Regrets, I’ve had a few.”) (What? You were expecting Frank Sinatra? I would have regretted doing something…
This week we’re writing about women in publishing, and all I can think is “still”? It’s 2016, people. Aren’t we over this whole gender thing yet? And yet… Just last week The Observer published an article entitled “Why Hasn’t ‘The Late Show’ Invited Any Female Novelists?: The nine fiction writers who have appeared on Colbert’s talker have all been men.” The Jennifer Weiner/Jonathan Franzen feud (as one-sided as it seems…
