We will be discussing Love in Mid Air with the author on May 19 (8PM EST). Watch for details as we get closer to the date.
A 24 book giveaway will be posted to the Manic Mommies website within the next week.
Synopsis: A chance encounter with a stranger in an airplane sends Elyse Bearden into an emotional tailspin. Suddenly, Elyse is willing to risk everything: her safe but stale marriage, her seemingly perfect life in an affluent Southern suburb, and her position in the church. As Elyse embarks on a risky affair, her longtime friend Kelly and the other women in their book club begin to question their own decisions about love, sex, marriage, and freedom. In the end it will take an extraordinary leap of faith for Elyse to find--and follow--her own path to happiness.
Author Q&A
Tell us a little about yourself: I’m 54 with two grown children, a total southerner, and obsessed with my new hobby of ballroom dancing. Seriously. I tango in my dreams. Love in Mid Air is my first novel but for 30 years before that I supported myself as a food and travel writer. That’s a great gig because it took me all over the world.
Do you write daily? Almost daily, but I’m not one of those writers who does the same amount of work each morning, like 2000 words or four hours or something. When I’m in the grip of a project I tend to go on writing binges and then afterwards I’ll back off for a while.
What was it like getting your first novel published? When you’re writing a novel there’s always the feeling that it’s never going to be finished and that, even if you do somehow manage to complete the thing, you’ll never find an agent and sell it. I was lucky in that many of my friends are writers and when I got “Love” ready to go, my friend Alison introduced me to her agent. Even though it felt like the ultimate blind date, David and I connected over dinner in a little Italian restaurant in Brooklyn and he’s been a fantastic advocate for the book. I signed with him in November 2007 and he sold the book the next month. I’d worked on it for years so it was a bit of a shock how fast things actually came together. One of my friends says that being a writer is like being a cop – long stretches of boredom occasionally punctuated with moments of sheer terror. She has a point!
What do you think of the electronic book (kindles and such)? God bless anything that makes it easier for people to read, but, that said, I’m of the old school. I like to hold a book in my hand. I like the way they look on a bedside table and even the way they smell. A woman once told me she was a Kindle-ophile because she’s bought so many books through the years that her house is full of them and buying ebooks cuts down on clutter. I know what she means – every time I move I think “I have way too many books” – but for some reasons I still like the presence of books in my home. I would never define them as “clutter.:”
What is one tip that you can share with aspiring writers? Get to know other writers – either online, or by joining writing groups and attending conferences. Not only can we all help each other – like Alison did when she introduced me to David - but I think the isolation that most writers feel is simply unnecessary.
What are you reading now? Love Invents Us by Amy Bloom
Just for fun:
- Favorite Season: Fall
- Morning or night: Morning
- Favorite ice cream flavor: Butter Pecan
- If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go: I’ve never been there, but Australia has always been my dream destination, ever since I wrote a report on it in fourth grade. I think I was enchanted by a picture of children surfing on Christmas Day!
No comments:
Post a Comment