Category Archives: Feminist Fun

Type As

June 27, 2006 · Comments Off on Type As

I don’t know why there are Type A personalities or Type B’s. I don’t know why opposites attract and if/or the attraction lasts. I just know that I write because it gives me a goal, a focus, a direction. It organizes my brain in such a way that my intense energy, my endless restlessness, becomes pleasingly productive. And I need to feel productive. I have a ridiculous need to contribute, be useful, to make a difference. Back in college I was Born Again, and not just a little Born Again, but an evangelical that spent more time on Bruin Walk preaching–mmhmm–and carrying my bible around that actually studying or sitting in class. I guess I thought Jesus would take my … Continue reading Type As →

The Problem with Good

May 16, 2006 · Comments Off on The Problem with Good

The problem with good things and good times is that well, they’re good. And it’s hard to talk too much about good times, good memories, good luck–good stuff–without sounding like you’re bragging or all high on yourself. Now if you’re a guy, you can get away with good talk easier than a chick. Because guys start talking trash at two. ‘My truck better.’ ‘My blocks higher.’ And so on. And lest you think I’m just blatantly sexist, there are reams of studies on gender and linguistics, my favorite being Gender and Discourse by Deborah Tannen. This book is amazing and saved me from the funny farm more than once because it states truths that lots of people either don’t know, … Continue reading The Problem with Good →

Best Bits

May 8, 2006 · Comments Off on Best Bits

I’m working on my new book for Warner and it’s my favorite part of writing—the non-writing. I love it. I don’t sit at the computer more than an hour at a stretch. I get to read nearly all day. I make notes, on note cards. I scribble in margins. I highlight text in my books, underline phrases in articles, bend corners of pages I want to reread again later. I’m a schoolgirl, only happier, because I get to pick, and control, my areas of learning. I always wanted this. In fourth grade I begged my parents to let me attend a free school, one of those non-structured schools I read about in England where kids pursue subjects that interest them … Continue reading Best Bits →

Women & Story

April 29, 2006 · Comments Off on Women & Story

Last week I was pushing hard to finish a book before hopping on a plane for Honolulu to participate in Hawaii’s first Book & Music Festival. I’d been scheduled months earlier to speak but the topic hadn’t been firmed up until two weeks prior and only then was it decided that I’d address, ‘Why Women Need Their Own Story’. Unfortunately, because I’d been writing so hard on my novel, I didn’t have the speech together and crossed my fingers I’d have time to get it done once I arrived in Hawaii. But once in Hawaii it was difficult to make myself concentrate on the speech. Ty had work, I had interviews–two email and one phone, there were house issues to … Continue reading Women & Story →

Old Bess

March 23, 2006 · Comments Off on Old Bess

This has been a week of doctor’s appointments: three for me, two for the new puppy and one for my youngest son. I was supposed to have another tomorrow and then on Monday both boys see the dentist. I am canceling tomorrow’s appointment. It’s way too many doctors in one week. And even though I got to keep my clothes on for several (they were consults with specialists) I am still feeling vulnerable. And defensive. If one more medical professional refers to me and says in the same breath, ‘older’, ‘declining’, and ‘at your age’, I will kick him. I may not be twenty, but I am not older, declining, or at your age. And for the doctor on Monday … Continue reading Old Bess →

Waiting for the Other Shoe…

March 10, 2006 · Comments Off on Waiting for the Other Shoe…

To drop. Does anyone else ever do that? Things are good, almost too good, and so you brace yourself, mutter worries and denials, as though the gods were leaning over their fluffy pink clouds waiting to see who just might be too happy? And who, they, the bored, petty vengeful gods must smash? One of my least favorite Mark Twain stories–I think the collection is The Devil’s Racetrack–comes from late in his life, after the death of his wife and beloved daughter Susie, and Twain paints God as a petty angry God. One that toys with us, and then stomps on us, like ants. I love Twain’s writing and yet found this story, and the premise, distressing. Does God really … Continue reading Waiting for the Other Shoe… →

Reality Sucks

February 28, 2006 · Comments Off on Reality Sucks

I’m not talking about my reality for a change. You can all relax. No deep painful personal confessions from me today, just a little commentary on reality tv and what I’ve recently seen. I don’t watch lots of tv, but I always have a couple favorites, a Tuesday night show, or a Sunday evening program, something I can generally watch with the kids, and something that allows me to root for folks. Survivor is too cut throat for me and far more suitable for the Bombshell heroine than the Presents girl, anyway. No, I like The Bachelor, and Dancing with the Stars (and the one making the loudest gagging noises is my own boyfriend but hey, I’m a drama queen, … Continue reading Reality Sucks →

Blink

January 4, 2006 · Comments Off on Blink

While in Hawaii this past week I read a fascinating book titled Blink. It was in hard cover, and expensive, but it grabbed me in the prologue and kept my attention the entire time and I talked about it with friends on the beach, and to others by the pool, and ended up leaving my copy behind so my boyfriend could read it next. Blink looks at thin-slicing life, those two seconds where we dissect a situation, whether by instinct, knowledge, or a combination of the two and those two seconds–especially if instinct is honed by education–we know nearly everything we need to know. In those first seconds. In the blink of an eye. I loved the book because it … Continue reading Blink →

Intro to Fiction Writing

November 12, 2005 · Comments Off on Intro to Fiction Writing

At UCLA when I wanted to switch from Theatre Arts to Creative Writing, I had to take an Intro to Creative Writing course. This was the mid to late 80’s and everybody was very Goth at the time and the cool, clever, real writers all wore black and slouched, or spoke in whispers of intellectual boredom. I was in a sorority and while I didn’t wear bubblegum pink, I certainly didn’t wear black and I did badly in the class. My professor liked nothing I wrote. I barely passed the class and remember his scathing criticism of my stories today ‘who writes such sentimental crap?’ Uh, Professor, let me raise my hand. I do. Needless to say I did not … Continue reading Intro to Fiction Writing →

Do Real Women Make Quiche?

September 27, 2005 · Comments Off on Do Real Women Make Quiche?

I get amazing emails about The Frog Prince. Nearly five months after it came out, I’m still getting several emails a week from readers who just loved the book, and loved how normal and accessible Holly was as a character. Some of the readers say they feel exactly like Holly and that Holly could have been them at one point in life. Others say that they loved reading about a woman who isn’t into clothes and fashion and is struggling to define herself. And others, usually fellow authors, write to say they admire me for writing about someone who is so unheroic. I really appeciate the emails and feedback from readers and writers. I just wish I was as clever … Continue reading Do Real Women Make Quiche? →