December 2007 Archives

Gilbert's not a saint or a guru, great teacher or wise woman. She's simply an engaging writer with an open heart, and EAT PRAY LOVE has quickly become one of my favorite books. It's certainly my favorite memoir. Struggling with the rocky end of a marriage (been there), Gilbert decides to travel for a year, carefully planning her intinerary to focus on finding out who she is--rather than who she is/was/could be inside a relationship. Specifically, she wanted to turn inward, connecting with and nurturing her spiritual side. It's clear to anyone reading her memoir, however, that turning inward is not all that easy for her: she is an extreme extrovert, making friends wherever she goes. Still, she gives new meaning to the concept of learning something new from every person you meet--especially when that something new is about yourself. She divided her year (financed by a book advance) into thirds. The first four months she spent in Italy (eating, as well as studying Italian). The second four months were at an ashram in India where she spent much of her time in meditation. Anyone who has practiced--or tried to practice--meditation will surely relate to her struggle to master the skill, if not to her euphoria when she eventually succeeds. Finally, she spent four months in Indonesia, studying on the porch of a medicine man, befriending a healer, and falling in love. (To those of us who lack the means, interest or time to travel, Gilbert points out on her website that travel is not a necessity in a search for meaning. But it certainly made for an entertaining story). What makes EAT PRAY LOVE so special to me is Elizabeth Gilbert's humanness, which shines through on every page. Even if you can't picture yourself traveling as confidently as she does and even if you don't give a hoot about meditation or healers, you'll probably be able to relate to her emotions and reactions. Gilbert espouses no one religion in her memoir, although I believe this book spoke to me so strongly because my own sense of the divine is akin to hers. I'm curious to know how readers coming to the book from other belief systems feel about it. I like to think that, even if she had a very different take on spirituality from my own, I'd still enjoy reading about her own spiritual journey. But maybe not. . .  It's hard to say. The only thing that bothered me about the book was that everything fit together so neatly. That's what makes a good memoir, though: it reads like a story, with a beginning, middle and end. If this were a novel, it would have really irked me that she fell in love at the end. I wanted her to stick to her original decision to remain celibate for the entire year, and she did give it a good try. But falling for the sensuous Brazilian ex-pat and living happily ever after felt so contrived. Yet it's a memoir, and it's hard to take issue with reality. You can get a taste of Gilbert's voice on her website where she answers questions about EAT PRAY LOVE and also shares her thoughts on writing. As for me, I've bought a second copy to share. I'm holding on to my own.

Obviously, I've been taking a little holiday break from the blog! I'll be back in full force after Christmas, though. I'll leave you with my favorite Christmas picture. My goldens, Chapel and Ben, went to the Rainbow Bridge long ago, but they had good long lives and I'll always treasure this picture of them. I hope you and your families have a wonderful holiday season!

WooHoo! I didn't expect the trade paperback edition of THE SECRET LIFE OF CEECEE WILKES to be available until after Christmas, but I see that it's already available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, among other online stores. Not sure if you can find it in the "bricks and mortar" stores yet, since they are usually a bit slower to get books on the shelves, especially at this time of year. But if you were hoping to give CEECEE as a Christmas gift, you--and I--are in luck.            

Per request, here's an update on my works-in-progress. Some great news, first of all, on the trade publication of THE SECRET LIFE OF CEECEE WILKES. CEECEE will be out in trade paperback right after Christmas, which is good news, but the great news is that Levy Home Entertainment, one of the largest book distributors in the country, has selected CEECEE for its February Need to Read program.  Levy supplies books to Target, Kmart, grocery chains, BJ's, etc, and CEECEE should be prominently featured in participating stores. I'm thrilled! Update on BEFORE THE STORM--I just received the "line edits" today. Although I haven't yet opened the package, I'm quite sure the manuscript will be covered with questions, comments and suggestions from both my editor and copy editor. My task will be to go through the manuscript once again, looking for mistakes that haven't yet been caught and responding to the editors' various concerns. Then I'll send the changes back to my editor and my role in the creation of the book will be complete. Update on AFTER THE STORM--I was really cranking on this book before the computer crash/holidays/new computer fiasco. I've lost a bit of steam this week, though. My due date is March 1 and I have plenty of work to do before then. Although the book is well outlined, I only have about 100-150 very rough pages so far. Fortunately, my writing friends and I are returning to the Weymouth Center for the Arts for a week of serious work in early January, and I know that will get me back on track.  In other news: I have my first Ipod--a nano. It's adorable. I bought it to listen to audio books. Now if I could only figure out how it works. . . The best news of all: I have a new granddaughter!  

I have my new desktop set up with a gorgeous big flat screen monitor. It's yummy! The computer guru is at work trying to recover my lost data and maybe tomorrow or the next day I'll know where that stands. Sigh. Meanwhile, I have a question for you. For the past six or so years, when I have a new book out, I've sent a snail-mail newsletter to everyone on my mailing list--which is now in the low thousands. It's a ton of work and increasingly expensive, but I've enjoyed doing it and the feedback's been rewarding. Now, though, with nearly everyone being online, I think it makes more sense to send "email newsletters." I can spend my personal marketing dollars in other ways, and reach even more people. My question for you is, which would you prefer receiving--a paper newsletter or an email newsletter? And would you read either of them if they arrived in your mail/email? Thanks!

Argh. I'm participating in a monthly "write a book in a week" event, which doesn't literally mean you write a book in a week, but rather write as many pages as you can and report your progress to the online group each day. My goal was 50 pages for the week. I sat at my computer early Saturday morning, excited to begin, only to discover that my computer had crashed. As in totally dead. John spent the day trying to get it back for me, to no avail. I back up frequently to an external hard drive and of course my work in progress is also backed up to a flash drive, so that was okay. I can't get to the info on the external hard drive yet and hope I can eventually. But the very worst part is that I keep my calendar and "address book" on both my desktop computer and my handheld palm pilot. So I tried uploading the calendar to my laptop (I'm typing on my laptop right now), but without getting too technical, I'll simply say that not only didn't my calendar appear on my laptop, but it was wiped off my handheld as well. Which means I have no idea what appointments I have this week, next week, next year. And I've lost all the addresses and phone numbers for friends and doctors and agent and editor and. . . I can't even think about it! John's doing his best to recover info for me, and if that fails, I know a techie guru who might be able to help. But needless to say, I didn't get much done on my Work in Progress. Four pages. I hope to do better today while John sweats over my desktop.  Except for one minor emotional breakdown when I realized my calendar was gone, I've managed to keep this all in perspective. I've got food on the table, a really great house, an amazing family, wonderful friends, a significant other who helps me at the cost of losing his own work time, and a career I love. However, if you happen to to have an appointment with me any time in the future, you'd better drop me an email to let me know when it is!