Archive for the ‘Mothers and Daughters’ Category:

I just came back from a quick trip to Pepper Pike, Ohio—a suburb of Cleveland where I grew up—to attend a book club/party of old friends of mine and my mom’s, including a bunch of mother/daughter duos.

Posters for the Dutch version of Mothers and Daughters around the Netherlands!

The baby and I hit the road again, this time to my old home city of Madison, Wisconsin, for a reading on Mother’s Day. Madison is losing its bookstores left and right, but A Room of One’s Own is still alive and kicking. I have read there twice, so it was really fun for me to go back. The store is right off State Street, which makes it a pretty festive place to be on a warm and sunny Sunday.

In the last couple weeks, my easy baby has become not so easy. She now cries the second someone else holds her, which means my plan of having her sit on a friendly lap while I read no longer works. So I wore her for half of the reading, before passing her off to my sister-in-law to walk her around. Luckily it was a very friendly crowd full of friends and family, including my husband’s 91-year-old grandmother. I don’t get nervous about reading anymore, thankfully, and I can actually enjoy myself.

Just in time for Mother’s Day, here is an interview my publisher did with me and my mom, the incomparable Jane Meadows. Read on for her thoughts about my novel, our evolving relationship, motherly advice, pie for breakfast, and a hockey player named Moose.

When my now-husband and I left Brooklyn in 2005, we moved to Madison to write full time and remove ourselves from the New York life, and all the money, energy, and cramped space it required. I’m usually glad to return home after visiting, but this time, on a double-header stop on the book tour, I had a ball, and could have stayed for a month.

I had my first reading for Mothers and Daughters this past Wednesday at the excellent independent bookstore Magers & Quinn. My anxiety before readings is only a little about the public speaking part. It mostly swirls around whether people will show up. I never do readings where I don’t know people. Unless you’re famous, you’re not going to get many randoms at your readings. My friend Mark once gave a reading where no one came. He sat with the manager for about twenty minutes before hitting the bar in the mall.

Today I made my television debut, interviewed about Mothers and Daughters on a midday local news show. I had asked my sister’s advice on what to wear—as a writer for Newsweek she was often on TV—and she said no patterns and bright colors. I don’t own any bright colors so I opted for—surprise—black. I got to the studio very early. The greenroom was like the waiting room at the Subaru repair shop: big loud TV? Check. Coffee with powdered creamer? Check. Freezing air conditioner? Check.

With the launch of Mothers and Daughters, I have been talking a lot about how much becoming a mother influenced the writing of the book (tons) and how it affected my writing process (turned it upside down).

Marshal Zeringue is the man behind The Page 69 Test blog. He challenged me to put Mothers and Daughters to the test, asking, “Is it representative of the rest of the book? Would a reader skimming that page be inclined to read on?”