A Letter to People in a Crazy World

By Susan

Dear People in a Crazy World,

       As I write this, bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is still on the run in Massachusetts five days after two bomb blasts killed three and injured 170 people at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Seventy-five miles south of me in West, Texas, work crews, volunteers, and police are sifting through toxic rubble looking for bodies at the West Fertilizer Plant explosion: the death count from Wednesday has still not been confirmed.

Letters laced with ricin were intercepted in Washington this week, addressed to President Obama and Mississippi senator Roger Wicker.

On Wednesday, the senate rejected an amendment to expand gun background checks, going against what the majority of Americans clearly support, yet the NRA does not.

Closer to home, our own Kim Bullock's daughters' elementary school was on lockdown Monday after a man killed his pregnant girlfriend and eluded police for a few tense hours before being captured in Dallas.

And outside of America, Crazy World? Last week, North Korea pointed nukes at us—maybe. A blast in Baghdad killed twenty-seven, and dozens were killed in Somalia at a courthouse attack. Dictators are ranting or threatening, others are imprisoned. Earthquakes and landslides and fires ravage the planet. The world keeps spinning, and it seems the violence expands, all over the earth, all around us. We are not the center, dear people, we are the passengers, turning against each other out of fear and loneliness and hatred.

I wish I could write this letter to you to provide a solution, or an antidote to this violence, this hate, and to the randomness of pain. Instead I'm asking that we step back and take the time to focus on who we love and the joy in our lives, instead of the latest tragedy. Because when I look closely at the past seven days, my life has still been filled with beauty and art, not just the bombardment of tragedies.

For example:

I was honored to listen to Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout talk about her four novels, her writing process, and her life in words.

I attended the theatre and watched Wicked with my daughter and her junior high choir, exploring the majesty of a live performance with thirteen-year-olds whose faces glowed with amazement and awe at the beauty and power of Elphaba, Glinda, and Fiyero.

I finished reading Sharon Olds' latest Pulitzer Prize winning poetry collection, Stag's Leap, and George Saunders' latest short story collection, Tenth of December.

I did daily yoga, ran six miles, did a few hundred push-ups, and went on a long walk.

I talked to friends who love me. I hugged my daughters. I laughed with my best friend about a strange occurrence in our neighborhood until we both had tears streaming down our faces.

And after the prompting of a popular quote online, I watched several episodes of Mister Rogers Neighborhood to remind myself to be kind, loving, and full of peace to counter the effects of a hateful world. I reminded myself to be one of the good guys, or as Mr. Rogers says, to be one of the helpers.

And so, Crazy World, good things still abound, love and peace can only prevail if we choose to be the solution. Help your neighbors and community. Laugh. Produce art, write new words, paint and act and sing. Maybe I'm a dreamer, thinking art, words and song can save us. But at the center of all art, prose, poetry, and music, is love. And love, I believe, is the only thing that can save us.

Peace and love and words,

Susan

There's more than one way to ...

By Julie (and really, by Elizabeth, too)

Following up to Pamela's Monday post, here's a photo of the group (minus Kim--ironically our ONE Mainer) at the Dallas Museum of Art Monday evening, posing with Elizabeth Strout after her on-stage conversation with Skip Hollandsworth, author of the Texas Monthly article about our favorite Texas bad boy and co-author of the Bernie movie script. Strout wrote the beloved, Pulitzer prize-winning novel in short stories, Olive Kitteridge, and is now touring in support of The Burgess Boys, a novel that returns the reader to Shirley Falls, the fictional Maine town she originally visited in Amy and Isabelle.

Elizabeth LYND (popping her head into the picture there at bottom right) and I had an interesting conversation following the event. During the Q&A, someone from the audience asked about Strout's writing process. Elizabeth L. asked her to expand on part of her answer. Strout had mentioned that she writes in notebooks and hundreds or thousands of individual sheets of paper inevitably end up everywhere--some to be used, some to be discarded. Elizabeth L. was curious how much went in the wastebasket, and Strout explained that a LOT of it ends up there, or filed away somewhere, not in any real organized fashion, perhaps to be used in something else.

While in line, I mentioned to Elizabeth L. that someone almost always asks the writing process question during the events I've done for Calling Me Home. I jokingly said, "Does it matter?" What I meant was that each writer seems to have a different process; no across-the-board method works for every single one of us. I wasn't saying it wasn't an important question, but rather that what works for me won't work for you, or Elizabeth, or Pamela, or Susan, or Joan, or Kim, and so, in a way, my process or Elizabeth Strout's process is irrelevant to anyone else.

But Elizabeth L. came back with a really good point. She said (loosely quoting), "It matters because it says to me, well, if this process works for Strout, and this other process works for Julie, and this other process works for Jamie Ford or Cheryl Strayed or Chris Cleave or ... you know ... then maybe my own, mixed-up seeming process can work for me. It gives me permission to have my own process if all these other successful writers have achieved publication with so many different processes."

I was nodding (vigorously!) and saying, "Yeah, you're absolutely right." I made a mental note to add something about that the next time I answer a writing process question.

After all, as I said to Elizabeth Lynd, there is more than one way to skin a cat.

(What does that really mean? I've always wondered ...)

On being a groupie

By Pamela

I've never been a People magazine subscriber. I'm not a fan of celebrity interviews, per se. Nor do I stalk follow many people on Facebook or Twitter I don't personally know, unless they have something interesting to say.

Pinewood Book Club members meet Julie Kibler!

To that end, I will admit that authors tend to draw me in, and I try to not pass up an opportunity to attend a book signing or talk by someone whose work I admire. This month, we in the Dallas area have been fortunate to have several authors stop through on tours.

Of course, Julie has been back in town, making the rounds to local stores. She was even gracious enough to spend a couple hours with my book club friends at my nearby retirement community. They read (or listened to) Calling Me Home this month and seemed to be delighted to have Julie discuss her story with them. The fact that Susan came, too, made it even more special.

Cheryl Strayed signs Joan's copy of Tiny Beautiful Things.

Last Tuesday Susan, Joan and I met at the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) for an evening with Cheryl Strayed. I've read both Tiny Beautiful Things and Wild, so it was wonderful to hear Cheryl speak about her creative process.

Tonight, most of us from What Women Write will be back at the DMA to spend the evening with Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout, author of several books including Olive Kitteridge and her newly-released The Burgess Boys.

Even if you're not close to a big city where authors frequently stop, you can enjoy virtual tours via Facebook or their websites. Also, Oprah's OWN featured her interview with Cheryl Strayed yesterday. My mother, who lives several states away, was able to watch Cheryl's interview, giving us something to share over the miles--a treat for us both.

We'll keep posting about authors as they cross our paths and would love to hear about your experiences, too. As for me, I've dedicated a special section of my bookshelf for my autographed books. Not only did I treasure the stories they told, but each also holds a memory of the time I met the author--typically while in the company of my dear friends.

Me with Susan and Joan at the Cheryl Strayed event. 

Author Event: Let there be cake balls and scones

by Joan

Julie Kibler on Calling Me Home

I love book signings. I love meeting the authors of my favorite books, hearing the stories behind the stories and, yes, dreaming of a time when the one at the podium might be me. 

Long before our own Julie Kibler’s book came out I told her I wanted to host a signing at my house. Though I’ve only been in Dallas for eight years, I’ve made pockets of friends here and there and wanted to get a chance to spread the word about Calling Me Home. Plus I love to entertain, especially when there will be sugar involved.

Dallas friends at the Mora's house

We had a nice turnout, great conversation and just the right amount of books. Julie told the rapt group about the seeds of the story, her grandmother’s doomed relationship with a black man in a sundown town, and about her journey to publication.

Pamela's scrumptious cake balls

Pamela made gorgeous cake balls, Elizabeth made decadent scones and clotted cream, and my husband graciously agreed to shoot the photos.

As writers, we gravitate to book events. In fact, over the next month, at least 3 or more of us are going to see Cheryl Strayed, Elizabeth Strout and George Saunders at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Over the past several years, several of us have seen KathrynStockett, Vanessa Diffenbaugh, Chris Cleave, John Irving and Jamie Ford to name a few.

Thanks, Julie, for treating my friends to a great day!

Tell us about your favorite author events. 

photo credits, Rick Mora