I am so looking forward to meeting Erica Bauermeister in my old stomping grounds, Bellingham, Washington, where we are both speaking at the Chuckanut Writers Conference from June 22nd – 23rd. Ooo, I can’t wait to go to Village Books and order the Colophon Café’s amazing chocolate cake with the big chocolate chips! Maybe Erica will join me there.
Who’s coming to the conference? I’d love to see you there! (PS: Early-bird registration ends on the 15th!) In the meantime, please help me welcome Erica and her lovely novel here!
About Erica Bauermeister
Erica Bauermeister is the author of two bestselling novels, The School of Essential Ingredients and Joy For Beginners. Before she turned her mind to make-believe, she was the co-author of two non-fiction books: 500 Great Books by Women: A Reader’s Guide and Let’s Hear It For the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. Her third novel will be published in the winter of 2013. She lives in Seattle with her family.
About Joy For Beginners
At an intimate, festive dinner party in Seattle, six women gather to celebrate their friend Kate’s recovery from cancer. Wineglass in hand, Kate strikes a bargain with them. To celebrate her new lease on life, she’ll do the one thing that’s always terrified her: white-water rafting. But if she goes, all of them will also do something they always swore they’d never do-and Kate is going to choose their adventures. Shimmering with warmth, wit, and insight, Joy for Beginners is a celebration of life: unexpected, lyrical, and deeply satisfying.
The Very Short Interview
When did you know for sure that you were a writer and that writing would be a major energy focus in your life?
I read Tillie Olsen’s short story, “I Stand Here Ironing” in college and knew that was the kind of literature I wanted to write –intimate, character-driven work that looked at the “unimportant” things in life and made them beautiful. But I also knew I wasn’t mature enough yet to write that kind of book. It took until I was 43 for me to feel as if I had the life experience to attempt it – although I wrote and studied literature the whole time, to keep learning the craft.
Who has always been behind your writing career and who helped pull you up the ladder of success?
It really does take a village. My husband has supported me emotionally, and often financially, for thirty years. I had friends and sisters and a mother who read draft after draft and gave me the good, constructive criticism that makes you a better writer. I had the kind of human angels who show up just when you need the introduction to an agent or an editor, and go out of their way to help a stranger. I’ve had an extraordinary agent and great editors. I’ve worked hard, but I’ve had wonderful luck in the people who surround me.
What is the most frequent comment you hear about your book (or books) from readers? Tell us a little story about the response to your work.
The comment that always surprises and delights me, no matter how often I hear it is “I finished your book and then started rereading it again. I didn’t want to let it go.” I can imagine no higher compliment.
But one letter I particularly loved was from a 68 year-old woman. She wrote to say that she had read Claire’s chapter in The School of Essential Ingredients. When I wrote that story I wasn’t sure that anyone else would understand the feelings that Claire, a young mother, was experiencing, but this woman wrote to tell me about her relief that someone articulated what she had felt as a new mother, and that she had read it to her husband. “40 years later,” she wrote, “he finally understands.”
And Now, Your Turn
Now it’s your turn. You remember how this works right?
I ask you a question. You answer in the comments for your chance to win a book each day.
Please just respond once, even if you make a typo. 
Answer in the comments in 50-200 words (no less and no more to qualify to win one of today’s books). Please read the complete rules at least once!
Thanks for participating in the Writer Mama Every-Day-In-May Book Giveaway! I hope to see you here every day this month. Bring your friends!
Q: So here’s how I met Erica Bauermeister…I didn’t yet! I just saw that she was going to be at the same conference as me, liked the sound of her bio, liked the sound of her book, and invited her to join the giveaway. Easy-peasy because I didn’t make it complicated.
If she had said no, oh-well. Or not responded at all, as several folks didn’t, then it would have been her loss, in my opinion. I don’t take this stuff personally…anymore. Though I used to. And it’s not like I don’t take anything personally, but mostly, after much practice, many ups and downs, many acceptances and rejections and silences, I don’t take things nearly as personally as I used to.
How about you? Rejection? Silence? No reply? Do you take it personally? Do you get offended? Do you get bent out of shape? Do you harumph around like Eloise?
How about a positive response or an acceptance, is that personal?
Is it only personal if it’s positive and not personal if it’s negative? Tell the truth, now.
What do you take personally in this crazy writing/networking business? Spill it!
