I would have loved to give every author in this giveaway their own day. Certainly ever single author in this giveaway deserved her own day. But on days like today I can only say, you get double the awesomeness when I feature Christina Baker Kline and Jessica Maria Tuccelli. Please help me welcome them!
Introducing Christina Baker Kline
Christina Baker Kline is the New York Times bestselling author of five novels: Orphan Train, Bird in Hand, The Way Life Should Be, Desire Lines, and Sweet Water. She is co-editor, with Anne Burt, of About Face: Women Write about What They See When They Look in the Mirror and co-author, with Christina L. Baker, of The Conversation Begins: Mothers and Daughters Talk about Living Feminism. She has edited three other anthologies: Child of Mine, Room to Grow, and Always Too Soon. Writer-in-Residence at Fordham University from 2007 to 2011, Kline has also taught literature and creative writing at Yale, NYU, UVA, and Drew University.
A graduate of Yale, Cambridge University, and the University of Virginia, where she was a Hoyns Fellow in Fiction Writing, Kline is a recipient of several Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Fellowships and research fellowships, and has been a Writer-in-Residence at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Born in Cambridge, England, and raised there as well as in the American South and Maine, Kline lives with husband and three sons in Montclair, New Jersey. She is at work on another novel and an anthology.
Learn about Orphan Train
Penobscot Indian Molly Ayer is close to “aging out” out of the foster care system. A community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping Molly out of juvie and worse…
As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly learns that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.
Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life – answers that will ultimately free them both.
Rich in detail and epic in scope, Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of unexpected friendship, and of the secrets we carry that keep us from finding out who we are.
I asked Christina three questions about our giveaway’s theme topic, self-expression:
1. Is self-expression an important part of your life today, why or why not?
Exactly a year ago I discovered a lump in my breast and entered a bewildering world of treatment, from chemotherapy to surgery to radiation. In the intervening months I have learned more than I ever wanted to about my own capacity to endure uncertainty and illness. One of the things I’ve learned is that being sick and vulnerable gives you a kind of authority of experience. I move with less hesitation now. I am more sure of my beliefs, more direct, more willing to step forward to help. Rumi said that the wound is the place where the light enters you. As a result of this experience (which seems to be over, thank goodness) I am both more aware of joy in the world and the depth of people’s sorrows. I understand, in a way that I never did before, the value and the power of self-expression.
2. What does self-expression mean to you and how do you do it in the world?
There are many ways to address this question, but I’m going to give one specific answer: When I was in treatment I was astonished by people’s generosity in ways large and small. I’d wake up to find fresh-baked muffins at my front door, care packages of body lotions, cheerful Gerbera daisies in a vase. One friend organized a meal train that chugged along for months; another set up a blog to post updates. I wasn’t surprised that my close friends came through for me (though I was amazed by their stamina through the marathon length of my treatment and recovery). But the gestures from near-strangers humbled me. People I barely knew reached out with a hand or a hug, gave of their time, anticipated my needs without being asked. Having learned first-hand how much even the smallest gesture can mean has definitely made me a better friend.
3. How does your self-expression impact the world — your family, your friends, your readers, and everyone else?
As far as my writing goes, it will be interesting to see how my experience in the past year affects the way I tell stories. I’m just beginning a new novel about a lonely, misunderstood woman who is afraid to let go of the familiar and head into the unknown. I’m certain that the story I tell will be different than it would’ve been a year ago. I’m eager to find out how.
Introducing Jessica Maria Tuccelli
Jessica Maria Tuccelli is a writer and filmmaker. Her debut novel, Glow (Penguin 2013), was named a Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Okra Pick, its highest honor. According to the Fredericksburg Freelance Star, Glow is “full of love, hate, discrimination, heartbreak, hardiness, ghosts and hoodoo. Every page seems to introduce a new twist to draw the reader in and keep the pages turning. You won’t be disappointed.”
In film, Tuccelli’s lighting finesse can be seen in over 100 film shorts, commercials, and documentaries, most notably the Sundance Film Festival Audience Favorite Hoop Dreams, the Emmy Award-winning How Do You Spell God? (HBO), and Sesame Street (PBS). A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in anthropology, Tuccelli travels the globe, where she finds inspirations for her stories.
Learn about Glow from Penguin 2013
October 1941. Eleven-year-old Ella McGee sits on a bus bound for her Southern hometown. Behind her in Washington, D.C., lie the broken pieces of her parents’ love story—a black father drafted, an activist mother of Scotch-Irish and Cherokee descent confronting racist thugs. But Ella’s journey is just beginning when she reaches Hopewell County, and her disappearance into the Georgia mountains will unfurl a rich tapestry of family secrets spanning a century.
Told in five unforgettable voices, Glow reaches back through the generations, from the eve of World War II to the Blue Ridge frontier of 1836, where slave plantations adjoin the haunted glades of a razed Cherokee Nation. Out of these characters’ lives evolves a drama that is at once intimately human and majestic in its power to call upon the great themes of our time—race, identity, and the bonds of family and community. Lushly conceived, cinematically detailed, and epic in historical scope, Glow announces an extraordinary new voice in Southern fiction.
I asked Jessica three questions about our giveaway’s theme topic, self-expression:
1. Is self-expression an important part of your life today, why or why not?
Self-expression is present in my life everyday, from the moment of waking to the moment of sleep, perhaps even within sleep, if you consider the fantastical realm of dreams and nightmares, which, now that I think of it, could be the most authentic form of self-expression.
When we dream, we don’t intrude upon our expression with our conscious thoughts; it includes all that we’ve absorbed through a lifetime, an expression of our deepest hopes and fears and everything in between. For example, many years ago, in December 1988 to be exact, I had a dream in which I was looking for my high school friend, Danny Rosenthal, in a thickly wooded forest in Scotland. Danny had been, in real life, a passenger on Pan Am 103 when it exploded in a terrorist attack over Lockerbie, Scotland.
My dream brought me solace as I found him in the forest, and we hugged, and I was able to tell him how much we all missed him and how devastated we all were. When I awoke, I could still feel the warmth and weight of his embrace. This visceral experience was so deeply moving to me that I needed to give it to one of my characters in my debut novel, Glow. I needed to share it with the world. I wondered if anyone else had had this kind of experience.
2. What does self-expression mean to you and how do you do it in the world?
In the home sphere, I pour my self-expression into everything from the meals I cook for my family to how I decorate our apartment. Of course, there must be a balance at home, one must allow for all family member’s self expression, and that’s not always easy. Different tastes, different beliefs all in one small New York City apartment!
In the public world, I put my self-expression into my work in theatre, film, and now novels. Before making my debut in the world as an artist, I tried to be a scientist—I went to MIT to study molecular biology. But science wasn’t my calling, and once I acknowledged this, I felt an immense weight lifted from my shoulders.
People often ask about how I transitioned from MIT to writing. All I can say is that science and art are both forms of self-expression: The difference, of course, is that a scientist is working on a new theory of physics, and the writer is working on inventing the physicist who is working on the new theory of physics!
3. How does your self-expression impact the world—your family, your friends, your readers, and everyone else?
Hmm. That’s a good question. I don’t know how it impacts the world, but I hope it adds to it in a positive way, that it creates dialogue that leads to a deeper understanding and tolerance of differences, be they ethnic, gender, racial, cultural, sexual, or religious differences.
I grew up in a bi-ethnic, bi-religious household, which resulted in a lot of emotional tumult within my family. I like to think I can take those experiences, add a bit of alchemy and craft to it, and create something that provides solace or comfort for someone else, as well as good story that stays with you after you read the last page.
And Now, Your Turn…
You remember how this works right?
Please read the complete rules at least once!
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).
What are the things you know you were put on earth to do and be? Past, present, future…answer any way you like.
Ready, set, comment! I will hold the drawing tomorrow and post the results here in my blog.
Thanks for participating in the Writer Mama Every-Day-In-May Book Giveaway!
And thanks for spreading the word. We will be giving away great books by wonderful women authors all month.
View the complete list of authors and books.
View the giveaway Pinterest board.
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Things I was put on this earth to do. Hmmm. That reminds me of my friends quest to do God’s work, whatever that might be, and another friends quote that “ones vocation is where your passion and the worlds needs meet”. I believe I was put on this earth to connect people with love, heal people physically and emotionally, be a mother to my children and anyone else who needs me. I believe my job is to bring light and beauty into the world through my creative self expression of writing, cooking and quilting. And I believe I was put on this earth to learn and grow.
I was put on earth for the glory of God. I was put on earth to be a mother, a wife, a daughter, as sister. I was put here to be a reader! I was put here to take pleasure in serving others. I was put on earth to be a comfort to women. To love and support the hurting. I am a nurturer. I was put here to learn and to teach. I was put on earth to experience the joy of living.
Thanks for the opportunity to win one of these fantastic books!
I can’t answer that with any certainty. Sometimes (often, always?) I don’t know why any of are here, including me. I don’t know that I haven’t found “my path” more that there are many things I could do, many roads that will serve me and allow me to love and give.
It’s taken me almost 36 years to figure out what I was put
on this earth for. I can honestly say at one point in my 20s I thought there was no reason for me to be here. Now I feel like my life has a purpose. I have two beautiful, kind children and it is my job to inspire and nurture them so they grow into happy, fulfilled adults. I also want them to be proud of their mother. I have also found a calling in volunteerism, whether it is at my children’s school or at my church. And finally, I am a storyteller, and part of my job is to
tell other people’s compelling human-interest stories in a way that does them justice. I also have a fictional voice that yearns to speak to children in the middle grade and young adult age groups.
I guess I have to answer this question first from my faith– I was put on Earth to glorify God through loving people and pointing them to Him. But more specifically, I believe I was put on Earth to love, encourage, and advocate for the students I teach. They all have had such difficult experiences (more difficult than I’ve dealt with!) and need all the encouragement and love they can get to be what they were meant to be. My husband and I are also on the verge of starting an adoption. We won’t be Plan A for the kids we adopt, but we’re committed to being the best Plan B they could possibly have. So, I guess what it boils down to is that I was put on Earth to love people!
As a caregiver – the path of my journey snakes through huge mountains and invisible valleys. As a child I drew homeless kittens and dogs into my aura as others might draw mosquitoes.
Countless afternoons were spent going door to door asking if someone knew the owner. As a mom, there is the daily 24/7 lifestyle of giving and supporting. In 1994 the largest challenge to date included my mother living in my front room during her last year of life at the same time an adult daughter lived upstairs with my first grandchild, a multi-generation household. Later what I learned
and experienced were distributed to girlfriends, fellow women to help their similar journeys.
I believe I was put here on earth to create. I hope to create deep connections with family and friends, create art, and to create through writing. I hope that my personal essays might speak to someone who is traveling a road that I have traveled. Such as the mom teetering on the brink of insanity while dealing with colic or even the one struggling with balancing work and life.
I was put on the Earth to grow and forgive and do better this time. I am here to move forward in my own possibilities and to touch others and to nurture some of them to be open to themselves and their own truth – whatever that might be. On many days, though, I slog along and hope for the best. I love the moments when I look back at something simple and discover later that it had a profound affect on my own path or that of someone else. Those keep me going, but don’t happen as often as I would like.
Though I am not trained in psychology, I often wondered if I was put on Earth to listen. When I worked my corporate communications job, people seemed to come to me with their concerns (mind you, this was a dysfunctional work environ); I spent more time ‘counseling’ than anything else. This has always been the case in non-freelance workspaces for me. Then when I moved to the remote southwestern desert and really started to open my eyes to the incredible spectacles in nature (and the lessons
before me), I began to wonder if my calling/purpose weren’t to try to educate others about the wonders of the natural world? I’ve never felt so complete or creative as I do when I’m connected to the outside world (running, photographing things, hiking, camping), and I think that bond is sadly missing in so many lives today. Hopefully through my blog and my fiction, I can help convey the importance of that interconnectedness between the natural world and to our body, mind, and spirit.
I was put here to live a good life. Originally I was a gift, a talisman for my mother, to help her through a difficult time. As a child I fiercely defended the underdog, looking out for friends who were not as big or as strong as me.
As a parent we raised our sons to respect others, to be good brothers, husbands, fathers and friends.
As an adult I discovered the unintended consequences of adoption. Adoptees are one of the most disenfranchised groups in our country.
I don’t think parents of adoptees understand, that in the USA, especially since 9/11, without your original birth certificate
[OBC] you can’t get a passport, you can’t leave the country.
Your OBC must be filed within one year of your birth, this seldom happens with adoptions. If you can’t get your OBC you need your birth mom’s medical records from the delivering doctor- not likely available. In some states, without your OBC, you can’t vote, in others you can’t drive.
I’m telling my story now because I’d like to help these disenfranchised citizens regain their civil rights.
In this country we all need to be equal. That’s what it’s all about.
Since I was a little girl I’ve known I was put on this earth to tell stories. That’s why I’m a writer.
I was put on this earth to continue the legacy of strong women. Extra-sensory abilities have been handed down through the women in my clan and I hope I’ve passed these on to my oldest daughter and that one day her daughter will inherit them. Sadly, these abilities seem to get weaker with each new generation. Or maybe we just get more rational and ignore/deny their existence.
I was put on this earth to honor St. Francis by protecting animals. My mother Frances gave me her name as my middle name and I gave it to my daughter.
I was put on this earth to further the profession of public relations. I’m on the board of PRSA Silicon Valley, am a technical
advisor to San Jose State University’s PR students, and two of my three children are also in PR.
And I was also put on this earth as an example that true love can endure if you work at it. I met and married my high school sweetheart and am still happily married 42 years later.
I know I was put on earth to figure out how to belong to a loving family and larger community. I feel a strong burden to help others understand their unique strengths and tendencies, and to show them ways to accept themselves more fully. These are also issues I work on personally, as I am my own worst critic (maybe most women could say this?!) I am uniquely suited to teaching, and it is something I love to do in a variety of forms. Out loud, in person, by mail, in writing, I have done it all. And it’s the approach I take to most other jobs I have had. Learn, connect, explain. GROW.
I believe I arrived back on Earth to nurture, to be a connector, to council, and guide. I’m sure of it, especially if I look back at how my role has played out and continues to “snowball.” I reflect on how my family has come together and, now, at what is occurring and growing outside of it. I’m excited and embrace the “work”!
I am here to know, love and serve God. Why He wants me to serve him by being a struggling, frequently bummed out writer I’ll never know, but there it is.