Friday 5: Books, Pizza, & Gloria Steinem

 
1. Hoover Library’s Southern Voices book/writing festival is this weekend. It’s a dream for writers and book lovers. I’m excited about all the authors, because even if I’m not familiar with their books, they are always great speakers who talk about their books and writing processes in ways that interest and engage both writers and non-writers. I’m most excited to see husband/wife team Tom Franklin (author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter) and Beth Ann Fennelley (they wrote The Tilted World together), and debut author Laura Lane McNeal (author of DollBaby.)

2. I made homemade pizza the other night for the first time. Well, homemade in that I bought fresh dough from Publix. I was so excited–my neighbor made pizza with the fresh dough a few nights before and it was a big hit. I bought the ingredients, things the girls would eat, the right kind of pesto and pizza sauce, let it proof for the specified amount of time, poured my beer (pizza and beer, right?) and rolled that baby out.  

Seriously. I couldn’t get it any bigger than that. My neighbor halved her dough (the same amount I got) and it made TWO pizzas. Yes, I did something wrong but for the life of me, I still don’t know what. I eventually got it a bit bigger, added the toppings and baked the thing, and it actually was really good. Next time, I’ll buy two bags of dough.

3. Apparently, Lands End is in some hot water for a photo spread in a recent catalog that featured Gloria Steinem talking about women’s rights. I saw the catalog and didn’t think anything of it. It’s not that she was indecently dressed or anything–it’s just that by using her image (and I think offering to monogram tote bags with the ERA (equal rights amendment) logo), shoppers saw Lands End as endorsing Gloria and myriad other things she stands behind, such as abortion rights. Well, cue irate shoppers vowing to cancel Lands End orders and pledge their allegiance to competitor L.L. Bean.

Seriously.

Lands End offered this as part of their statement/apology: “It was never our intention to raise a divisive political or religious issue.”

Newsflash Lands End–you couldn’t have chosen a MORE divisive or polarizing person to include in your magazine. Did you think all of America would love it? Half love it, half hate it. Now, instead of backtracking and apologizing, thereby offending all the people who you just made happy by including Gloria, now they are mad at you too! Pick a stance and stick with it.

The whole thing just seemed so ridiculous to me. And for the record, I am a pro-life Christian and I am NOT returning the gorgeous swimsuit I just ordered from Lands End. Do you know how hard it is to find a flattering swimsuit that fits right, can actually get wet without doing something weird, and doesn’t cost a million dollars? (Such an un-feminist thing for me to say, I know.)

4. On to other things.

Y’all, writing is so hard. I don’t know why I chose this as my THING. Why couldn’t I have chosen knitting? Or origami? Or tennis–I could have gone back to tennis! Or even ghostwriting–I could figure out someone else’s plot holes all day long, but my own?? Impossible.

If you can’t tell, I’m having a wee bit of a struggle in my manuscript. It’s called “the dreaded middle.” Apparently, this is my thing. I steamroll through the first 100 pages or so, then get stuck, then have to fight my way out. It happened to some degree with The Hideaway, but it doesn’t make it any easier the second time. I care about this story and the characters and I really want to get it out and polish it and send it out into the world, but the getting there–oh man, it’s such a fight. As someone (maybe Anne Lamott??) said once, “I love having written.” I don’t always love the actual writing, but I do love it when I’m finished.

5. Lastly, clearly my daughter is a genius.

Have a great weekend!