The day the first print arrived - in my mom’s hands. December 2020
My Santa Barbara community has little free library boxes sprinkled throughout SB neighborhoods. Had fun today placing Millie in a few of those boxes! December, 2020
Hank Aaron-The way the game was to be played
My grandfather had many stories about his time in baseball. One was how he played in exhibition games with Negro League teams. He always craved more than what was “allowed,” but this was the 1920s. The loss of Hank Aaron this last week brings up thoughts of those stories and the esteem and respect my grandfather held for players of color. January, 2021
Train hopping?
This came from a legal colleague I worked with when I was with the U.S. Department of Justice. He was with the California Attorney General’s Office at the time and together we worked on a Superfund environmental case. During one of the many times we traveled together, he told me that he and some friend’s traveled cross-country hopping trains one summer between semesters of law school. So here was this distinguished looking guy in a pin-stripped suit prosecuting a high profile case for the state of CA-it was such a dichotomy. I will also admit that Patrick’s conflicts with law school are influenced from some of my views. Many times I have thought that some very smart and creative people understandably don’t know what to do once they receive with their undergraduate degrees, and law school becomes the unimaginative choice. I think we’ve lost many great minds to the legal profession that could have enlightened us through other varied disciplines, and maybe would have led them to more fulfilling lives. That’s my hope for Patrick. February, 2021
Millie
The title character, Millie, is somewhat inspired by my Aunt Joanie (she spelled it Joani but never felt a need to correct me). Joanie was the matriarch of my family from my mother’s side. Strong-willed and outspoken, she took care of everybody. In particular she empowered the women of our family and was a role model for living life on your own terms. (Spoiler alert) She absolutely would have picked up the knife in the story. Joanie did in fact have one date with Howard Hughes and thought him rather boring, turning him down for any future dates. She did also live in Las Vegas close to the time represented in the novel but was a card dealer and somewhat of a social “player”; a role she also enjoyed in Hollywood society. Along with Aunt Joanie, Millie has a drop of Flo from the Alice TV series in her character - sassy and a bit nosy. March, 2021
Manuel
Just like a parent who should never favor one child over another, I think it is never acceptable to name a “favorite” character-but oh how I love Manuel! I admire his plant breeding talent as much as the passive aggressive tolerance tactics that help him coexist with his wife Rosie. I worked for awhile in the legal department of a vegetable seed company. Many of my tasks were typical of such a department, contracts, litigation support, legal training on such timely/interesting topics as prohibition against paying bribes to foreign officials by US companies. By this time I’d worked in several legal capacities at several companies, but vegetable seeds offered me a look into something I had never thought of, experienced or been introduced to, plant breeders. These are scientists that breed for new varieties of vegetables and fruits (tomato is a fruit). They take characteristics of one plant and introduce them to another hoping for a new baby variety. Some of my favorites were the sweet mini peppers, Bambino watermelon and lettuce wraps. Most of the plant breeders I worked with were from Mexico, as was the company’s origin. I loved my conversations with these vegetable craftsmen, though I commonly said to them, “take it down,” when they we speaking of their process at too high a level. The passion of this unique artistry was inspiring. May, 2021
Sometimes its in the name-Grover
I don’t have a rule for naming characters. Many times there is no rhythm or reason to a name; other times there is a name on my mind and it finds itself attached to a character for just that reason. Sometimes, I’ve found that I’ve named too many characters using the same first letter and change them. And sometimes, but rarely, they are named after people I want to pay tribute to. Such is the case of Grover. Grover Barnes was my neighbor in Santa Barbara many years ago. Elderly when I met him, he made an immediate impression on me. I found through casual mentions of his name that he did the same for most of the people he met. When I mentioned him to a friend visiting my new house, that friend dashed out the door, ran across the street to embrace the man that had made such a tremendous difference in a young boy’s difficult life.
Grover Barnes died at 103. His memorial service had to be moved to another, larger church to accommodate the crowd. I openly sobbed and even harder when his friends and family consoled me by saying “he lived a long and wonderful life” - I still felt it was not enough. I wanted more time with my neighbor and in looking at the people touched by his life, so did they. May, 2021
Three Days
Why three days? A good question. When this story was being conceived in screenplay form, I was playing with the idea of an “in real time” story. OK, even in a screenplay you wouldn’t have it run for three days; even in a stage play which may be most possible, but still impossible-yet the idea intrigued me. Then I started thinking about how the events of a few days could frame-out a story, AND how the events of just a few days could change the trajectory of a life. So though the original concept failed, the idea of a certain set of days changing someone’s life stuck and became the frame by which to tell this story. September, 2021
Santa Barbara Independent
Local Book Spotlight
By Emily Lee
Wed Jul 06, 2022 |
“We at the Independent get many books sent to us by local authors, sometimes too many! It’s practically impossible for us to read and review them all, but just because we are busy bees does not mean that they aren’t worth the attention. In an attempt to not completely drop the ball, we have compiled a list of books here that have a local spin. They are all either written by a local author, feature someone in our community, or have another tie to Santa Barbara. I urge you to look through this list. Perhaps you will find your new favorite read!”
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On the shelf
I’m honored to have my novel on the shelves of my two favorite bookstores - Maria’s Bookshop in Durango, CO and Chaucer’s Books in Santa Barbara, CA. A shout-out to these awesome independent bookstores for supporting local authors! In SB, I’m even close to one of my all time favorites-Fannie Flagg. Durangatangs and Santa Barbarians stop in and pick up a book and support these sellers! September, 2022
Writing from an Unexpected POV
How do you get into the mind of a character? This is question often of writers. No, I wasn’t a baseball player, a Vegas showgirl, an emotionally lost law student or a lonely and abused twenty-something single mother. I don’t know if I can properly articulate the answer other than to say, “you hear them”. When I wrote screenplays, I felt like a sideline reporter just describing and transcribing what was going on around me and getting down the words being spoken (when the process was going well). Characters are their own people, or beings, and we only have to listen to them, be true to who they are and then try our best to translate that for others to read or hear. And sometimes they are an octopus…yep you read that right. My dear friend Sharon Bowser Smith sent me a box of her favorite books from the year. In it I found “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt, narrated by Marcellus a Giant Pacific Octopus. Brilliant! A book hasn’t touched me so deeply in a long time. Thank you Sharon-it makes so much sense that this book would come from you!
“Humans. For the most part, you are dull and blundering. But occasionally, you can be remarkably bright creatures” - well said Marcellus. June, 2023
Book Signing
What a joy of a day! Thanks to Maria’s Bookshop for sponsoring Author’s in the Parklet. A chance for authors to sell/sign their books, but most importantly talk about them. I had some wonderful and thought provoking questions thrown at me by my favorite FLC professor Tom Eckenrode. Thanks for stopping by! July, 2023
The Mitt Mystery
My husband coached little league baseball for years - years ago. His past players still approach him on the street,“Coach Kip!” They recognize him but they are now in their 40’s, hard for us to do the same. Recently he decided to start cleaning out the garage and went through the baseball bins. This mitt was under another, his former coach’s which was in need of a good oiling.
There is a name and address sprawled on to the long finger channels, an address in Denver. My husband grew up in Denver, but coached in Santa Barbara?? Where did it come from? Neither of us could recall. He started researching (as a former librarian would) and on our recent trip to the area we visited two addresses (struck out), but had discovered that the possible owner of the mitt had been a talented tennis star, had a brilliant career and now taught math to gifted students. He also had another side to his story which he shared in a news article years ago. He is gay and hide from it for years, painful years. Happily, he has been married to his husband for many celebrated anniversaries. My husband has wanted to give up the search, “he may think I’m a creep”, but I won’t let him. There is a story there…July, 2023