As I dressed for a downtown event I felt nervous. Not
because I had to face Seattle traffic; I was taking the bus. And not because I
had not been to The Women’s University Club before; I Googled the directions.
What elevated my nerves was I was meeting my editor, bestselling author
Jacquelyn Mitchard, for the first time. I’d met plenty of famous writers before
at countless workshops and conferences. But even though Jackie and I had
physically not met, we knew one another through our writing, and that kind of
intimacy has higher stakes.
I was greeted by several of the club members, all pleasant
and friendly, and I felt immediately at home. The Women’s University Club was founded in 1914 “to form a closer union of
university women in order to promote outstanding educational, cultural, and
social activities.” It’s housed in a beautiful brick building with
elegant decor.
After being invited to a cup of coffee, I followed two members
downstairs where the reading was to take place. Within a couple of minutes Jackie
arrived, we hugged, and started chatting like old friends. Knowing a person
through his or her writing is a similar to picking up an old friendship with
someone you haven’t seen in years; you’ve already established common ground on
a deep level and you know where to fill the gaps. She was easy company.
Jackie autographed books, chatted with club members, and
began her talk. Jackie told us a couple of stories about how her first novel, The
Deep End of the Ocean, and her current novel, Two If By Sea came to
be. After her first novel came out twenty years ago, she received a couple of
phone messages from Oprah Winfrey. She ignored them, believing they were from a
friend playing a prank. Luckily Jackie answered Oprah’s third call, agreed to
be a guest on the show, and propelled her writing career.
She also discussed balancing being an author, going on book
tours, and editing the Merit Press, a YA imprint of FW Media. After she read a
passage, Jackie’s friend and fellow writer Martha Brockenbough joined her in a lively
dialogue about women and our place in the literary canon. Both authors made the
point that when they tour, someone from the audience invariably asks, “who is
watching your children when you travel?” Jackie and Martha agreed nobody ever
asks a male author the same question.
Why does a writer’s gender matter? Jackie and Martha pointed
out that for women writers there’s a belief that we should stick to romance and
“chick lit” topics. There’s a perception that female authors can’t successfully
write about politics and war, or as Martha referred to as “dick lit.”
Women in literature have historically taken a back seat to
men, with their work often designated as “chick lit.” Some writers, such as George
Eliot and James, Tiptree, JR., hid their gender through a pseudonym, and contemporary
authors J.K. Rowling and J.A. Jance, use gender-less initials. But are stories limited
by gender? Why should an author’s sex determine what kind of story he or she
should tell?
I’m grateful that Jackie and the team at Merit Press did not
hold my gender against me and chose to publish my book. Because my novel has a
male protagonist I considered using a pseudonym or initials because clearly, I’m
not an eighteen year-old boy. Yet the book isn’t about me; I’m just a channel
for these imaginary friends’ voices.
Here’s a sneak peek for you. http://www.yainterrobang.com/breakfast-with-neruda-excerpt/
Happy Writing.
