What’s it About?
Helen Ames is a writer who has recently lost the ability to write. And her husband. And her nestegg. Now she’s worried about losing her daughter. The book looks at the nature of creativity, the mother/daughter relationship, and the surprising places one can find love and meaning.
What was the inspiration?
For the first time in my life, I was having difficulty writing. My older daughter said, “Why don’t you write about that?” The other inspiration was my younger daughter. I drive her crazy, but she likes me anyway.
Excerpt
She is not one of those people. She is her odd self. The kiln has been fired; she is a person persnickety about keeping her house clean but not above spitting on her desk to rub out a coffee stain; she will never be an athlete or a mathematician or a skinny person or someone whose heart isn’t snagged by the sight of fireflies on a summer night and the lilting cadence of a few good lines of poetry.