Life's a Beach

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=82 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="49dfd523.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>ClaireCook.com</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ClaireCook.com"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> back to<B>  </B>                                                   </div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="49cd2993.jpg"> <div> <IMG SRC="13395810.png" border=0 width="149" height="129" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Summer Blowout"><U>Summer Blowout</U></A></div> <div> <B>Life's a Beach</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id9.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Multiple Choice"><U>Multiple Choice</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Must Love Dogs"><U>Must Love Dogs</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ready to Fall"><U>Ready to Fall</U></A></div> <div> <IMG SRC="44ea0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <IMG SRC="44fa06a0.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="106" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <IMG SRC="450a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <IMG SRC="451a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=398 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>ClaireCook.com</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#3366FF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>   |    <B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#CC0000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ClaireCook.com"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> back to <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Novels"><U>Novels</U></A></div> <div> Life's a Beach</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="142affb0.jpg" border=0 width="175" height="251" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> L<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#990000" FACE="Arial" >ife's a </FONT>B<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#990000" FACE="Arial" >each (2007)</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Click on the arrow below to watch Life's a Beach for Book Clubs!</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B> <object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QaRFp0012UY"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QaRFp0012UY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>  </B></I></div> <bR> <div> To watch the video at YouTube and post a comment, go to <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaRFp0012UY" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaRFp0012"><U>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaRFp0012UY</U></A></div> <bR> <div> Now in paperback, complete with book group guide, Q&A with Claire and a teaser chapter of Summer Blowout. </div> <div> Click <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Buy Books"><U>here</U></A> to order.</div> <div> Click <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lifes a Beach"><U>here</U></A> for book group guide.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Life’s a bit of a beach</B></FONT><B> </B><B>these days for Ginger Walsh</B>, who finds herself single at 41 and back home living in the family FROG (finished room over the garage) in the fictional town of Marshbury. She’s spent a few too many years in sales, and is hoping for a more fulfilling life as a sea glass artist, but instead is babysitting her sister’s kids and sharing overnights with Noah, her sexy glassblower boyfriend with commitment issues and a dog Ginger’s cat isn’t too crazy about. <B>You can almost smell the salt air</B> as you take this rollicking ride with one slightly relationship-challenged single woman, one older BlackBerry obsessed married-with-children sister on the verge of turning fifty, one dump picking father, one kama sutra t-shirt wearing mother, one movie crew come to town with a very cute gaffer, plus a couple of Red Hat Realtors and a pair of evil twins. <B>Reminiscent of her bestseller </B><I><B>Must Love Dogs</B></I> in all the right ways, yet very much its own animal, Claire Cook’s new novel will keep you laughing out loud from start to finish. <I>Life’s a Beach</I><B> sparkles with warmth, wit, and wisdom</B>—and a real understanding of what it takes to move forward at any stage in life.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><B>Life's a Beach</B></I><B> was a</B> <B>Good Morning America</B> <B>summer book pick!</B></div> <bR> <div> Praise for <I>Life's a Beach</I>:</div> <bR> <div> "Midlife love, laughter, sibling rivalry and self-discovery...Goes down as easy as it sounds." </div> <div> -<I>People</I></div> <bR> <div> “Dive into this gleefully quirky coming-of-age story centered on… a 41-year-old. With the help of her hippie parents, Boyfriend the cat, and a shark-crazy movie crew, Ginger Walsh is finally growing up - and there's no escaping a few growing pains.” </div> <div> -<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><I>Redbook </I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> "Laugh out loud" </div> <div> -<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><I>Good Housekeeping</I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <I>"a fun beach novel with moments of depth...a delightful and surprisingly compelling page turner."</I></div> <div> -<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><I>The Boston Globe</I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> “As always, Cook's delightful way with dialogue and her deft demonstrations of how family members manage to support one another even while driving each other crazy, make reading this book a day at the beach.”</div> <div> -<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><I>Hartford Courant </I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> “perfect-for-the-beach summer novel… a bumpy delight.”</div> <div> <B>-</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Verdana" ><I>Boston Common</I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> “In this lighthearted, breezy read, Cook displays a wry sense of humor and knows how to write realistic characters.” </div> <div> <B>-</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Verdana" ><I>Library Journal</I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> “Claire Cook's wit and unflagging heart…”</div> <div> <B>-</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Verdana" ><I>Publishers Weekly</I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> "…funny page turner…"</div> <div> <B>-</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Verdana" ><I>Ft. Worth Star Telegram</I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> “Humorous, light, and at times touching. Cook once again hits the mark.”</div> <div> <B>-</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Verdana" ><I>Fresh Fiction</I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> “a book brimming with wit and heart.”</div> <div> <B>-</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Verdana" ><I>Cape Cod Times</I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> “Claire Cook infuses her novels with that sassy kind of off-beat humor that makes you giggle, shake your head, and then keep reading. And isn't that what you want a beach book to do?” </div> <div> <B>-</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Verdana" ><I>Florida Today</I></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> "Claire Cook has an original voice, sparkling style and a window into family life that will make you laugh and cry. LIFE'S A BEACH is filled with hilarity, sister love and sister hate, juicy arguments and hard won reconciliations but most of all, heart. I'm giving it to my sister today!" </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> --Adriana Trigiani<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >, author of HOME TO BIG STONE GAP</FONT></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> "If I had a sister, I'd want her to be Claire Cook. If I had a summer, I'd want it to be the summer that two sisters stropped their tongues and sparred over everything from fertility to photography to family. And if I could follow up the wry, wacky poignancy of MUST LOVE DOGS with any book, it would be LIFE'S A BEACH. Claire Cook is wicked good."<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Garamond" > </FONT></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> --Jacquelyn Mitchard<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >, author of THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN and CAGE OF STARS</FONT></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> "LIFE’S A BEACH is a delicious coming of age novel—about two forty-something sisters who don’t quite manage that feat until it’s almost too late. I devoured this slice of family life served up in Claire Cook’s inimitably warm and witty style. Tender, touching and terribly, terribly, funny!"</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> --Mary Kay Andrews<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >, author of SAVANNAH BREEZE</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> "Claire Cook's smart, delightful new book made me laugh on the first page and on every single page all the way through -- even when it also made me cry. True, tender, insightful, and hilarious -- I loved it." </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> --Pamela Redmond Satran<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >, author of SUBURBANISTAS</FONT></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> "Claire Cook has given us a heroine you’ll cheer for and a book you won’t be able to put down. I loved it."</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> --Karen Quinn<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >, author of THE IVY CHRONICLES and WIFE IN THE FAST LANE</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <I><IMG SRC="174d05c0.jpg" border=0 width="208" height="92" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="0"></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Blue Willow Bookshop</B></FONT></div> <div> 14532 Memorial Drive</div> <div> at Dairy Ashford</div> <div> Houston TX 77079 </div> <div> 281.497.8675  <A HREF="http://bluewillowbookshop.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://bluewillowbookshop.com"><U>www.bluewillowbookshop.com</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <I>"</I>Perfect for a day at the beach, pool, or patio! Claire Cook, the author of Must Love Dogs, has written another delightful comedy. Sisters Geri and Ginger are struggling with life (like all of us!). Geri is turning fifty and unclear how and why to celebrate. Ginger is 40 something, living with her cat Boyfriend in her parent's garage apartment. When the movies come to their small coastal town and Geri's adorable young son is given a small role, everyone is thrown into turmoil. Cook's pitch-perfect timing made me smile and then laugh out loud, mostly at the parts that remind me of me and my sisters. "  </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>- Valerie Koehler, Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, TX</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><IMG SRC="1755e500.png" border=0 width="606" height="80" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></I></div> <div> <A HREF="http://tatteredcover.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://tatteredcover.com"><U>www.tatteredcover.com</U></A></div> <div>  </div> <div> "I loved <I>Life's a Beach!</I> I found it funny, engaging, and hard to pull away from. What a fun read!" - Jackie Blem, Tattered Cover, Denver, CO.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://armchairbookstore.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://armchairbookstore.com"><U><IMG SRC="17e5d910.jpg" border=0 width="93" height="145" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="0"></U></A> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" >The Armchair Bookstore</FONT></div> <div> 619 Main Street, Route 6A</div> <div> Dennis, MA 02638</div> <div> <A HREF="http://armchairbookstore.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://armchairbookstore.com"><U>www.armchairbookstore.com</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> "Just finished Claire Cook's latest novel scheduled for publication in summer 2007 by Hyperion. Once again, Claire has created a quirky, warm, witty pair of sisters who don't always agree but are always there for each other. Add in two bickering parents, three rambunctious children, and a cat named Boyfriend and the scene is set for a rollicking good time. A Hollywood film crew, fake shark and all, will make this Cape Cod tale a guaranteed hot summertime read. Grab your towel, beach bag, and Claire Cook's latest novel before you head to the shore and remember -- Life's a Beach!" </div> <div> <B>- Dawn Donovan, </B><A HREF="http://armchairbookstore.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://armchairbookstore.com"><U><B>Armchair Bookstore</B></U></A><B>, Dennis, MA</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="177af750.jpg" border=0 width="175" height="117" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="0">112 South Woodland Blvd.</div> <div> Deland, Florida</div> <div> (386)734-0278</div> <div> <A HREF="http://themusebookshop.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://themusebookshop.com"><U>www.themusebookshop.com</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> "This is a delightful, insightful look at life, love, growing up, and turning 50. Meet the Walsh family: Ginger -- still looking for herself at 41; Geri -- her BlackBerry obsessed sister who is turning 50; Dad -- the take-it-or-leave-it dump diver; and Mom -- a Kama Sutra T-shirt wearing parent. You will love them all." --<B>Janet Bollum, The Muse Book Shop, DeLand, FL</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="17882980.png" border=0 width="130" height="152" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="6" VSPACE="6"></div> <div> <B>Front Street Book Shop</B></div> <div> 165 Front Street</div> <div> Scituate Harbor, MA 02066-1314 </div> <div> Tel: (781)545-5011</div> <bR> <div> <U>pam.fsbs@comcast.net</U> </div> <bR> <div> "Claire Cook's <I>Life's A Beach</I> is the answer to this summer's beach read. There's not a more delightful author with whom to go to the beach. So spread out your towel, lather on the suntan lotion, sip that ice tea and join Claire's very funny characters."</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>                                                 <I><B> </B></I><B>-Pam Giovannini, Front Street Book Shop, Scituate, MA</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><IMG SRC="17ad0800.png" border=0 width="208" height="128" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="0"></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Georgia" >Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops</FONT></div> <div>     Milwaukee area, Wisconsin </div> <div>     <A HREF="http://www.schwartzbooks.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.schwartzbooks.com"><U> www.schwartzbooks.com </U></A> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> "Two sisters who both live in a trendy beachfront community couldn’t be more different. Ginger is still living above her parents’ garage, making jewelry and dating a glass blower, but that relationship is a bit, well, cracked. Geri supposedly has it altogether—marriage, kids, career, the works. A film crew comes to town; their lives are shaken up. The results are both fun and funny. Readers will see a bit of themselves in each sister. What more could you want for summer?" </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>- Nancy Quinn, Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops, Milwaukee, WI</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="17bd0500.jpg" border=0 width="208" height="80" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Saturn Booksellers</B></div> <div> 133 W. Main St.</div> <div> Gaylord, MI 49735</div> <div> Tel: 989 732 8899</div> <div> <A HREF="http://saturnbooksellers.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://saturnbooksellers.com"><U>www.saturnbooksellers.com</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Georgia" >"It's easy to love Claire Cook's characters because they're the people you've loved all your life - the snarky sister, the nutty father, the mom who mortified you as a teen (and sometimes still can), and the you the world sees as successful and self-possessed but you know is really just a scaredy-cat putting on a brave front.  Yeah, so your Life's a Beach...get over it, break out the flip flops and join the crowd!"   </FONT></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>-Jill Miner, Saturn Booksellers, Gaylord, MI</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="17cf0640.jpg" border=0 width="240" height="100" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="0"><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Edgartown Books</B></FONT></div> <div> 44 Main St. Edgartown, MA</div> <div> 508-627-8463</div> <div>  <U>www.edgartownbooks.com</U> </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> "I picked up a bound copy of Claire Cook’s <I>Life’s a Beach</I> at NEIBA and wanted to be the first to recommend it for a Booksense pick for June 2007. The timing of the release and the subject matter will make this book a beach "must read". I really found myself escaping to the Cape. I feel like I became part of the family dynamics and fell in love with precocious Riley. The characters (both the wonderful and the exasperating) are fabulous and I hated for the book to end. Get out the lemonade and beach chair and enjoy!"<B> - Sharon Duran, Edgartown Books</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Q </FONT><I>Life's a Beach</I> is the story of two sisters finding themselves, and each other, in midlife. What made you decide to write a novel about sisters?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >     A </FONT>I'm always the last to know what my novels are really about, so it wasn't until readers started telling me they couldn't wait to send a copy to their sisters, or reading it made them want to call their sisters, or even wish they had a sister, that I realized <I>Life's a Beach</I> is about two sisters. Nobody loves you like a sister, or drives you crazier.</div> <bR> <div> Q <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Their interaction is hilarious, and it feels so true to life. Do you have a sister? </FONT></div> <bR> <div> A <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > Oh, yeah. Actually I have four of them, plus three brothers. We're scattered all over the country now, but we're still very much, in order of birth, DannyClaireCathyMarySusieJimmyTriciaandKevin. </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Q <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Could you pick out a Ginger and a Geri in the group?</FONT></div> <bR> <div>    A <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >I'm sure there are little bits of my sisters in both Ginger and Geri. (And probably in Allison Flagg, too, but don't tell them that.) Still, my fiction never feels particularly autobiographical to me. It's as if I take all the things that are real, and all the stories I've heard, plus everything I imagine, and put them into a paper bag, shake them up, and then take them out in a completely new configuration. I guess that's my Shake 'n' Bake theory of writing a novel.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> I relate to all the characters, both two and four-legged, in my novels. I think you have to, at least to some degree, in order to write the characters. It's all about being a good eavesdropper, and it's all grist for the mill. I've always been that person at the restaurant listening to the conversation at the next table, at <I>your</I> table. It's nice to finally have found a career where that becomes non-deviant behavior. </div> <div>  </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Q </FONT>How did having your second novel, <I>Must Love Dogs</I>, made into a major motion picture starring Diane Lane and John Cusack inspire the movie scenes in <I>Life's a Beach</I>?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >   A </FONT>I loved everything about hanging around during the filming of the <I>Must Love Dogs</I> movie, and really wanted to share some of that experience with readers when I wrote <I>Life's a Beach</I>. So I took lots of notes on the movie set, and in the first draft of the novel, the fictional movie took place in Hollywood. But the Hollywood parts didn't seem as fresh as they might be, so in the next draft of the novel, I moved the movie to Cape Cod, where it really came alive!</div> <bR> <div> When you read the book, you'll be able to see the exact place where the movie changes location. One of the fun things about writing fiction is that the things you don't plan often turn out to be the best parts of the novel.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Q <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Is the entire novel set on Cape Cod?</FONT></div> <bR> <div>      <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >A  </FONT>No. About half of it takes place in the fictional town of Marshbury, an intentional combination of two towns, Marshfield and Duxbury, near where I live on the coast south of Boston. (I'm in Scituate, not an easy name to fictionalize!) Marshbury sounds to me like Mayberry RFD goes to the seashore, kind of an Anywhere, USA beach town. </div> <bR> <div> Q <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >When did you first know you were a writer? </FONT></div> <bR> <div>   A  <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >When I was three. My mother entered me in a contest to name the Fizzies whale, and I won in my age group. It's quite possible that mine was the only entry in my age group since "Cutie Fizz" was enough to win my family a six-month supply of Fizzies tablets (root beer was the best flavor) and a half dozen turquoise plastic mugs with removable handles. At six I had my first story on the Little People's Page in the Sunday paper (about Hot Dog, the family dachshund, even though we had a beagle at the time -- the first clue that I'd be a novelist and not a journalist) and at sixteen I had my first front page feature in the local weekly. I majored in film and creative writing in college, and fully expected that the day after graduation, I  would go into labor and a brilliant novel would emerge, fully formed, like giving birth. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Q</FONT>  So what happened?</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >A</FONT>  In a word: nothing. I guess I knew how to write, but not <I>what</I> to write. Looking back, I can see that I had to live my life so I'd have something to write about, and if I could give my younger self some good advice, it would be not to beat myself up for the next couple of decades. Instead, I pretended I wasn't feeling terrible about not writing a novel, and did a lot of other creative things. Hmm, let's see. I wrote shoe ads for an in house advertising agency for five weeks, became continuity director of a local radio station for a couple of years, taught aerobics and did choreography, helped a friend with landscape design, wrote a few freelance magazine pieces, took some more detours. Eventually, I had two children and followed them to school as a teacher, where I taught everything from open ocean rowing to creative writing. </div> <bR> <div> Years later, when I was in my forties and sitting in my minivan outside my daughter's swim practice at 5 AM, it hit me that I might live my whole life without ever once going after my dream of writing a novel. So, for the next six months I wrote a rough draft in the pool parking lot, and it sold to the first publisher who asked to read it.</div> <bR> <div> So many women have written to say that my story has been an inspiration to them, and I hope that's true. It is pretty cool if I stop to think about it. My first novel was published at 45, and at 50 I walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of the movie version of my second novel.</div> <bR> <div> Q <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >What other comments do you hear from readers?</FONT></div> <bR> <div>    A <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Two favorites are "I can't remember when I laughed out loud like that" and "I couldn't put it down." And my very favorite of all might be, "Ohmigod, you're writing my life!" Also, a woman came to one of my book events to tell me that, the week before, she'd missed her subway stop because she was reading one of my books. That might well be the litmus test for a good read, don't you think?</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Q <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Do you think you'll ever write a sad book?</FONT></div> <bR> <div>    A <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >In one of the many gifts of midlife, I've learned that I don't have to write everybody's books, just mine. I read voraciously and widely, but I think my gift as a novelist is to make people laugh. And also to recognize themselves and their quirky families and maybe feel a little bit better about them. And I think there's plenty of pain and suffering in the world without me personally adding to it. </FONT></div> <bR> <div> Q <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Philosophically speaking, do you think life really is a beach?</FONT></div> <bR> <div>    A <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >I guess I'd have to say yes, in both senses. Life really can be a bitch sometimes. Just when you start to think you have it all together -- bam! And yet, there are certainly so many days that are just a walk on the beach, and I think we have to be ready to enjoy each and every one of them.</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>