Coach

When I was 9, I wanted to play baseball in my town's rec league. The problem was baseball--back then--was only for boys. My parents told me to write to the mayor. They helped me draft a letter, and my mom typed it. (Which in and of itself shows you what kind of parents I had, and firmly lodged in my mind that you CAN fight City Hall; hence my radical roots.) I got back a detailed response of "We DO have sports for girls, like ice skating. You can also take needlework or knitting." This response was . . . frankly . . . bullsh*t.

Shortly after that, we moved to Bermuda, where I learned weird British sports like netball (sort of like soccer combined with basketball--but no backboard), and then field hockey. But I still wanted to play baseball.

Eventually, however, with my nose always buried in a book, I forgot all about PLAYING baseball. I then wanted to write about it. My sophomore year in college, I worked the night desk of UPI as a stringer in the sports department. I was in my glory. But eventually, further down the line still, I wanted to make stuff up for a living and sports reporting drifted away.

However, in my dreams, I would still love to coach the Yankees. And considering their standings right now in the AL (American League East) . . . maybe that's not such a bad idea. Now, I am not sure, as coach, what I would tell them to do. After all, this is a fantasy, not a reality. I think I would make a better boxing trainer, or even coach of the NY Giants . . . finessing baseball . . . not so sure.

Which brings me to . . . writing. Here we are, Boys (and Gals) of Summer. If you were coaching the Yankees Writers in the AL (American Literary league), what is the single best piece of coaching advice you offer?

Mine is get out there on the field and get the damn job done. WRITE.

Now play ball.

Kids Ask the Darndest Things

I did an online chat about High School Bites on Monday. The girls were 9 and 10 years old--about eight of them. They were great! And they asked me very important questions.

Do I like pizza? (Yes.)
What is your favorite color? (Green.)
Do you root for the Yankees? (This is the MOST important question, and the answer is YES.)

What got me smiling--besides the great questions--is how kids really zero in on what's important for them to know about and identify with an author. They asked me the questions that were important to them.

Which got me thinking about my bio on my books, and also about how I "relate" to the authors I read. My bio is usually mildly humorous. Like this one for The Roofer:

Erica is a native New Yorker, roots for the Yankees, and believes you can take the girl out of New York, but not New York out of the girl.

I very rarely have a "lofty" bio--just usually a mix of odd facts about myself.

And when I read an author I really, really like, in this era of the web, I do go to their website or do try to find out more about them, their research methods, whatever. If I read a book with cultural or historical implications, I especially will try to find out more.

Which also got me thinking . . . I have met one author who think is a total b*tch--a term I don't use lightly. Absolutely and totally, and she makes my skin crawl. I have met one other I think is simply psycho. Also a b*tch, but I think it's because she is somehow not medicated properly and it's less being truly mean and backstabbing and more . . . just . . . crazy. And I cannot read either of these women. Either of them could write the most brilliant book ever in the history of publishing (neither has), and I couldn't read it because they as people just ruined that experience for me by how they behave in person.

So tell me . . . what is your relationship to the authors you read? Do you like knowing about them? Do you visit their websites? Are things like the Yankees important? (Silly question, that last one. Of COURSE it is.)

Go Yanks!
E