Newsletter March 2021 – Leslie Zemeckis

Sunshine

Not gonna lie, I’ve had some blue, blah and bored days with staying inside my house. I know there is light at the end of the tunnel, so doing my best to concentrate on writing, mentoring, exercising, back to baking, working on a new puzzle and watching “The Sopranos” every night with the little people. The violence satisfies my frustration at the world, politics, Covid, mass shootings (again) . . .
 

Desert X

Its heating up in Palm Springs. Yay. Things are open, its packed because of Spring Break, but everyone is wearing their masks. Made several trips just to enjoy the sun, walking and meeting up with partially vaccinated friends as am I. Desert X is awesome. If you are out in this area you gotta check ‘em out. We went super early so no one else was around – or more importantly – in our photos. 

I’m including a link to a story written by my bestselling writer friend Abbott Kahler (The Ghosts of Eden Park as Karen Abbott) about another friend bestselling author Sara Gruen (Water for Elephants). This falls under one of those WTF stories. How a bestselling author, Sara, got involved with a prisoner and nearly lost her mind, her health and her fortune. If it wasn’t true it would be too crazy to be believed.
 
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2021/03/24/a-bestselling-author-became-obsessed-with-freeing-a-man-from-prison-it-nearly-ruined-her-life 

Stories Matter
 

Honestly, I was extremely burnt out after 8 weeks of mentoring, took a week or more, zoom free. I wanted to assess what worked for me, what worked for mentees, how I can better serve them. It has been extremely rewarding mentally. I never had a mentor growing up. This group was super supportive amongst themselves. They fell way short on learning about deadlines. Thank you cards were challenging, and not all got on board. But I take nothing as a failure. I am giving my all and they can take from it what they will. For me the best part besides the one-on-one work sessions was the participation of some amazing authors; Ivy Pochoda, Mary Morris, Christina Lee and Natalie Jenner. All inspirations and check out their books, so good!
 
I’m sifting through applications for session two starting in a couple weeks, then it will be a break till either Fall or Spring when I want to do the originally conceived in-person event.
 

Great Book, Great Cake
 

My first book club with ENTITY Magazine was a smash. Christina Hammonds Reed was our guest, we had tons of zoomers and thoughtful questions. The next one was with Laura Bates. She has written some amazing books, Everyday Sexism, Girl Up, Misogynation, The Burning, and the book we discussed Men Who Hate Women. It could not be timelier. It is not an easy read, but powerful, scary and necessary. She went online underground for a year, as a male incel (is there any female ones?) and discovered a bigger than thought world of racism, misogynists, absolutely hate-filled groups that want to rape and enslave women. Because of my post about the book (I think the title, more than content) I lost a few hundred followers on IG, so I am assuming I had a lot of men that followed me that hate women. LOL. Anyway, it’s an important read and Laura is super smart and kind. Not only was it Women’s History Month but we are in light of Sarah Everards murder and violent vigil we NEED to discuss men. This isn’t a hate on men book.

Love When My Jacket Matches a Book Cover

My first column in The Montecito Journal came out, highlighting Kristin Hannah’s wonderful book The Four Winds. Next up is Paula McLain’s very personal When the Stars Go Dark.

A beautiful book is Surviving Savannah by Patti Callahan. The story switches between current day Savannah and Everly, a history professor who is struggling to find peace after the death of a friend by researching the survivors of the 1838 wreck, the Pulaski and a couple women on the steamship, one in an abusive marriage. The descriptions of the wreck are harrowing, and we root for the characters past and present. Desperately made me want to return to Savannah as this book is an absolute love letter to the city. (Forrest Gump anyone?)

This book isn’t new, but I just discovered it, “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.” The story is set in the Appalachians in Kentucky during the 1930s. It is about a woman who is blue. Literally. Based upon a real people, the Fugates who lacked an enzyme that turned their skin blue and the town and people of Troublesome treat them as “coloreds.” Not only is the main character blue she is a “book woman” also based on a tribe of librarians that delivered books to the hardest to reach communities on horseback, mule or foot. Give this book a read. Taking me quite by surprise was another book by a friend of mine, Marci Darling. Divorce Diva is a witty, heartbreaking memoir of her struggles through a divorce that left her family devastated. As I say about Marci she is “relentlessly resilient.” It is well written and moving.

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