Your novels focus on relationships among women and their families and friends. Are there particular relationships in your own life that have inspired characters or relationships in your novels?

The easy answer to this question is a very confusing “kind of.”  Like most writers, I am constantly drawing on my own life when I create characters and choose issues to explore and plot my stories.  That being said, I try to allow my own life–and my friends and family–to perhaps inspire characterizations but I don’t “use” people I know.   It’s more that I recognize interesting traits in people and I use those some of those traits as a springboard to create a character that exists only in my imagination.  I would say that of all the relationships in my life, it is motherhood that inspires and informs my work to the greatest extent.

During the past two decades you’ve written 20 novels. In addition to being a very prolific writer, you’re also a wife and mother. How do you find some time just for you? What’s your favorite way to relax and renew your energy?

I think the way I’ve been able to handle my many responsibilities by always being very clear about my priorities.  I was always a wife and mother first, and a writer second.  By keeping that straight, I always knew what sacrifices could be made for my career and which could not.  I was really a working mother who had the best of both worlds–I was at home for my son all of the time, but I also had writing as a creative outlet.  As far as finding time for myself, that’s a bit more challenging.  The truth is that I often lost this valuable piece of the puzzle–me time.  Now that my son has grown up and moved out of the house, I’m a bit more vigilant at finding time to be alone and to be with friends.  It’s the classic struggle of the working mom.  There just isn’t enough time to do it all.

Your new book, Home Front, explores what happens to a marriage when the wife and mother is deployed to Iraq. How did you approach the research required for the details about military life during wartime in this book?

The research for this novel was more extensive than any I’ve done before.  I don’t come from a military family, nor do I know a lot of military families personally, so I would say that I was woefully uninformed about their service.  Prior to Home Front, I would have said that I understood something about their lives and their service, but I was wrong in almost everything.  I only understood the thinnest layer.  I learned so much in the writing of this novel and in researching it.  I went to a deployment ceremony and honestly, I think every American should attend one.  Watching our soldiers preparing to go off to war, and their families standing alongside to say goodbye, really brings their sacrifice into sharp focus.  It is a powerful reminder that whatever one feels about any particular war, we need to always respect and honor our soldiers and their families.  Honestly, I felt a little ashamed that I hadn’t attended one before.  Although, boy, was it difficult.  I was humbled by their pride and strength in the face of such an undertaking.  It makes you truly consider what heroism is and reminds you to be grateful.

Having gained so much insight into your subject through first-hand accounts of people who entrusted you with their stories, were you worried about how you depicted the soldiers?

It was important for me to capture the spirit of the true American soldier in my portrayal of Jolene and Tami and their colleagues.  Because I knew so little about the military when I began, creating these characters, and indeed the world they inhabit, was often an uphill battle.  And then, as the writing continued, I fell so in love with Jolene—she has become my favorite character of all time—that I really wanted not to “ruin” her by doing anything wrong.  Secondly, I was fairly undone by the emotional component of this novel, and honestly, even though I have often written about difficult, heartrending situations, no story has even affected me personally so deeply.  No novel of my own has ever so consistently brought me to tears.  It was difficult to maintain my balance as a writer in his one.

Do you have a “favorite” novel among your books? One that touches you more deeply than others?

Of all the novels I’ve written, none has touched me as deeply as Home Front.  I truly fell in love with these characters.  I’m really excited for people to read the novel.  It’s timely and important and provocative, but mostly its powerfully emotional.  I honestly think it will change how readers think in some small way.  I hope they’ll come on Facebook and let me know what they think.

 Read Part II of my interview with Kristin Hannah here at ATG on February 8, 2012, when you can also enter to win a copy of Home Front.  

For more about Home Front, read my review below.

Jolene Zarkades is an Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot whose marriage to the workaholic attorney Michael Zarkades, is already troubled when the novel begins. Michael has withdrawn further into his work following his father’s recent death, and is feeling the first stirrings of that familiar mid-life crisis. The couple have two needy daughters, ages four and twelve, and the full load of parenting has always fallen to Jolene, despite the demands of her career.

When Jolene is unexpectedly deployed to Iraq the precarious balance of their family life is upended. As Jolene puts herself in harms way on a daily basis, flying dangerous missions in the cruel desert heat, Michael must step up to the task of full time parenting for two little girls who desperately miss their mother. In addition, he is handling a complicated legal case for a veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and his research leads him to some worrying conclusions about his wife and what she’s going through. As the tensions mount for both of them on opposite sides of the world, there is one cataclysimic event that finally forces them to confront  the failings in their relationship head on, and deal with them once and for all.

Home Front is not a conventional love story. It’s as tough and gritty as war itself. These are real people who make mistakes in their relationship -they keep secrets, they don’t communicate the important things, they occasionally say and do hurtful things. There have been many novels over the years that look at wartime relationships from the perspective of the man at war, but Hannah has taken on the important task of showing us what it’s like for the 21st century female solider in combat. Jolene is a strong minded woman, with a fierce devotion to family and to duty. Hannah doesn’t flinch from exploring the hard truths about women at war and the effects on their families. But through these admirable characters, she also shows us that it’s possible to overcome even the most difficult of situations with love and strong committment.

Home Front, like all of Hannah’s other novels, is immensely readable. It’s the kind of book that keeps you up late because you have to know what happens next. But Home Front also gave me amazing insights into the lives of service women in combat, as well as a profound and renewed appreciation for our service personnel and their  families, who make huge sacrifices so their loved ones to fulfill the duty their country requires. It’s an important book, and one Hannah can be proud to offer her readers.

Oranges are winter fruit. Sure, modern technology means that we can have them year-round, but they’re meant to be eaten in winter, when their flavor is at it’s peak, and rightly so. After all, it’s in winter when we need that bright splash of color, that burst of sweet juice that comes with just a touch of bitter tang. Think about all those classic Christmas stories – what was in the toe of every stocking? An orange.

This winter, I’ve become, not merely fond of, but absolutely addicted to, clementine oranges.They’re small. They’re sweet. They’re seedless. And they’re easy to peel.

“Try not thinking of peeling an orange. Try not imagining the juice running down your fingers, the soft inner part of the peel. The smell. Try and you can’t. The brain doesn’t process negatives.” ~Doug Coupland

Oranges aren’t just lovely and luscious, however, they’re also considered to be lucky. Brides who carry oranges (or orange blossoms) in their bouquets, are supposedly blessed with good marriages, and when lovers share oranges, it’s supposed to bring them closer together. (Apparently eating an orange in front of your lover and letting the juice dribble down your chin is supposed to be incredibly alluring.)

Oranges are prominent in the arts as well – books and movies include Five Quarters of the Orange, and Oranges are not the Only Fruit as well as fine art – Henri Matisse’s “Basket with Oranges” is a personal favorite.

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve loved oranges, but I always associate them with tea, because of the line in the song “Suzanne,” made famous by Joan Baez, “…she feeds you tea and oranges that came all the way from China.” In fact, I’m sipping tea and nibbling on an orange as I write this.

I wasn’t quite sure of what I was beginning when I picked up Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone. While I am quite the fan of Harry Potter, I don’t typically hold much regard for tales that involve “other” worlds, beings with wings, and the fantasy of magic. Having read Daughter of Smoke and Bone, I may have to rethink my position on such matters.

In the beginning of the book, I felt Taylor may have been trying a tad too hard. The writing was a bit explanative which I see as necessary when you are creating a world from the imagination, but it felt forced. I proceeded forward though and was pleasantly surprised. As I became accustomed to the new worlds of beasts and magic that were being built for me, I got tied into what was actually a story of passionate love, hope for a better future, and a depth of personal conflict that can only come from the clash of love and hate.

My cynical side would say that some things in the story structure were too predictable. For example, I knew that Karou, the main character, would indeed be wealthy by inheritance. But why let cynicism rule when I am, after all, reading by choice a fictional story?

In contrast to my cynicism, I’ll gladly share that I particularly enjoyed the way Taylor switched from present to past and from the viewpoint of one character to the viewpoint of another to give the reader the full view of each situation from various angles. By giving a limited one-sided view of the experience and then filling it in from another character’s angle, Taylor built suspense and kept the story flowing.

The book was easy to read, entertaining, and suspenseful. On the whole a fine, albeit somewhat predictable, piece of entertainment for the adult reader.

Winter Town, by Stephen Emond, is a charming, heart warming book. It’s marketed for young adults, but a pure pleasure for anyone who has ever been seventeen and struggling to find a place in their family and the outside world. For all his strait laced demeanor, Evan has a creative streak a mile wide, although he has yet to accept the fact that he is an artist and plods on in his father’s Ivy-league footsteps. Lucy is facing her own demons related to the break up of her family, her isolation from her parents, and an undesirable relationship. While Evan tries to rein Lucy in, she works toward pushing him out of his shell, and their continued efforts to bring out the best in each other make them all the more lovable.

Emond has peppered the book with quirky illustrations and comic strips that enhance the story and bring an added dimension to the characters. “I’ve always drawn,” Emond says, “some of my earliest memories involve drawing, and there were always characters I’d make up, comic strip gags, and I’d occasionally attempt a comic book story or something.”  His first published work was a comic book series called Emo Boy, for which he was writing “full stories to illustrate.” Emond’s says that his first prose book, Happyface, “felt like another natural extension from what I’d done on Emo Boy.”

Winter Town was a delight to read, with characters who appeal to young adults but are also endearing to those of us whose youth passed by many winters ago.

I’ve spent the weekend searching for words to appropriately honor her memory, but most of the major news services have already talked about her life and her work far more eloquently than ever I could.

Instead, I offer this video, culled from YouTube, of one of my favorite of her songs, “A Sunday Kind of Love.”

The singer may have left us, but the songs never will.

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time. – Laura Ingalls Wilder

Memories and traditions are such an important part of every holiday, but perhaps none more so than the winter holidays. Times with family, wonderful food, the joy of giving to others – these are all the most cherished holiday traditions.

Books have always played a major role in my own Christmas holiday memories. From the time I was very young, my mother or grandmother read me to sleep on Christmas Eve with Clement Moore’s classic, “Twas the Night Before Christmas. When I got a little older, I looked forward to evening when the tree lights came on so I could curl up underneath its branches with a pillow and my battered copy of Little Women.

Books were always an eagerly anticipated Christmas gift. That same copy of Little Women started out as a beautifully wrapped package under the tree. In 1964, my cousin started purchasing the hardcover editions of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series, adding one each year until the set was complete. That same set is now sitting proudly on my bookshelf, waiting to be passed on to the next generation of Little House readers in the family.

When my son was small, we started a bookish tradition of our own. Each year I purchased a book for him, and it was the one gift he was allowed to open on Christmas Eve. He would take the new book into his bed room, and read it until he went to sleep. It proved a great way to calm down that pre-Christmas morning excitement.

This year I began a new tradition – purchasing a Christmas book for my grandson who was born November 14, 2011. I hope to continue doing so until he’s grown, at which time he’ll have a wonderful collection to pass onto his own children someday.

I’m not the only one with bookish holiday traditions. Some of my favorite authors were kind enough to share their special holiday memories with ATG readers.

Beth Kephart, is the author of 13 books including memoirs, creative nonfiction, and books for young adults. Her most recent young adult novel, You Are My Only, was published in October 2011.

My mother, especially, loved Christmas.  She filled our world with light and gifts, with a Christmas Eve meal of fish and cookies and an all-out Christmas day feast.  But she always insisted, within all of the overt cheer, that we stop and read the Nativity story from the Bible and then (in a hush) the Clement Clarke Moore poem, “Twas the night before Christmas.”  It wasn’t Christmas until we had sat and listened, and then my brother would play carols on his oboe, my father would play the piano, and the rest of us would sing.

I could never replicate all the good that my mother did and was, but I did continue reading traditions with my own son, supplementing the poem and the Bible story with The Polar Express, my favorite contemporary Christmas tale.  I always got teary-eyed, reading that.  I still do.

As for books I give — well, always I give books.  Usually the three best new histories of the year, in hardcover, for my father.  A book on physics or music for my brother.  A visual book or two for my husband.  To my brother-in-law, always, my favorite read of that year.  For friends, whatever I know they will love.  I’m wrong about a lot of things in life.  But I’m rarely wrong about books.

Lilian Nattel’s third novel, Web of Angels, is set for publication in February 2012. “Imagine this,” Lilian writes:

 Kids coming home from tobogganing, cheeks rosy. They shed their jackets and boots, leaving a small pile of snow on the rubber mat, and then settle down to hot chocolate and their holiday books. We celebrate Hanukah at home and Christmas with my mother-in-law at her house. She loves books and there is always a big pile to explore. That tradition continues with my own family. Books make great gifts for my daughters. One of my girls is collecting the Diary of a Wimpy Kid, series by Jeff Kinney, and the other has a complete set of The Complete Anne of Green Gables Boxed Set and the sequels by L.M. Montgomery. My favourite thank you for friends, neighbours or teachers is a gift certificate to my local bookstore or, if someone is at a distance, an online bookstore. Last year I had a new Kobo and was infatuated with ebooks but the romance is over. I’m looking forward to acquiring my own pile of paper books this year! Ultimately, though, nothing says holiday season like Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, which is annually read aloud by the steadfast broadcasters of CBC, Canada’s pre-eminent radio station.

Rebecca Rasmussen, whose 2011 novel The Bird Sisters: A Novel was named the Ladies Home Journal Book Club Pick, as well chosen to be included in the Target Emerging Authors series, says this about her holiday bookish traditions:

“My favorite book to give as a gift has to be Gilead: A Novelby Marilynne Robinson. Even though it is fiction, this book has taught me so many important life lessons that I feel obligated to return the favor. I buy at least a handful of copies a year and they all end up disappearing. I might just be Robinson’s #1 fan (in the good sense, not the creepy stalker-like one!). The other book I find myself re-reading all the time is Little Women because my mother read it to me as a girl and now we’re living on opposite coasts–boo!–and reading it makes me feel closer to her and my childhood again. A good dose of Jo March always cheers me up.”

Books and reading are appropriate gifts for any tradition, sacred or secular. I hope all these holiday reading traditions inspire you to create some bookish traditions for your holiday celebration this winter, no matter which holiday you might be celebrating.

Your turn now: What bookish traditions do you have in your life? What are some you might like to institute this year?

It is tiring when you are trying to be someone you are not and even though I am working harder than ever today, I find being myself makes life a whole lot easier.

I am growing weary of the words wellness, well being, and pretty much anything that has to do with the wholeness of my mind and body. Over saturated with resolutions and bored with the thought of intentions, I jump into 2012 with a new mantra:

Something Different

2012 will prove to be a year of exciting challenges for me: from giving birth to my third child, to strengthening my ever growing relationship with my husband, and blasting into my career head on – finally without fear.

I encourage you to do it different this year. Be different. Walk different. Speak different.

And I think it is about time we start to live without fear.

-Live without fearing judgment from others
-Live without a fear of failure
-Live without a fear of looking different

It’s about time we start to live passionately without looking over our shoulder to see who is looking.

How will you do it differently this year?

Try investing in yourself in a new way – by being authentic. If you are like me, I had a lot of practice not being myself, so the past few years have been a time of self-discovery. My old self mentally wrestling around with the the new me who has always been dying to get out.

How did I start rediscovering myself?

I made a list.

I am the queen of list makers and it only seemed appropriate to add to my list of to-do’s – change my mindset and become ME.

This was my list:

1. Stop making excuses-I’m exhausted living someone else’s life!
2. Change right now, TODAY. Why not, right?
3. This journey will be difficult, but I will not be afraid. I will be happy!
4. Make another list – Who am I? Really?

I do have to warn you, once you start to change, people will notice. And you might get some resistance. I made sure my foundation of change was rooted in love. Love for my family, the people who surround me and a love for my true self. I make choices with my heart and if there is a twinge of uncertainty, I pause to reflect.

Get ready for an amazing year!

Reichl, former restaurant critic for the New York Times, and editor of Gourmet magazine, wrote several memoir style books about her life and her relationship to food. In Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table , Reichl’s dry humor fits perfectly with stories about her unconventional family and her bohemian lifestyle in the 1960′s. Reichl’s mother suffered from bipolar disorder and subjected her family to some very odd, even dangerous, culinary situations, serving them food with mold growing on it or things she had pulled from garbage cans. She also loved to entertain, throwing elaborate parties with some very suspect menu items.  Reichl spent her childhood trying to protect the people she cared who attended these affairs from eating what was being served. The book contains recipes for everything from pot roast to Chinese curried oysters with cucumber sauce and salmon roe, but the fun lies in reading about Reichl’s experiences with food and foodies long before The Food Network made it  ”cool” to be one. I enjoyed this one sitting at my kitchen table, waiting for a chicken to roast.

Novelist Laurie Colwin described herself as a “home cook,” and her book by that title is a warm compendium of recipes, memories, and tales of her experiences in her own kitchen. While Ruth Reichl has traveled the world in search of the perfect oyster, Colwin preferred to enjoy her culinary delights closer to home. “In the days when my friends were happily traveling to Bolivia and Nepal, I was ashamed to admit that what I liked best was hanging around the house,” Colwin wrote in the introduction to Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen. “One summer I spent some time in a farmhouse on the island of Minorca. This was my idea of bliss: a vacation at home, even if it wasn’t my home. I could wake up in the morning, make the coffee and wander outside to pick apricots for breakfast.”  Colwin’s familiar writing style, mingled with good advice for the home cook, made this book a delightful companion to my own morning coffee.

As a reporter and food writer for the New York Times, Amander Hesser’s book Cooking for Mr. Latte: A Food Lover’s Courtship, with Recipes, is perfect for the Sex and the City crowd. Including over 100 recipes, Hesser’s book is the most cookbook-ish of my reading, and the recipes are mostly of the formidable quadratic equation variety that send me running for a toasted cheese sandwich. Each group of recipes is prefaced by a short essay chronicling her courtship with “Mr. Latte” and her escapades with other foodie friends in 21st century New York City.  Hesser’s easy, breezy writing style makes this book great fun to read while you’re sipping a glass of chardonnay, nibbling on brie and crackers. ”Foodies are competitive,” she writes, with tongue in cheek. “It’s not enough to just eat well and enjoy it. You must be able to whip off commentary about the amuse-bouche at Daniel, know the bodega in Red Hook that makes the best churros, and be able to recite the last five restaurants Wylie Dufrense has worked at.”

If you’re craving some good food writing, you won’t be disappointed with any of these books. One piece of advice – do not read on an empty stomach. They’re guaranteed to make you very, very hungry!

I’m always excited when the new year rolls around.  It brings to mind thoughts of fresh slates, new beginnings, and lots of opportunities.

I’m also thrilled when we bring to you a new issue of All Things Girl.

The theme of this first issue of 2012 is “Jump!”.    When we planned the themes for the year, we wanted to bring single word that could be interpreted in a variety of ways.  This issue is the beginning of some changes here at ATG.  We are moving to a quarterly format in 2012.   And, as we move well into our 11th year of publication, I realize that in the internet age, we are ancient.

We began as a Literary / Arts ‘Zine in August 2001, and in honor of that core, you will find both Writings and Arts that show how folks interpret “Jump”.  Everything Girl never fails to WOW me, and here you will find inspirational columns and interviews with fabulous folks.  Be sure and check out  our interview with Cover Girl – the Sexy actress Mekenna Melvin  as well as our amazing Man of the Moment, Author Raymond Khoury.

Do take some time to fix yourself a nice cup of tea and enjoy the fabulousness that is Jump.  We’ve added nifty “Tweet” and “Like” buttons and comments are open, so do share your thoughts with us – and tell your friends!

Don’t forget to keep an eye on The Blog.  You’ll also be treated to some wonderful interviews, reviews, and fabulous guest posts.

We will be accepting submissions for “Jump” until February 5th, so don’t hesitate to share with us how you see  it.    As always, we are looking to the future and welcoming submissions for upcoming issues in 2012 as well as reviews and guest blogs.  We’d love to see what you’ve got!

I hope that you are jumping into 2012 with both feet.  Learning from our pasts is critical to moving forward in life, but jumping into a project or the wonderfulness that is your life is better if you take a leap of faith and jump in with both feet.

Much love and light to you.

Debra Smouse

Editor in Chief

(Image by LollyKnit)