TODAY @ 7 PM ET, join us for a live chat with Jennie Nash to talk about her new book, The Last Beach Bungalow. You've read the reviews, and perhaps you've gotten a chance to read the book. Now is your chance to ask Jennie questions or make comments about the book.
Jennie Nash is a breast cancer survivor and the author of three books of narrative nonfiction, including "The Victoria's Secret Catalog Never Stops Coming", "Other Lessons I Learned from Breast Cancer", and of course the book we will be chatting about "The Last Beach Bungalow". She lives in Torrance, California.
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Comments: 107
How much of the book was influenced by your own life, Jennie?
Diana Raabe, Mar 4, 2008, 10:33am EST
I hope to be there and do have an article up which focuses on the book and people's feeling about homes, being at home and other topics related to the book. A review will follow shortly.
I just wanted to note that this book is rich in both detail and a unique writer's voice, one I think will be notable in years to come. The book is a rare treat.
I guess I'd like to ask the author how and why she had the courage to take some personal life experiences, a real life house experience and ad and blend them together to create this book. What created the sense that THIS was a story begging to be told? I write this as an admirer of the author and book. HIghly recommended, full of thought-provoking sections, a book you can both love and feel enlightened by and inspired after reading :)
J Corn, Feb 29, 2008, 4:04pm EST
I did want to note that this is at 7 pm ET and when I have hosted chats here before some people have come in early or late due to missing the ET designation (raising hand, as I was one of those people).
Maybe it was just me. In any case, checking your time zone and seeing where it falls compared to ET zones can't hurt...
:)
: )
My questions to Jennie ~
What would you like every one of your Readers to absorb from your book first and foremost?
Has your book been provided in Therapy and/or Classroom settings?
How many book-signings have you conducted, and what was the response?
Do you hold regular Workshops?
Thank you in advance for your responses Jennie.
Blessings ~
Rene
: )
As you can see from the above comments, there are questions to get you started. Thank you for taking the time to spend a little while with us.
Oh my goodness. A 25 year old niece lost to breast cancer? What a wrenching story... I'm so sorry to hear it.
My book has not been used in therapy or counseling so far as I know, but it's only been out 3 weeks, so you never know! I did send copies to all the Wellness Communities around the country, because I think they provide such amazing services to people with cancer.
I have done three big readings so far, and the response has been truly wonderful! It's hard to describe the feeling of having your words resonate so deeply with an audience. You know, we write in silence and alone-ness, and then we go out into the world with our stories, and it's such a different thing. I actually love it! I love this stage. It's the reason I write -- to make connections with people who have felt some of the same things, or feared some of the same things.
As for workshops, I teach at UCLA Extension, and may teach an online class in the fall, which anyone could take from anywhere. Check their course listings....I also do some independent writing coaching. And I love teaching workshops -- wherever there's a group that's willing, I'm game!
As for what I hope readers will absorb or take away?? Perhaps the courage or the inspiration to find a way to feel at home in your own home, your own life, your own skin.
: )
I write at a computer with a cool ergonomic keyboard, at an office at the front of my house. I can look outside and see people walking their dogs, the mailman coming up the walk, kids coming home from school. I love it! I definitely don't make every page perfect before I move on; I find that paralyzing -- because I would never move on! I like to see the pages pile up, so I blah blah blah and then I go back later and see what I've got, and what's working. Oftentimes, I throw out huge chunks -- 50 pages, 75. It's part of the process. You take a deep breath and delete. For this book, I wrote 10 different drafts, all told from different points of view -- the owner of the bungalow, the real estate agent, the best friend, the husband. I probably even wrote a draft from the POV of the stupid dog!!!! I was trying to find the heart of the story, and it wasn't until I let April start talking that I found it -- and I knew it the moment I started.
As for sharing work, I have one dear writer friend to whom I show everything -- good, bad, ugly. When I feel like the ms. is in pretty good shape -- it hangs together in time, it has a beginnings, middle and end -- I take it out to a wider circle of readers. For this book, I had some real estate people read it, and some women closer in age to Peg than I am. I'm writing a book right now about artists, and I've had a painter read it, and a photographer. But at a certain point, you can't listen to outside voices. They all have different and often conflicting opinions -- so I have to force myself to listen just to me, and make a polished draft.
It's so hard to be a good friend to someone who's sick. SO hard! I think it's worse in some ways than being sick, because you don't know what to do. I always suggest erring on the side of doing too much. Your friend can always say -- I couldn't read that book, or I couldn't eat that casserole, or I can't talk to you right now. But it's much harder to say, Can you please sit with me, feed me, entertain me. So I say -- just do it. Whatever your instinct is to help, just do it, and don't take it too personally if your friend rejects your overture. She's not rejecting YOU. She's just...sick. Hang in there! In sickness, there can be so much life...
: )
Thanks for being such a FAN!! I can see that bungalow so clearly in my mind; I just WISH it were real! I'd try to buy it!!
I think that people go through sickness the way they go through life, so in some ways, the question is really, Does having a positivie attitude help you get through LIFE! And the answer, to my mind, is definitely YES. Only because we get thrown so many curve balls, you know? The best laid plans get dashed and dashed. And it's the people who can respond with flexibility and good cheer who seem to do the best. I always think it's strange when people call cancer survivors BRAVE because when you're diagnosed, you don't have a choice but to go through with whatever the disease or the treatment might be. It's not like there are some people sitting on the sidelines and other people wading into the deep end. You're just thrown into the deep end, and you have to swim. That's not bravery, it's survival. I'm awfully glad you're a survivor -- and I have no doubt you also have a positive attitude!
Yes, of course! Send any books you want autographed. Or, if you prefer, I can sign some stickers and send them your way, no payment necessary. Please send addresses to me through my website, www.jennienash.com
I think for women especially, it takes us the longest time to get comfortable with our own selves. We're so often defined by other people -- our father's daughter, our mother's daughter, a wife, a mother-- and we don't even really see it. Through my work, I feel like I've become the person I was supposed to be. I mean, through this book especially. IT's my fourth book, and my others are really good and I'm really proud of them, but THIS book reflects very much who I think I am. I have embraced my inner storyteller! I guess that's it. It actually happened in one moment. I was in Anchorage, Alaska doing a big breast cancer talk (with my breast cancer memoir, The Victorias's Secret Catalog Never Stops Coming and Other Lessons I Learned From Breast Cancer.) The year before, this group had Dr. Susan Love as a keynote speaker -- the surgeon who is literally trying to cure cancer, and coming as close as anyone. I kept thinking, What on earth do I have to say that Susan Love didn't say? And I was sitting next to a woman who was very bald and very sick and I kept thinking, What do I have to say that SHE can't say. It was one of those, Who do I think I am? moments. Well I got up on the stage, and I stood in front of the microphone, and I thought: OK. I am a storyteller. That's what I have to offer. THat's who I think I am. And it wasn't long after that moment that I had the idea for this novel. And here's the best thing: my NEXT novel is going to be even better! I know that's kind of strange to say, but I absolutely love it. I wrote it from such a place of confidence and passion -- having gotten (not that's not correct English -- having got?) The Last Beach Bungalow under my belt. This new novel just SINGS. I have no idea what novel #3 will be, but I know it will be...because this is who I am. A novelist. So what I want people to take away from The Last Beach Bungalow is the same thning I have taken away: the inspiration to be comfortable in my own skin.
The Last Beach Bungalow came out in paperback, which I was actually thrilled about because it's so cheap! I find the $27 novels very difficult to buy, especialy if you don't know the author! So at the moment, it's jsut paper. That could change if it sells well. Victoria's Secret came out in both hardback and paper, so you should be able to find both, although the hardbacks weren't reprinted lately so I'm not sure about that.
I scrolled back and read all the answers, sorry to be late but the math tutor was really helping my son get a difficult concept for a test :) I did want to suggest that people who read the book put reviews every place they can because word of mouth and talking about books DOES make a difference. I posted reviews here, at Amazon, book blogs, etc. Every reader is a potential PR person for a writer. Support the books you love. Sorry to be so lecture-y.
ANd J.K. Slather -- YES, I am coming to Portland Oregon in May and Seattle in September and SF in two weeks. Are you in any of those places? If so, write to me at jennie.nash@verizon.net and I'll send you specific information on those appearances.
: )
I would also like to thank all the Gather members who participated. Without you guys, this chat would not have been possible.
<3
I did read it and enjoyed!
Renda ~ Thank you so much for conducting this interview with Jennie!
Jennie's answers to all of my questions were wonderful. I am glad to hear that Jennie forwarded her Book to Wellness Communities around the country, because I agree with Jennie that the Wellness Centers provide amazing services to people with cancer.
This interview with Jennie has given me more food for thought. I am more excited about reading Jennie's book after reading this interview. And, I will definitely look into Jennie's Workshops. It is good to know that Jennie conducts independent writing coaching. This is inspirational for emerging writers/Authors.
I'd like to thank Jennie for taking the time to answer my questions, and I look forward to her next publication.
I'll remember Jennie's words about this wonderful book as I read it (knowing that this is what she would like readers to absorb from her book) . . .
"As for what I hope readers will absorb or take away?? Perhaps the courage or the inspiration to find a way to feel at home in your own home, your own life, your own skin." ~ Jennie Nash (QUOTE - March 2008)
Jennie ~ Thank you!
Renda ~ This was really nice, and I wish I had been here. Many THANKS!
Blessings ~
Rene
Georgiana, only a little ;)