Robin Gerber's Comments
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Mar 25, 2008 | comments: 14
Robin Gerber Mar 26, 2008, 10:26pm EDT
Thanks for the great review! You're right about history not being kind to my book! I did certainly think, back in the summer of 2006 when I conceived the book, that it would be Hillary vs. McCain. Well, not over yet. Thanks again for reading and reviewing, best, Robin Gerber
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 5:03pm EST
Great job, Richard! I'm sure we'll be in touch again. best, Robin
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 5:00pm EST
THANKS to everyone for participating! It was great!
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:57pm EST
Well, Richard, by 55 you'd better be having fun because you're looking at the shorter end of the timeline :)
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:56pm EST
Stunned yes! and frustrated and sad too, as I think Eleanor would be. I do a lot of radio interviews where I talk about the continuing double standard for women leaders who can't be strong and take charge, as we want leaders to be, because then they are not liked.
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:52pm EST
Actually, my older life, back 15 years or so was very male-dominated. i was chief lobbyist for the Carpenters Union in D.C.!
but now I do leadership/motivational talks mostly to women at companies, schools and nonprofits which is very fun and I hope empowering for them. I try to help them with what I had to deal with, but have now mostly put behind me :)
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:51pm EST
well, Hillary needs to do what she's doing, which is keep the focus on March 4th, her best chance to win some states. the delegate count is still close, but the media is very pro-Obama, and that makes it quite hard for her. Eleanor would be rooting for her tho I'm sure!
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:45pm EST
Kathryn: cute about your daughter! Yes, i think ER COULD have been elected, that's not to say she makes it against Ike of course. :)
The Chive: would have been a VERY hard pitch had it not been for the 2008 election tie-in which of course was/is a major hook. my agent pitched 14 editors, only got one response, but then I didn't have a completed manuscript as you usually need for fiction, and that early draft was truly very nonfictiony, so i kind of see why it got rejected. I think i was very very lucky to get the pitiful advance i got. fiction is REALLY hard to sell in any form much less alt fiction about a woman instead of "what if hitler won the war?"
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:39pm EST
I think I'd like to try more historical fiction. I guess it's a little bit like writing fiction on training wheels in that i don't have to make as much up, but I love history. and i want to have a woman main character, but not sure who yet.
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:37pm EST
Very funny Doug lol.
On the Chive's comment: history does sell, but we need to translate that into electing leaders who have also read the history as opposed to ones who just don't read and wear that as a badge of honor! FDR was a great student of history as were the greatest presidents. Let's not make another mistake like the one over the last 8 years...
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:33pm EST
Oh, I plan to write fiction from now on, i just had the Barbie contract first, BEFORE i got the Eleanor vs. Ike contract, but Ruth Handler's a great character. I'm having fun with it, but not as much as the other.
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:30pm EST
That's so interesting Kathryn. YES, i was a very serious piano student. Even went to Interlochen in Michigan when I was 16 for a summer, which is an international music camp.
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:28pm EST
here's what i wrote before: I wrote the novel because i was frustrated that Eleanor had not run for President. Since she was dead, I knew there was no chance she would :)
This was my way of 'fixing' what I thought was her biggest mistake.
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:27pm EST
I would like to write more historical fiction, but right now i have a Harper/Collins contract to write the biography of the founder of Mattel and creator of Barbie: Ruth Handler. It will come out in 3/09 which is Barbie's 50th birthday!
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:24pm EST
Thanks Richard! Then I succeeded!
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:22pm EST
Hi doug, Stevenson was brilliant, a great orator (even better than Obama!) and as Eleanor felt, he would have been a tremendous President, but he was no campaigner!
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:21pm EST
The Chive: I definitely had an agenda of women's empowerment, but it would have been hard to make Eleanor more than she was, as she was such a truly extraordinary woman and leader. I would say the hardest part was coming up with credible, interesting storylines that created tension. Since Ike won so easily in reality, and I knew people would think he'd easily beat her, i worked to create a storyline that made it hard for readers to know which way it would go. some people have said i succeeded and they're staying up late to see what happens! I found I did some sermonizing in early dialog, but my daughter cured that!
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:17pm EST
Richard, that's an interesting point. I'll go back and look at that. It was kind of schizophrenic for me as I really wanted to tell the political story but of course I wanted it to have a personal side, and I'd never written either as fiction! I was probably a little more into the political storytelling and my editor wanted more of the other!
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:15pm EST
Hi Dannielle, First, i'm not demonizing Hillary, I'm a big supporter and spent all day yesterday working for her here in Maryland. She can't be blamed for not having what was a very natural empathy that Eleanor got, probably from her terrible childhood. Eleanor could also be withdrawn and sharp with people. But of course, being dead does make it easier to see her as an icon. As to doing everything a president did, she knew that that was not the case. There were many things she wanted FDR to do that he shied away from for political reasons, mostly.
Feb 10, 2008 | comments: 95
Robin Gerber Feb 13, 2008, 4:13pm EST
Oh, can't blame Ariel for that, she helped mostly with dialog. I guess that was just my narrator voice, but in what way did it not 'match' the rest?
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Robin Gerber
Bethesda, Maryland

Persistence, persistence, persistence
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