I can’t tell you how psyched I am that the Army Wife Network chose Homefront as their June book club selection. (woohoo!)
I have a feeling Homefront will be a little different from some of the military-spouse-related books the club has read so far. Not because mine is oh-so-special, but because I think I took an uncommon approach.
That’s part of what makes this so exciting. They, the spouses of soldiers, are not my only intended audience, but they’re certainly a very important audience, so I’m interested in their reactions.
Sarah Ikena, who hosts the book club, has invited me to call in to the radio show on Monday (June 8, at around 9:20pm EST) to discuss Homefront and to answer a few questions. She sent me some of them in advance, and I love her for that. I’m possibly the least vocally eloquent person in the country, so the more time I have to think about–not rehearse, but think about–my answers, the less time I’ll spend with my mouth hanging open like Kumar in (the horribly sexist and idiotic) “Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay.”
Most of the questions, at first glance, seemed like they’d be easy to answer. And I guess they could be if I stick with the expected, stock answers, but stock answers are…well…they’re boring. “How are you today?” Stock answer: “Fine!” or “Great!”
I’m not good at being asked “How are you?” There’s rarely a time I don’t stop to think about what to say. Which means some poor person who was just trying to make (dreaded) small-talk is stuck waiting for me to think it through. I don’t do it on purpose; it just happens.
Moving on.
One of the questions: Do you think that there are characteristics that make a good Army wife?
I know the stock answer to this. I’ve seen it on bumper stickers. But is that the real answer?
Another: How much of your book is based on your life?
Mark Welch of WKMS asked me that yesterday, too. More accurately, he asked how much alike Mia and I are. On one hand, I can relate to the natural inclination to assume the narrator is the author. I used to do that until it was drilled into me by a few lit instructors that the author is absolutely not to be confused with the narrator. It took some getting used to.
It seems, though, that people confuse Mia and me more readily than they confuse other authors and their narrators. I’m not sure why.
My uncle and I talked on the phone recently about which passages he’d recommend I choose for a reading, and every time he referred to a passage in which Mia did something or behaved a certain way, he would say “When you,” not “When Mia.”
If you know Mia, you can understand why I’d be uncomfortable with people confusing us.
Anyway. Those questions and more, some of which Ikena said she might not get to in the short time slot, answered on Monday at Army Wife Network’s blog talk radio.
