St. Louis

I just returned to the hotel after a wonderful time at the St. Louis County Library, and I thank Tess, Jim, all the librarians, Barnes & Noble for selling The Silver Boat, and all the readers who came out to see me. It is humbling and moving to be on book tour, far from home and cats, and to be so kindly greeted and embraced.  From the minute I stepped off the plane and met lovely author escort Elaine Bly (at left,) I felt the warmth of St. Louis.

I stopped into Tami Scott's wonderful studio for hair and makeup on my way to KPLR afternoon news for an interview  with Melanie Moon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were many memorable moments tonight.  The crowd was great, and as always, I felt so happy to meet my readers.  I love the Q&A part of each evening.  Tonight people spoke about their mothers, their sisters, their own dreams of writing.   Meeting each person was meaningful in its own way...I always enjoy the moment when signing a book, when we can look into each other's eyes and say a few words.  Sometimes tears are shed, and tonight was one of those times.

Special thanks to some Facebook friends who came a long way to see me.  I marvel at the fact that these women have become true friends of mine.  First I spotted Nancy Duckworth Coombs in the audience.  (From left, Nancy's daughter Liz Coombs Bouley, Nancy, and me.)

 

 

 

 

 

Later, when Susan Kellogg King asked after my cats, I recognized her--and her mother, Sharon Teagarden-King sitting beside her--from their Facebook photos.

(From left Susan, Nancy, Sharon, and me.)

Nancy, Sharon, and Susan and I share a New England--particularly Newport--connection.  The Kings (including Don) brought me a shell-covered box of Second Beach sand.  I'll treasure it!  Most of all they, and Nancy, and my other readers brought me love and support, and for that I'm so thankful.  It's hard to know everyone's name, but checking my Facebook fan page right now I see Kelly Berkley Ramsey and Liza Bascom have posted.  Sorry if I've left anyone out!

The St. Louis County Library is an extraordinary place--they have readings nearly every night:  Mary and Carol Higgins Clark, Nathaniel Philbrick, and James Stewart this week alone.  I'm honored to be among their company...as well as the company of so many wonderful readers, librarians, and booksellers.

The weather was dramatic.  During my breaks I loved watching the light change over the city, the Mississippi River, and the Gateway.  Here is the view from my window just before I left for the library:

 

With Love to Librarians and Booksellers

Now that The Silver Boat is on sale, I have the pleasure of being on book tour, meeting readers along the way. I had a great kick-off event at R. J. Julia Booksellers in Madison CT.  R.J. Julia has supported my novels since the early days, and I'm incredibly grateful.  They took a chance on me relatively early in my career, promoting my novels and asking me to read.  

There have been other constant supports along the way.  The Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library in Old Lyme CT is one--every summer for many years, whenever I had a new novel out, librarian Mary Fiorelli would create a wonderful, imaginative event--I would read or give a talk, sometimes by the fireplace in the library's wonderful reading room, surrounded by paintings done by American impressionists, members of the Old Lyme art colony.

Writing a novel is its own kind of magic.  But the enchantment goes to a new level once the book is in the hands of a reader.  I'm so grateful to all the booksellers and librarians who have helped bring me and my readers together.  It's incredible teamwork all around.  I would love if you'd leave a comment here, telling us about your own favorite bookstores and libraries.

I'll be appearing in Charleston SC at the Post & Courier Book and Author Luncheon on April 21st.  Between now and then I'll be guest-blogging, doing radio and TV interviews, including Better TV--my segment airs tomorrow, 4/13; please check their website to find out where you can see it in your area.

After Charleston, my book tour will take me out west.  I'd love to see you!  Thank you in advance to all the wonderful book people hosting me and coming out for The Silver Boat.

Madison, CT                          R.J. Julia / 7:00pm                                                              Friday, April 8

New York, NY                       Barnes & Noble (Upper East side)/ 7:00pm         Monday, April 11

San Francisco, CA             Belmont Library / 7:00pm                                               Tuesday, April 26

San Diego, CA                       Warwick’s / 7:30pm                                                            Thursday, April 28

Los Angeles, CA                   LA Times Festival of Books                                             April 30 / May 1

St. Louis, MO                        St. Louis County Library / 7:00pm                             Thursday, May 5

 

 

Dear Readers...

Dear Readers,  

Happy April!  I hope this note finds you well.  My windows are open to the sounds of birds flying north, and I am so ready to kick off my shoes and take a long walk on the beach.  My new novel, The Silver Boat, comes out on April 5, and I'm really excited to be telling you about it.

It's about three sisters who reunite for the first time since their mother’s death.  They gather on Martha’s Vineyard, at their beloved childhood home, each of them facing big decisions.  I write about the sisters' relationships, their complicated love, and a family secret that will send them to Ireland in search of their father.

http://luannerice.net/2011/02/the-silver-boat/

I would love if you visited my website for news, stories, blog posts, or just to say hello.

 

You'll find The Silver Boat at your local bookseller...and it is available for pre-order now:

 

Barnes and Noble:   http://bit.ly/fhsnqr

 

Amazon.com:   http://amzn.to/fvPKRP

 

Indiebound: http://bit.ly/gqYt6j

 

I'm very thankful for all your support, and send wishes for a wonderful spring to you and your family.

 

Love,

Luanne

PS. That's Maisie, my youngest cat, proofreading the letter.

Excerpt from THE SILVER BOAT (and Reading Group Guide for Book Clubs)

To celebrate spring, I’m sharing a sneak peek at the first few pages of my new novel, The Silver Boat. Since it comes out on April 5, it seems only fitting. Happy spring, everyone!

Read More

Lunch and a Novel

Are you free for lunch?

 

I've donated "Lunch with the Author," a signed copy of The Silver Boat, and the chance to have a character named for you in my next novel, to the most wonderful event: Bid to Save the Earth: Christie's Green and Runway to Green Auction. Just click on the link to place your bid...

The auction benefits four environmental charities, including  NRDC--Natural Resources Defense Council--the amazing organization  that does so much to protect our planet...  I'm a member of NRDC and feel so proud of the work they do.

About that lunch.  I'd love to meet you at one of my favorite restaurants: the Red Cat in New York City,

 

 

 

 

or, if you'd prefer to meet in LA, Shutters on the Beach (my all time favorite beachside hotel and restaurant)

 

 

 

 

 

 

or Ivy at the Shore (shown at the top, the terrace cascading with bougainvillea.)  Bring a friend if you'd like; we can talk about books, writing, life, inspiration, wildlife, the sea, the earth, ways we can help...

Please check out the details, as well as the auction itself and other incredible items (go flying with Harrison Ford, meet Lady Gaga in Miami, sit courtside at a Knicks game with Jay-Z, attend opening night at the Metropolitan Opera in a box for eight, or take a tennis lesson with John McEnroe, among many other tempting .)

And I really hope we can have lunch!

First Copy of The Silver Boat (out April 5)

Today at Shutters I received the first copy of The Silver Boat, and I am thrilled, and it seems so appropriate to have had my first look right here, because this is a place I really enjoy writing.

So many thanks to Pamela Dorman Books/Viking and the wonderful team that created my book.  Many talented people are involved in every aspect of production.

Pam is a genius publisher and editor.  Not only that, she is a close friend.  We started off together long ago; she was my editor for Crazy in Love and several other titles, and we are overjoyed to be working together again.  When I somehow managed to e-mail her my thanks while jumping for joy, she wrote back: "I love it, too, and for us all, it has been a labor of pure pleasure."

Pam and her team have made the hardcover truly beautiful; it feels like a gift, turning the pages, seeing another new and wonderful thing.  The typeset, the frontispiece,the title page, the luminous cover.

How fitting to be seeing this at Shutters.  This is my favorite hotel, and I often come here to write.  The Silver Boat is set on Martha's Vineyard and in Ireland, connected by the Atlantic Ocean.  It is wonderful to be seeing the first copy while gazing out the window at the Pacific.

Sometimes I write in the lobby, other times on the balcony.  When in the sun I wear my lucky cap with this logo:

Right now, because the sun is just starting to go down, I think I'll put on my cap and read The Silver Boat outside, in a cozy wicker chair...

Silver Boat Audio

I am so happy that Blair Brown will be reading THE SILVER BOAT for audio. Blair has read many of my books-on-tape (I mean CD) and I love the warmth and wisdom in her voice.  We live near each other, so I get to experience her wonderfulness first-hand.  Aside from her incredible film work, and her iconic TV show, THE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF MOLLY DODD, she is a Tony Award-winning actor.  Whenever she appears on or off-Broadway, I attend the play and am always amazed by her deep and true performances.

A few years back Blair starred with Jill Clayburgh in  The Clean House, by Sarah Ruhl.  The set was magical, an orchard, the interior of a house, dream-like.  Blair was transcendent as ever, and it is moving to remember seeing her perform with Ms. Clayburgh.  

Both New Yorkers, we first met in Pasadena, California, where she was filming FOLLOW THE STARS HOME.  I was so excited by that; I never imagined our connection would continue through so many audio books.

THE SILVER BOAT audio will be released the same day as the novel, April 5, 2011.

The Writeaholic’s Blog “First Year Tally”

Here is a post from The Writeaholic's Blog.

Luanne discusses "the first year" of her first novel.

In the post, Aheila, the Writeaholic talks about previous posts by Luanne, and the release of her new book, The Silver Boat. Visit The Writeaholic's Blog daily for updated posts, and writing articles.

Thank you to Mike O'Gorman for filming and posting.

In Mother Words, part 1 (Photo: The Geffen Playhouse's dazzing courtyard)

It started with a phone call.  Actually, it began with love... Joan Stein called me.  She said that she and Susan Rose Lafer were putting together IN MOTHER WORDS, a show about motherhood, and would I consider telling a story about being a stepmother?

Because the request came from Joan, I didn't even hesitate.  We have been great friends for many years, since she discovered my second novel and produced CRAZY IN LOVE for TNT.  We clicked instantly, over that story of three generations of mothers and daughters, and have shared the joys and sorrows of each other's lives ever since.  The photo shows her giving an interview about IN MOTHER WORDS on NPR, and totally captures her warmth and enthusiasm.

Joan knew I love my three stepchildren and thought I might draw on experience to tell my story.  I decided to focus on M, my beautiful and amazing stepdaughter, who provides love, humor, and pathos at every turn.  A girl after my own heart.  She is a walking/talking Greek Tragedy with romantic comedy undertones.  I adore her.

I've gotten to know the lovely and dynamic Susan Rose Lafer, and to feel her deep support and belief.  She and Joan conceived of IN MOTHER WORDS and have been passionate about the project since the beginning.  Their devotion to the work has been so inspiring and heartening.  It's amazing, as a writer, to feel so backed by such great women.

Lisa Peterson, brilliant director, joined the project at the start.  Under Lisa's guidance, I wrote and shaped my monologue, MY ALMOST FAMILY.  She is kind, precise, open, and has an eagle eye for the right word, the wrong word, the necessary, the extraneous.  I have learned so much from Lisa.

I've met and worked with many of my fellow writers during workshops in New York.  We are: Leslie Ayvazian, David Cale, Jessica Goldberg, Beth Henley, Lameece Issaq, Lisa Loomer, Michele Lowe, Marco Pennette, Lisa Ramirez, Theresa Rebeck, Luanne Rice, Annie Weisman and Cheryl L. West.  I revere these playwrights, have attended so many of their plays.  We have true treasures, theater icons, writers of heart and soul among us.  To be part of their company is humbling.

Here's the great thrill: IN MOTHER WORDS will open at the Geffen Playhouse on February 23, 2011; previews begin on February 15.  To have written, trimmed, experimented, listened to our pieces read back to us, cut here, added there this last year or so, has been a glowing time for me: a slice of life in the theater.  Can you imagine how I've longed for that, dahling?  I moved to NYC when I was young, and Brendan Gill, drama critic of the New Yorker, became my mentor.  He taught me that going to plays, for a writer or anyone who dreamed of more, was as necessary to life as breathing.  I believe that to my bones.

We got the word just before the holidays: IN MOTHER WORDS would be opening at the Geffen Playhouse in LA in February.  When Janice Paran, our fairy godmother/dramaturg asked for character descriptions to give the theater, I knew this was really happening.

The Geffen Playhouse has special meaning to me.  I've attended many shows there and find it one of the most charmed, magical theaters in the world.   From the minute you walk through the warmly lit courtyard, you know you are entering another world.  Their productions are fantastic, and I never leave the theater without losing myself in the play's realm, left my own life for ninety stunning minutes.

I began this note with "love."  Love is all over this production.  In my own piece for M.  In all the monologues, the threads of motherhood, parenthood, new babies, old grandmothers, weave together into a tapestry of love.  More than anything, I wish my mother were alive, so I could take her opening night.  She was a writer, had a play produced in her youth, and--perhaps because of the times in which we lived--gave up her own art to raise three daughters.  So much of what I do is inspired by MY mother's words.

Please come to the Geffen and see our show.  You'll definitely laugh, and you'll probably cry, but isn't that what happens when you sit in the dark and immerse yourself in a show that reveals the truth about real, true, extraordinary, singular, ineffable, surprising, unending love?  The photo at the top of this page shows the Geffen's enchanting courtyard...how can you deny yourself an LA night of theater, beneath the twinkling lights and amongst the stars?

I haven't even told you the cast!  Click on the links to see...

(With M and her son in Connecticut)

(M at an early reading of IN MOTHER WORDS.)

(This is Part 1 because Part 2 is sure to follow...)

Advice To Young Writers

Luanne Rice, author of 29 novels, shares some of the methods that have made her such a successful writer.

Luanne Rice's Shark Video

New York Times bestselling author, Luanne Rice, tells of her chance encounter with a Shark.

Geometry of Sisters

Geometry of Sisters is out in paperback, and I'm so happy to revisit the characters Beck, Travis, Pell, and Lucy. They, and this novel where they first began, are very dear to my heart. Two sets of sisters converge at boarding school in Newport, Rhode Island, each lost in her own way. A reader recently wrote me, "I just read Geometry of Sisters and loved it—your descriptions of Beck's relationship with math totally blew me away." I so appreciate that she "got it." Because Beck and Lucy use geometry with such creative, magical logic—to try to regain what they most love.

Pell and Travis have no need of geometric help to find first love, forbidden by the school, but how do you stop a freight train?

Beck and Travis's mother Maura has been long estranged from her sister Katharine. There's almost nothing worse or more unthinkable, and writing their scenes both touched something painful in my heart and made me believe in possibility and goodness.

It's strange, because although I didn't love math in school, I felt something about geometry. The spatial plane, invisible connections. Researching this novel, I rediscovered the poetry and beauty of geometry. Don't think of it as math; think of it as a set of equations leading to love.

If you enjoy the characters in this novel, please read their continuing story in The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners...