What are some ways that you like to relax?
I love to travel. I love to read. But my relaxation oasis is our backyard hot tub/spa. Summer heat or winter snow, I use it almost every day when I’m at home.
What authors do you think are overlooked in the writing/reading world today?
People who focus on the world, such as Nicholas Kristoff. I’ve heard people say, “Oh, he just writes op-ed for newspapers.” He does do that, for The New York Times—and, I might add, he does it well—but he also writes books and is the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes. Here’s what I love about his writing: he writes about human rights abuses and social injustice in a most compelling and heart-wrenching way. Several times now he has chosen one young journalist to go with him to some part of the world and learn from a master journalist. Oh, I wish he would ask me to go along!
What author would you most like to meet and why?
John Grisham because I have an emotional tie to him. Several years ago, on a flight over to India, I read his book The Testament. In one passage, the main character Nate contracts malaria. A few nights after I arrived in India, I awoke in the middle of the night drenched in sweat and shaking with chills. In my befuddled mind, I remembered Nate’s symptoms and knew I had malaria. I was in a remote area with no one around but my sleeping husband, so I did my best to stumble through the night following Nate’s survival plan. I would like to meet John Grisham and say, “Thank you for writing so clearly and accurately that even through hallucinations, I knew what to do that night. Thank you for making a fictional character so real that the natural thing was to follow his example.”
Do you have any upcoming projects that you would like to share with readers?
More fiction is in the works. I can’t say too much about it yet, but here’s a clue: Think Kinsey Millhone meets Indiana Jones. Stay tuned!
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