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QUESTIONS FROM READERS

Cathy Lamb answers readers' questions about research, some of the decisions she made regarding the events and characters in JULIA'S CHOCOLATES, and who from the novel she relates to the most.

Diane from Hernando, MS: As a librarian, I wondered if you researched the way story hours really work. Real story hours --- now called story times for the most part --- are really only 30 minutes, usually once a week or several times a week, but with the same books, songs and finger plays. Daily two-hour story times would be exhausting and overwhelming; Julia would not be running a paper route, working on the farm, making chocolates and romancing Stash! Were any librarians consulted? It also greatly bothered me that Julia got the story-time job and was suddenly called a librarian. Librarians are professionals who have hard-earned graduate degrees. Just my personal pet peeve.

Cathy Lamb: Oh, I have researched story hours at libraries. I have three kids. When they were younger, I sometimes felt I lived at the library! Story hours were a favorite. I was also a teacher for over seven years and am quite familiar with how libraries and library time works. Although most libraries run story hours between one and three times a week, Julia chose to have one each day. Wouldn't you rather run a story hour than hang out with Olivia Cutter or shelve books until your brain fried from boredom? As for daily story hours being exhausting and overwhelming, when I was a teacher, I taught lessons from 8:20 in the morning until 3:00, with a break only for lunch and PE/Music. It is not inconceivable that someone could run a story hour each day...and that's what Julia did. She loved books, loved kids and teaching. Julia called herself a librarian because that's what she felt she was, although, you are correct, she did not have the degrees required. 

As for her busy day, yes, Julia was workin' hard. She ran a paper route in the morning that took about two hours, spent four hours at the library, and helped on the farm. She also made chocolates. Eventually she quit the paper route. Unfortunately, many, many millions of Americans put in 60-80 work weeks. Ask a mother, working or at home full-time, how many endless hours she works a week. Julia's work hours are not unusual. Please note, though, she never romanced Stash. She romanced Dean. Stash is fully devoted to the wild and wonderful Aunt Lydia.

Judith from New Lenox, IL: Why did you feel it necessary to use Aunt Lydia in the way that you did? Why not make her a "mother" figure and leave out the clitoris and vagina, et al.? She was the only character who I did not get a feeling for. Every time she opened her mouth, I skimmed the page.

Cathy Lamb: I loved Aunt Lydia. Still do. I did not make her a typical mother figure because that would have been boring. Also predictable. That plot has been done eight million times. Aunt Lydia needed to be different. She needed to be the complete opposite of Julia. Lydia is a free-thinking, independent, strong, original, charismatic, eccentric woman who does her own thing, lives her own life, thinks her own thoughts, takes no crap, and doesn't need anyone to approve of her. She's out there, for sure. Who would be interested in a story with flat, repetitive characters, anyhow? Not me. Plus, Julia did not need a mother, she needed an Aunt Lydia.

I am hoping that readers see past the humor of Breast Power Night and Getting To Know Your Vagina Psychic Night and see what it really stands for: healing. Healing all the hurts and grief and fears that life throws at you under the safety and love and laughter of a group of girlfriends.

Judith from New Lenox, IL: As the spouse of a recovering alcoholic and a person who really understood Katie, I felt you should have left the comment about alcoholism being a disease alone. Red flags went up when I read that. I am one of the very fortunate ones whose husband went to AA and turned his life around. I DO believe that it is a disease and the American Medical Association agrees with this.

Cathy Lamb: For those of you who haven't read JULIA'S CHOCOLATES, Lara says, "Letting alcoholics claim they have a disease let's them off the hook. It forces their families to feel sorry for them instead of kicking them out into the street. I've seen people with real diseases and they did not find their disease, they did not bring their disease on themselves, by willfully drinking their way through thousands of bottles of liquor over a period of years. The only disease the alcoholics have is the disease of weakness and selfishness." The other characters --- Aunt Lydia, Caroline and Julia --- clearly agree with Lara.

First off, congratulations to your spouse for conquering his addiction. And, more so, congratulations to you. I am sorry for what you went through. I'm sure it provided for some very, very tough years.

Please, remember that Lara is a character in a novel. She can say what she wants. Actually, she says what I want her to say, but that's a different story. I knew what Lara said would be controversial. And that's okay. People have a right to their own opinions, and if what Lara said sparks discussion, frankly I think it's a discussion we need to have.

Mary from Huntington Beach, CA: I have a group of readers that I am sharing this book with, and we have other authors join us for web chats. Would you be interested in joining us?

Cathy Lamb: I don't know how to do this, but I would be willing to...

Rosalie from New Boston, TX: Why was it necessary to be so graphic about the body parts in the get-togethers? I wish you could have done that differently. I am in many women's groups and treasure our friendships. However, we would never do anything like that --- nakedness --- with each other. How do you think that enhances your book or the women's relationships? Do you really think women need to do things like that to get in touch with each other?

Cathy Lamb: I understand that many women would not fling off their shirts or pull off their pants in a dark room lit by candles to further bond their friendships. But just because we wouldn't do it ourselves, we can learn from these women. The whole point to these scenes is to see the healing and friendship and laughter and tears of these women. The scenes weren't written to be graphic, but to show an avenue that these women used to make themselves whole. Do you ever go through your day and realize that you didn't have a "real" conversation all day? Perhaps you haven't had a "real" conversation in months because you've been too busy. You know, one of those conversations where people are honest and upfront, where they share problems and secrets and sadnesses and funny moments? We miss out on those conversations so often in the busyness of our lives and we're the poorer for it. 

With all of these evenings that Julia and Company have together, they have honest conversations, with each other and with themselves. They're often painful. The women cry. The goal is to find the power within themselves, to find their own self-truths, their own strengths, their own answers by baring themselves --- emotionally and physically. That's how those scenes enhance the book. How dull to write women's fiction and simply re-create a scene where women are sitting around dumping out their souls. We've seen that. We've read it a hundred times. We've watched it on the movie screen already. As an author, I needed to do something different --- to show friendships evolving when women get down to the very, very basics of their lives, literally and figuratively.

And, no, I don't think women need to strip to be close. I have many close girlfriends, and I don't take my clothes off. But, like everyone else, I wouldn't mind more truth in my life. More honest conversations. More healing.

Sandy from Macon, GA: Your compassion for the victims of abuse is compelling. Is there a reason for the strong insights that you share in your portrayal of your characters?

Cathy Lamb: I'll just be honest off the top since many people have asked the question, subtly and not so subtly, about whether or not I have been abused.

No. Never.

I had an idyllic childhood. Wonderful parents. Three siblings. My brother was sort of bratty, but I'm passed that. I ran around outside a lot, my mother loved my oddness, my father thought kids should be allowed to be themselves, my husband's nice to me. (I even adored his sweet mother.) I was, however, as mentioned above, a teacher. I saw several kids who had been horribly affected by abuse. Those cases have never left my head. I have also been affected by friends' journeys in some difficult marriages/divorces, the constant media attention to the realties of rampant domestic violence, and abused children's plights in this country.

Sandy from Macon, GA: What's coming next?

Cathy Lamb: I am writing a story called "Suzanna's Stockings," which is part of an anthology called COMFORT AND JOY and headlined by the amazing New York Times bestselling author, Fern Michaels. It's coming out in November of 2007. Suzanna is in a coma, but her spirit gets to fly around and about the town. She learns some hard truths about people, her life, her relationships, and herself.

Sue from Tenafly, NJ: Which of the characters in the book do you most relate to?

Cathy Lamb: Katie Margold. Not because of the alcoholic husband, but because she is working so hard all the time --- kids, work, housework. I remember when my children were younger and how overwhelmed I would get under the crush of diapers and temper tantrums and laundry and work and everything else. Katie feels like the "woman" in her has been knocked right out. I get that. When my kids were younger, I missed the fun, zippy gal I used to be, the one who had dreams and plans and time to imagine and think and travel and drink coffee all by herself. Although I loved my children dearly, I didn't feel like a real woman anymore. I felt like a pack horse who was slipping off a cliff because the workload was too heavy.

I also relate to Lara and feeling trapped and feeling that somehow you got off on the wrong track and desperately want to get back on the right one and do something artistic. I relate to Julia and her self-esteem issues, and I relate to Caroline and wanting to disappear. Aunt Lydia's my wild side.

Tommi from Keysville, VA: Do you like chocolate and baking?

Cathy Lamb: I love chocolate. I cook simple, simple dinners, or serve already-made dinners, and rarely bake. I leave that to my daughters, who love it. I don't particularly like cooking or baking.

Tommi from Keysville, VA: What inspired/inspires you to write?

Cathy Lamb:I would rather lose my left arm than stop writing. I love it. I have this conservative little life in suburbia. I'm a wife and mother and school volunteer, and I attend church regularly. And then I have this free-flowing, whacked-out imagination that just goes and goes, and I have to write the stories in my head on paper. I am easily entertained by my own thoughts and spend much of each day daydreaming.  Then those daydreams have to be stuffed into a coherent story and transferred to paper. Plus, I'm lazy. I have to be a writer because I could never again work an 8:00-5:00 job. The structure would drive me insane. 

I get inspiration from people I meet, cities I visit, relationships I have --- both good and bad, newspaper articles, cupcakes, bold and gritty conversations, blue jays, loneliness, my bird feeder, chickens, Yellowstone National Park, the beach, art, cinnamon, my sisters, politics, coffee, the San Juan Islands, grief, sadness, funny moments, hiking, photography....everything.

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