April 20, 2008

My husband (Ted McMahon) and I make a quick trip to Portland and Eugene for a weekend of readings. As we drove to Portland we went through snow and hail. Several cars had spun off the road just as we drove by. It was wild! In Portland I read at In Other Words to an intimate group. In Eugene, where I lived for many years, we had a great turnout at the University of Oregon Duck Store. I'm told that there were 175 people. The store sold all of their books! I got to see many familiar faces from years past, including Brian and Lynda Lanker (http://www.brianlanker.com) and Duncan and Jane McDonald. It was a really beautiful trip.

April 13, 2008

Five of the women from the book and I flew to New York to be on Good Morning America. We each had makeup applied by the ABC makeup artists and then we were escorted to the set where each woman was positioned in front of a giant enlargement of her photograph from the book. The host, Juju Chung, asked each of us a question--and it was over so quickly, in just four minutes. But it was great to get the national interest in the book. You can see a YouTube of the segment at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TeAZcBddpI

April 9, 2008

I have gotten some very moving emails from women who responded to the reading and to the message of the book. It occurs to me that we are in need of healing in our society. We have had so much talk of war and now talk of a downward spiral in the economy. Isn’t there something good to discuss? My hope is that this book will ignite a spark of something positive to talk about among ourselves.

Here's an excerpt of one:

I checked out the book and I'm buying 3 copies - one for us, one for my sister, and one for my 12 year old niece! It looks wonderful. It comes at a great time, as I just had yet another long talk with S. about real beauty (she's always wishing for white skin....).
I think work like this is very important, and a must see for our girls. Even though our 7th grade girls are sheltered a lot from main-stream media , the disturbing and warped view of 'BEAUTY' in our culture is pervasive. The more we can empower their real sense of what true beauty is the stronger they will be in so many ways.
Thanks so much. L.M. 4/08

April 8, 2008

My first reading of the book was held at the venerable Elliott Bay Book. Co. in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. I didn’t know what to expect. Would 25 people come? One hundred? It turns out that 200 people came to the reading, including many friends and others who had just found out about the book through the Seattle P-I article. I feel so grateful find that there is so much interest in the book. People bought multiple copies for friends and family until the bookstore ran out of books!

April 7, 2008

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran a wonderful story by John Marshall that gave a front section and an inside page to the story about the book. They helped spread the word about the first reading at Elliott Bay Book Co. See the article at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/books/358093_thisiam08.html

April 5, 2008 Book Release Party

We had a huge, beautiful party of about 200 people to celebrate the release of This Is Who I Am. Many of the women in the book were there—with name tags so they could identify each other and sign autographs on their pages. Everyone was a celebrity! We had a jazz trio, chocolates and desserts and pink champagne to toast the incredibly courageous women who participated in the project. Both Alice and Bea (both 95 in the book) came to the party, as did Shonagh’s daughters, Maddie and Serena. It was one of the best parties of my life—filled with joy and smiles and friends. See the link for the party at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECq7yaIheOg