4. Production headaches of "The Self-Empowed Woman"

Dear Followers,

In an effort to make sure that The Self-Empowered Woman can go on sale in September I've spent the past week carefully rereading every word of the galleys sent to me by Amazon/Booksurge. By noon today (Friday) I was ready to throw all 297 pages out the window in frustration. Three other people proofread the manuscript before Tony and I typed in the last changes and yet on this latest go round I still found things that need to be changed.

This weekend's project will be deciding which mistakes were mine, which were theirs, and which ones don't really have to be altered. This production part of publishing is not nearly as much fun (for either me or for Tony) as the research.

For today's question, what do comedienne Sandra Bernhard, U.S. Olympic Softball Medalist Crystl Bustos, TV and movie writer/director Diane English, and actress Sandra Oh have in common?

One follower suggested that yesterday's women (Czechoslovakian tennis player Martina Hingis, Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector, Canadian singer Anne Murray, and Italian film director Lina Wertmuller) all had lengthy names. Nice try, but no cigar. These achievers were lucky enough to identify their life goal or dream at a young age, which is a trait that can be really beneficial.

I started "dictating" the book on Mother's Day 2008 and finished twelve months later. Compulsive researcher that I am, however, I've continued to collect stories about additional high-achieving women, and now have over 100 additional names (like Sonia Sotomayor) to add to the 238 that already appear in the book.

Your comments are really welcome, and I look forward to our online conversations...

3. The Shared Traits in "The Self-Empowed Woman"

Dear Followers,

So far I've been quizzing you about American women who are high achievers and today I'll answer the first two questions.

Do you know what writer Maya Angelou, comedienne Ellen DeGeneres, singer Gloria Estefan and actress Demi Moore have in common? They all fall under the category of accomplished women who learned - at an early age - that they couldn't depend on Dad. There are countless reasons why a father might be unreliable - death, illness, divorce, distance, you name it. But a lot of admirable women learn that losing a father's support usually brings with it hidden benefits.

(Photo by WNYC)

Do you know what author Judy Blume, actress Geena Davis, TV newswoman Andrea Mitchell, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have in common?

These women (who have each succeeded in areas that seem to have nothing in common) share a love of and involvement with music. I found it amazing that close to the surface of many Self-Empowered Women is an enduring relationship with music, and in my book I explain this connection.

Intrigued? Today I'm going to go abroad and ask you about women from foreign locales. Do you know what Czechoslovakian tennis player Martina Hingis, Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector, Canadian singer Anne Murray, and Italian film director Lina Wertmuller have in common?

The idea here is to convey the idea that when it comes to women of achievement it doesn't really matter where they come from or what they set out to accomplish because they all share certain traits.

One trait I wish I had a better grasp of is the new, high-tech world of e-publishing. This week's main activity has been re-re-re-reading the manuscript for The Self-Empowered Woman so that it can go on sale in September. Meanwhile, poor Tony types my blog at the end of each day and I try not to be like Julie Powell (Julie & Julia) as she wonders if any readers are really out there in cyberspace...