EP: I've tried three times to talk to Yoko, to no avail. I don't think it is going to happen. It is a really interesting project. John is really multi-dimensional, which is fascinating. I wanted to do a bio. On somebody living during the sixties, as I wanted to explore that period of time. I was actually a HUGE George Harrison fan, but his life was about retreat and spiritual enlightenment. John was more contradictory, and his political stuff in the 70's is great material.
9.SR: You are in a critique group named "The Frosters". How vital is this group to you and is it an essential part of any writer's success?
EP: I used to rely heavily on The Frosters for page by page critiquing of my work. Now I rely on them more for a kind of emotional support. I've noticed women tend to be much more involved in crit. Groups then men - seems to be how much you need to share.
10.SR: What was your inspiration behind what you have said is your favorite of your books, "Clara and the Hoodoo Man"?
EP: I loved the cross-over of an old fold remedy into Western medicine (willow bark was used for hundreds of years to bring down fever and to ease pain, it was finally synthesized in German and we aspirin.). Medicine is a continuum, and this was a good example. I also adored the real Clara, and loved to immerse myself in what might have been her life.
11.SR: In an interview for "School Library Journal" you mention that you wish to "make contact with the kids who are full of despair". Why do you think so many of our young people are "full of despair"?
EP:Oh boy. Tough question. Lots of reasons: its tough to grow up in our hyperactive fractured society. Kids are exposed to much more than we like to think.
12.SR: Please complete this sentence.. "My passion(s) is/are......." My husband and two grown boys. I am CRAZY about all of them!
EP: Words - its weird, but I love just the right word. Chocolate. Gardening. People's hands. Seeing the late afternoon light in the fall and spring. So beautifully infused with pink. A gorgeous silver (black and white) print. Being alive. The sheer joy of being alive, the pain of being alive, the wonderful rhythms and seasons and growth we all go through.
