Q: The Ya-Yas have made you a world-wide celebrity. What has been the biggest change in your life following the phenomenal success of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood?
A: Whoa! I don't feel like a celebrity. It was just a gigantic relief to know I'd be able to pay the mortgage each month. It was wild to watch the book take off in a way I'd never dreamed. It was overwhelming because at the same time my work was becoming successful, I became ill with what I now know is Lyme disease. The biggest change is that I now realize that anything can happen at anytime. I now understand that the things I always thought I could depend on can crash in an instant. And, because of the love that I have been shown, I have begun to comprehend what it means to be "beloved." Illness is my teacher. No breath can be taken for granted. I have also been deeply affected by this administrations's murderous war in Iraq. I am saddened by it on a daily basis.
Q: You grew up in Louisiana, and all three of your books have dealt with that state and the Walker family and friends. What first prompted you to create the Ya-Yas? Are they based on real women you knew or your own childhood?
A: I was raised in an atmosphere of fabulous Louisiana characters, stories, food, music, and partying. It's my inheritance as a writer. In the tiny kingdom of bayous and cotton fields where I grew up, among a huge extended family, with parents whose friends were too numerous to count, and an African Amercian woman who was my "second Mama," the stage was set for me as a writer.
I left all that and moved away to study Language and Consciousness with Trunpa Rimpoche and Alan Ginsberg at the Naropa Institute. I left all that to become an fledling actress in New York. I'm an expatriate Louisiana writer living in the Pacific Northwest. I think I created the Ya-Yas not because I had a group of girlfriends like them, but because I wanted a group of girlfriends like them!
Q: Great food and fine spirits are all part of the Ya-Ya approach to enjoying life. Talk about the food, please! Do you cook? Where did the dishes you discuss originate? What are some of your favorites?
A: I love chicken and shrimp gumbo, with tons of fresh okra. I do a decent job of cooking it, but nothing compared to my mother. Everyone I grew up around was a fabulous cook. I ate crayfish etouffee, red beans and rice. When I was in college at LSU in Baton Rouge,we would go down to the shrimp boats and buy shrimp for 17 cents a pound! Louisiana food was not all chi-chi then. I will never get over biscuits dripping with homemade butter and mayhaw jelly, made from mayhaw berries that were the most beautiful shade of pink.
Q: Imbibing alcohol — from bourbon to rum — is also part of a great Southern tradition. And so is alcoholism. Is there anything about Southern culture that leads to "self-medication" with alcohol... and in particular why do the Ya-Yas "overindulge"?
A: Imbibing alcohol is not simply part of a "great" Southern tradition; it is part of a "great" American tradition! (And I question the use of the modifier "great.") Alcoholism is rampant in this entire country. The Ya-Yas grew up in a time, in a culture that did its best to trim back their spirits. The Catholic church wanted them to be pure as snow. The Culture of Southern Ladyhood wanted them to be calm,, collected, and without opinion. Alcohol was the natural and socially acceptable way for these vital women to try to anesthetize their pain and frustration. I feel nothing but compassion and admiration for them in their struggle and in their bravery.
Q: Although your new book, Ya-Yas in Bloom, still has some darker elements, including a kidnapping, it is very much a celebration of family as well as sisterhood. What sets this book apart from the other two? Does it reflect a change in your own internal or emotional life?
A: I think Ya-Yas in Bloom is a more tender book. Illness -- and the love and forgiveness I have been given have taught me about the need for tenderness. Now I know more deeply that we all need more compassion and kindness than this fast, consumer-driven world encourages. Life is not easy. It is filled with pain. It is also filled with joy and moments of rapture. You can be standing in line at the grocery store and see a mother with three little kids. She looks like she has her hands full, and you might offer to help. But she turns to you and says calmly, "Thank you, but everything's fine." And all of a sudden, you realize how beautiful this raggedy life really is.
Q: Which character do you feel changes the most in the course of Ya-Yas in Bloom? What, in particular, is the catalyst for the change in him or her?
A: Vivi's youngest child, Baylor Walker, undergoes a big change. He steps out of the Southern manhood role he was raised in, and chooses love over fear. His love for his children and his willingness to suspend judgment on Necie's racist husband, George, mark his transition to a deeper consciousness and a mature wisdom. Baylor was born a sensitive soul, but toward the end of the book, he confronts the culture of guns and killing and terror and gains wisdom.
Q: Some of your most beautiful stories in this novel involve the "miracle" of snow in the deep South and stars or stardust. These stories involve the positive impact of Nature on people, rather than the course of human events. Are you saying that Nature is restorative or healing?
A: Nature, in her ever-changing beauty, reminds us that everything changes, nothing remains the same. That hope itself is inside a seed. We plant the seed in the spring and when autumn comes and the darkness descends, nature reminds us through the burst of color in the dying leaves that all kinds of things are happening. Underground there is life, coursing, growing. If we have faith, we don't dig up the seed to see how it is doing; we leave it there and trust that all the forces that make it grow are doing their jobs. Nature reminds us that we are in a continuous cycle of birth, death, and resurrection.
Q: Writing does seem to be fun for you — and akin to a performance in the energy that buzzes on the page. Tell us about your act of creation. Do you have a whole story in your head before you start or does it just unfold as you’re writing? Do you write every day? Do you write quickly? Do you read aloud chapters in progress with anyone else? Share with us please.
A: Like most everything in life, writing is sometimes sheer pleasure; sometimes it is pure hell. I come to writing from hearing great stories as a child in Louisiana, where the mark of a person was his or her ability to be a raconteur. I also come as a professional actor. So I see the scenes and hear the voices as I write. Each book is different. I created Ya-Yas in Bloom working mainly at night because that is when I had the most energy. You learn to take it where you can get it. I don't know if I would be able to write a novel without the hands-on support of my husband.
Q: Sometimes an author strongly identifies with one of the book’s characters. Vivi is a major voice in all the Ya-Ya novels. Yet so is Sidda. Does any character in this work speak with your voice
A: I believe that every character speaks with some aspect of myself. When the creative juices flow, I'm invited to write in many different voices. When I claim the goodness, evil, craziness, and calm within myself, I am able write in various voices, suspending judgement. I love writing in different voices. It's like going to foreign countries as an open-minded adventurer, not a tourist. These days, when the world seems so polarized, I think it is especially important to be able to write from the point of view of those who do not share our values and beliefs.
Q: Would you talk about the title of this book? What do you mean by Ya-Yas in Bloom? Does "bloom" mean they’re aging, or something else? Are there any literary or hidden meanings?
A: The Ya-Yas, like all of us, are in bloom -- or about to bloom. Our roots are deep in the earth and we reach up to the heavens, whether we know it or not. Humans' lives are so much more like flowers, trees, plants, and animals than we realize. Recently I was looking at a drawing of the "bronchial tree" of the human body, and for the first time understood that yes, I have a tree inside me! Trees, humans, sheep -- we are all cousins. That’s one of the reasons it breaks my heart and when I witness the destruction of this fragile planet.
Q: And speaking of literary allusions, which authors have inspired you? What books have you read recently?
A: I have been inspired by Walker Percy, Flannery O'Connor, Pat Conroy, the South African playwright Athol Fugard, J.D. Salinger, and all the books my mother read to me when I was a little girl. Lewis Hyde's work, The Gift, remains a guide to me as an artist in a consumer society. These days I am re-reading these very writers for deeper inspiration. The past few days, I've been slowly re-reading A Gathering of Old Men (which I consider a masterpiece) by the Louisiana writer Ernest Gaines I'm also reading books on pesticides and MCS (Multi-Chemical Sensitivity) because I suffer from pesticide poisoning -- probably from fitness walking in cotton fields while crop dusters sprayed their toxic substances. I'm always reading abstracts on Lyme disease, and after I'm worn out from that, I turn to the poets Czeslaw Milosz and W. S. Merwin, and the Jesuit writer Henri Nouwen. Artists in Times of War by Howard Zinn is on my bedside table.
Q: The performing arts figure hugely in your books. The Ya-Yas sing and dance their way from first page to last. Sidda becomes a director. How important do you feel creative expression is in the development of young women’s lives? How can we better foster it?
A: Creative expression is as important as oxygen! In fact, the two are
inextricably linked. What better workout for the body than singing and dancing every day?! Even if we aren’t blessed with the stamina or health for full-tilt boogey singing and dancing, we can hum or dance in our chairs. Our bodies want to! Start singing "This Little Light of Mine" right now and see if you don’t feel better. Go on, try it! For the sheer joy! We can foster this in young people by not being afraid to "make a fool" of ourselves. Being a fool is vastly underestimated. Embolden people of all ages to sing and dance. Do not dare let the corporate culture relegate creative expression to the "professionals" or "celebrities." We are our own stars.
Q: Although the Ya-Ya books take place in Thornton, Louisiana, and Southern culture plays a major part, the Ya-Yas have touched a familiar chord in women around the globe. Ya-Ya groups have sprung up everywhere. What in your writing is so universal? Why have millions of women responded on an emotional level to it?
A: Women are hungry for sisterhood. People are starving for community, sisterhood and brotherhood. "Only connect." We long to deliberately slow down, to take time for long, lazy afternoons with friends, shootin' the breeze on the front porch or in front of the fireplace. We need to say "no" to the driveness of a consumerist culture long enough to be creatively idle. We need the warmth and intimacy of friendship; we want to know we are not alone. Not only women and girls, but all of us want this. The Ya-Yas remind us that such community is positive, fun, and possible.
Q: Is it the final installment of the Ya-Ya story, or do you envision more
books?
A: Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I definitely hope to write more Ya-Ya books. The universe of the Ya-Yas has a million tales, and somebody has to tell them! I'm especially interested in the lives of the Petites Ya-Yas. Coming from such a rich, complicated heritage, these children of the Ya-Yas are bound to have complex lives. I'm also eager to write more about the men in the Ya-Ya universe. The state of Louisiana -- both geographically and as a state of mind -- is of great interest to me. The character of Genevieve, Teensy's mother, intrigues me, and I anticipate exploring her life more fully.
Q: It came to light during the publication of this book last year that you were suffering from Lyme disease, how are you doing now?
A: I am blessed to be so much better in some aspects of Lyme. I'm still struggling with others. Advanced chronic neurological Lyme takes a long time to manage. My illness went undiagnosed for at least eight years, if not much longer. Lyme is an insidious disease that desperately needs legislation to create research money. Cases have been reported in every state except Montana, and it is growing rapidly. Just after Christmas, my best girlfriend was diagnosed. Now we're both "Lymettes," as we call ourselves -- not something we aspired to. These days my biggest problem is extreme light sensitivity. Sunlight is painful to my eyes. I miss the light on the trees, on this sweet Earth.
Q: What is your prognosis?
A: My doctors tell me I have every reason to believe that I will get much, much better in time. Patience is the virtue I pray for each day.
Q: How did the illness change the process of writing for you?
A: Before I started treatment, on my weakest days, I was unable to lift my hands to type. My husband would hold a tape recorder for me so I could talk scenes that were in my imagination. On some days, I could not walk. My husband would lift me out of my wheelchair and into my writing chair. I could only write about 20 minutes, always at night. I learned to humble myself to limitations of enegry, and I learned to be grateful that even though my body was so sick, my imagination was still very much alive. I consider Ya-Yas in Bloom to be my "miracle baby."
Q: How many hours a day can you work?
A: Now my stamina is incredibly improved. I can sit at my computer for three to four hours a day, taking breaks to stretch, rest, walk around the house, play with my dog, have tea with my husband. I still must write with gloves on, and a heat lamp directed at my hands because my fingers are so freezing cold from peripheral neuropathy, a neurological condition that often plagues Lyme patients. I am looking for some long purple kid gloves so I'll feel a bit more "Ya-Ya" while working. If anyone knows a good dressy glove site, please let me know!
Q: How long did it take to complete the book?
A: It took years for me to accept that I couldn't sustain the 10-12 hours a day of writing that I used to do. The frustration of that got in the way of working. Once I accepted the little packets of energy I was being given, the book moved fairly quickly, and I completed it in a year and a half. But before that happened, I had to face the need to radically accept my situation and let creativity come through my scrawny, sick body whenever and for however long my little "temple of the Holy Spirit" could handle it.
