![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cals.org\/arkansasliteraryfestival-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/Mary-Laura-Philpott-222x300.jpg\")
Mary Laura Philpott\u2019s I Miss You When I Blink<\/em> (Simon & Schuster, April 2019) is a memoir-in-essays prompted by her struggle with an identity crisis in the middle of a seemingly \u2018perfect\u2019 life. The author\u2019s wry confessions are sure to bring laughs of recognition from readers. There\u2019s the time Philpott bought that enormous SUV to hold her increasing family. In her words, \u201cI drove it for a decade despite the fact that I couldn\u2019t park it, and regularly crashed it into obstacles and other cars.\u201d On behalf of all those who own ill-designed cars that like to crash themselves against medians, blow their tires, and lose bumpers, three cheers for Mary Laura!<\/p>\nAlong with Philpott\u2019s flair for humor, her essays reveal deeper insights about coming to terms with who we are, or who we might want to be instead. For example, \u201cThe Perfect Murder Weapon\u201d is a humorous look at her own perfectionism that concludes with what seems to be a flippant, breezy question: \u201cI just want everything to be perfect. Is that too much to ask?\u201d But the tongue-in-cheekiness of this aside is followed by an essay called \u201cWonder Woman,\u201d a reflective and touching meditation on the childhood influences that caused Philpott to grow up to be so driven. And those reflections aren\u2019t really comical. Instead, she gently outlines the universal dilemma of parenthood: all dedicated parents want their children to have the qualities that will lead to happiness and success, but in the process of encouraging those qualities, we can accidentally plant seeds that bear less-wholesome fruit in their psyches.<\/p>\n
A blend of whimsy and vulnerability<\/h4>\n
This authorial blend of whimsy and vulnerability is why reviewers apply the word \u201crelatable\u201d to Philpott\u2019s book. And though the word may be maligned by more formal critics, \u201crelatable\u201d is simply shorthand for what is brave and intrinsically sympathetic about this author\u2019s work. It\u2019s not easy to confess one\u2019s own flaws for public examination. But Philpott does so with humor and with the understated lyricism that comes from finding life\u2019s truths in small, poignant moments.<\/p>\n
Philpott knows her book\u2019s soul, and doesn\u2019t shy away from it. \u201cNot everyone loves the word \u2018relatable,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cBut whenever someone says, \u2018This book is so relatable,\u2019 I do love it, because that was the whole point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Publishing a work of this kind involves certain risks known only to autobiographers. Philpott carries her courage so naturally that her reader might not even think about what it means to expose your own personal life stories to Amazon\u2019s reviewers. Writers of fiction may have to read barbed comments about their fictional characters: how much more deeply can criticism cut if a reviewer chooses to criticize an author\u2019s personality?<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cals.org\/arkansasliteraryfestival-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/i-miss-you-when-i-blink-200x300.jpg\")
Facing the risks of self-disclosure<\/h4>\n
Philpott is preparing herself for the imminent challenge of personal reviews as her book releases. \u201cI\u2019m trying to steel myself for that difference\u2014that the main character in this book is me,\u201d Philpott says with good humor. \u201cI work in the book business so I\u2019m constantly reading about other people\u2019s books, and I know how the reviews can go. I\u2019ve sworn not to look at Amazon or Goodreads. It\u2019s tough because if they say, \u201cthis woman is a total pain in the ass,\u201d that\u2019s me. But what I\u2019ve learned in my work is that every book has its readers. A book that I think is perfection, someone else will think is terrible. And other readers will have no reaction at all. Every book can\u2019t be for everyone. What I\u2019m seeing, though, from the first readers of my book is that some parts may bounce off, so the reader is like, \u201cWell, that\u2019s nice, but I don\u2019t feel it. But it catches fire when they hit the part that relates to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Philpott shares an infectious laugh at the thought that lay internet reviewers sometimes don\u2019t realize that, as she says with impish glee, \u201cThe author is also on the internet!\u201d But she has found a way to mentally prepare to receive any potential personal comments. \u00a0\u201cThese stories are small pieces of my life that I\u2019ve chosen to share, so readers are going to be reacting to just the part they\u2019ve seen. And that\u2019s not the same as hanging out with a person and getting to know the whole human being. I could have chosen 30 different stories from my life instead, and those stories would make for a totally different book.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reader reactions and the author-reader bond<\/h4>\n
Philpott sees reader reactions as a gift. \u201cI\u2019ve had early readers respond to the book by confiding their own stories, sometimes in very long and personal emails. And I didn\u2019t really expect that!\u201d she said. \u201cPeople have asked if it\u2019s a burden, but I think it\u2019s an honor. Because what the readers are saying is that they want to respond in a way that is more than just complimenting the book. Instead, they\u2019re saying \u2018your story has now unlocked this story in me, and I want to share it with you to show what your book meant to me.\u2019 And that\u2019s a much more powerful reaction to a book.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the author is very open about her own inner life and her own stories, she was careful with details about other people. \u201cIt\u2019s funny to me that the book is received as exposing a lot,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause the whole time I was writing it, I felt that I was protecting a lot, especially other people\u2019s stories. And with family members, I was very careful not to expose too much. You may have noticed that I didn\u2019t give my children\u2019s names. I used my husband\u2019s name only because it\u2019s John, and people would probably think I made that up anyway!<\/p>\n
Hey, you don’t have this balance thing down!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The increasing self-reliance of her children was one factor that allowed Philpott the time to write this book. \u201cMy kids are teenagers now, and they\u2019re pretty self-contained, which gives me larger chunks of work time,\u201d she said. \u201cI could not have written this book a decade ago, first because I wouldn\u2019t have had the time, but also because I hadn\u2019t processed a lot of this material while I was living through it. Now I\u2019ve had time to reflect on some of these events with more perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
With appealing candor, she describes the other secret of her accomplishment as an author who also has full-time employment and a family\u2014she simply accepts a certain lack of life balance. \u201cI\u2019m kind of a workaholic, so I find time to create something every day,\u201d Philpott said. \u201cIf you saw me up close and followed me for a day, you might say: Hey, you don\u2019t have this balance thing down. Maybe you shouldn\u2019t be standing up at lunch eating that sandwich with one hand and typing with the other.”<\/p>\n
Mary Laura Philpott will breeze into the Arkansas Literary Festival, maybe brandishing a sandwich, to share more humorous insights about rediscovering our lost selves, the creative life, and her adventures in the book world.<\/p>\n
Mary Laura Philpott<\/strong> is the author of the memoir-in-essays I Miss You When I Blink<\/em>. Her writing has been featured in print or online by The New York Times<\/em>, The Washington Post<\/em>, The Los Angeles Times<\/em>, McSweeney\u2019s<\/em>, The Paris Review<\/em>, and other publications. She\u2019s the founding editor of Musing<\/em>, the online publication of Parnassus Books, as well as an Emmy-winning cohost of the show A Word on Words<\/em> on Nashville Public Television. She also wrote and illustrated the humor book Penguins with People Problems<\/em>, a quirky look at the embarrassments of being human. Mary Laura lives in Nashville with her family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Philpott brings her Emmy-award-winning sense of humor to her debut memoir<\/h3>\n
Mary Laura Philpott\u2019s I Miss You When I Blink<\/em> (Simon & Schuster, April 2019) is a memoir-in-essays prompted by her struggle with an identity crisis in the middle of a seemingly \u2018perfect\u2019 life. The author\u2019s wry confessions are sure to bring laughs of recognition from readers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":1060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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