Just wanted to throw out there that I’ll be posting an interview with Esther Perel, author of Mating in Captivity, next week sometime. Stay tuned!

And on my pile of books to muse on next is one with the longest and most kick-ass subtitle ever–Suzanne Braun Levine and Mary Thom’s Bella Abzug: How One Tough Broad from the Bronx Fought Jim Crow and Joe McCarthy, Pissed Off Jimmy Carter, Battled for the Rights of Women and Workers, Rallied against War and for the Planet and Shook Up Politics Along the Way–and another by a Woodhull alum that sounds like just what I need right about now, On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl’s Guide to Personal Finance by Manisha Thakor and Sharon Kedar.

And do keep an eye out for some guest posting in this space from some of the incredibly talented women taking my Making It Pop bloginar…Coming soon!

Those lines I posted from Rebecca Solnit the other day (from her book A Field Guide to Getting Lost) generated additional wisdom from writer friends who have been there too, in the form of emails that lifted my spirits and made me re-commit to keep on going with the proposal writing process, even though I was feeling a bit at sea.

One of my favorite responses came from a dear friend (and a gorgeous memoirist), Mindy Lewis, who teaches nonfiction writing at The Writers Voice and knows a thing or two about process. Mindy and I shared tea and sympathy (and Zabar’srugelah) yesterday, and then she emailed me this, about cultivating the art of being at home in the unknown:

“That’s the spirit! So elusive, hard to get there and stay there, but always the right place to be.”

YESSS.

(Look for Mindy’s next oeuvre, an anthology, in 2009!)

So says my gal and resident Gen Y-er Courtney. Writes C:

The ugly truth about superwomen, my generation has come to realize, is that they tend to be exhausted, self-sacrificing, unsatisfied, and sometimes even self-loathing and sick. Feminism—and the progress it envisions—was never supposed to compromise women’s health. It was supposed to lead to richer, more enlightened, authentic lives characterized by a deep sense of wellness.

Read the rest, and more, over at The New Statesman this week, where Courtney is blogging it up on behalf of feministing, which was asked to elucidate why they care deeply about a particular spiritual or intellectual philosophy. Courtney is writing her take on, as she says, what feminism ain’t, what it is, and what it could be.

Hey, did anyone go to Woodhull dinner seminar with Leslie Morgan Steiner last night while I was out careening at Helaine Olen’s book party?! BTW, that book party had the best party food ever–little tea sandwiches with cucumber and yogurt, artichoke crostini, and so forth. Party goers included Jessie Klein (who is writing a fabulous book on gender and school violence), Esther Perel (whose book Mating in Captivity just came out in paper) and my better half, Daphne Uviller (who co-edited Only Child with me). Helaine looked radiant in her little red dress, and it was fun meeting some of the women currently running Mediabistro. I may be teaching an intensive with Mediabistro soon–will blab about it here if I do.

And here’s another event some of you might be interested in, here in town:

New York Women in Communications Presents:

An Evening with Wall Street Insider
Maria Bartiromo

Date: Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Location: MSN, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, 6th Floor
Time: 6:00pm-8:00pm

Maria Bartiromo, host and managing editor of “The Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo,” and anchor of CNBC’s “Closing Bell” will be interviewed by Robert Dilenschneider, CEO of The Dilenschneider Group and author of the recently released “Power and Influence: The Rules Have Changed” (McGrawHill) on Tuesday, December 18th, 6:00 PM at MSN.

Bob will speak with Maria about her stellar career as a financial journalist, her skill at getting important people such as Condoleezza Rice, Alan Greenspan and President Bush to sit down and talk to her about issues facing the economy and how publicists and corporate PR people should work with the financial media.

Cost: $35 for members, $50 for nonmembers, $20 for student members.

Seating is limited, register here.

Alison Bower of Womens eNews has the low down on where the presidential hopefuls stand on the issue of sex education. She reminds us that the U.S. has spent about $1 billion on abstinence-only education in the last decade and the White House seeks $28 million more. Infuriating doesn’t begin to describe it. Read more, here.

So I’ll be posting in this space as an official part of the Daring Book for Girls blogtour on Sunday, but I’ve been thinking a lot, as I read the book and saw Enchanted this weekend and subsequently checked out Disney’s new site for the movie, about the digital playground available to girls. For an astounding contrast, check this out:

Kikistrike and the Irregulars v. Princess Nation.

The Kiki Strike site is based on a book series created by Kirsten Miller. In the series (according to the LJ review), Ananka Fishbein, a seventh grader at an expensive New York City school, wakes up one Saturday morning and finds that the small park across the street has become a sinkhole, and her decision to explore it transforms her existence. She meets the mysterious Kiki Strike, and subsequently the group of girls (each with a particular talent) who call themselves the Irregulars, and they embark on an adventure that involves exploring the Shadow City, a series of tunnels under Manhattan. The series is filled with international politics and intrigue, and chapter endings are punctuated with selections from Ananka’s guidebook on essential skills. Says LJ, “Kiki Strike celebrates the courage and daring of seemingly ordinary girls, and it will thrill those who long for adventure and excitement while they impatiently await the next installment.”

And then there’s Princess Nation, sponsored by wedding dress designer site Vera Wang. And a sponsor, in turn, of Disney’s Enchanted. I’ll leave it to you to explore, but I’m sure you can guess what the site’s goal is. Sigh.

(Thanks to Marco for the heads up on Kiki.)

Drat–I missed it! But if you did too, you can still catch my fave career journalist/guru Marci Alboher on The Today Show. To see the clip, click here. And for those of you who aren’t sure what a slash career is, a slash implies multiple professions in a single career.

(Addendum 11/28: Check out what Marci learned from the appearance–and about publicity in general–on her Shifting Careers blog at the NYTimes, here.)

This just in from my friends at Woodhull:

On Wednesday, Nov. 28 here in NYC, Leslie Morgan Steiner, editor of the best selling anthology “Mommy Wars” and the writer of the WashingtonPost.com column “On Balance” opens up about her struggles to manage life as mother with ambitious career goals. At this seminar, she will discuss how she navigates through the hectic world of “having it all” and what she’s learned from talking with all types of mothers about how they made their choices to stay at home or go to work.

Completely Unbalanced: Exploding Work/Life Myths
When: Wednesday, November 28, 2007; 6:30 PM -8:30 PM
Where: The Woodhull Office, 32 Broadway, Suite 1801, New York, NY 10004
Cost: $10

For more information about this event, click here. To reserve your spot, contact rsvp@woodhull.org

Cheers to Elizabeth Curtis on her retort to recent (yet to my mind, and Elizabeth’s, tired) attacks on the discipline of Women’s Studies. You tell ’em, E 🙂

Nice, huh! Courtesy of a Women Political Bloggers , a site that answers the question, “Where Are the Women Political Bloggers?” by posting a list of 250 of ’em. Ha.