Behind the Scenes at Ill-Behaved Women
My debut novel is OUT NOW! Thank you for being part of the story.
FLORIDA GIRLS has been a whirlwind of a dream come true since launch and I owe that to you, quite literally.
The book hit the shelves on Tuesday. On Wednesday I talked to the local NPR affiliate WUSF, on Thursday I spoke to WFLA, then the following Tuesday I was in the studio live with Tampa Bay Reads at noon, the same day I gave a talk at the St. Petersburg Museum of History. Pics of the week are below!
But first, some of the women making history now…
Claudia Sheinbaum has been elected as Mexico's first female president, beating rival Xóchitl Gálvez by a landslide. Interestingly, Gálvez is also a female. They brought out the country's biggest vote ever, with 98 million people registered. She’s also Mexico's first Jewish president (her grandparents escaped the Holocaust), and she’s a climate scientist. Where is our Sheinbaum???
Thankfully, we do have Melinda French Gates, who just announced a $1 billion spending initiative aimed at “people and organizations working on behalf of women and families around the world, including on reproductive rights in the United States.”
Yes, queen!
And though I’m not privy to her specific plans, I do hope they include addressing the infant death mortality rate. In case you didn’t hear the latest stats, the reports were grim. In 2022, the U.S. had 22 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births in the U.S. — that’s more than double, sometimes triple, the rate for most other high-income countries. Worse, when spliced by race, that number doubles for women of color. Norway had ZERO.
Back to Ms. Gates… In a May New York Times essay, Gates doled out a piece of advice I consider golden: “Set your own agenda, or someone else will set it for you.”
Or as I like to say, if you’re not telling your story, someone else will.
Next issue: Queens of the Underworld: The Notorious Mob Molls of the 1930s-1950s.
FREE FOR YOU!
Click image to start reading…
Now for a launch week BTS in pictures
Get your copy of Florida Girls:
YOUR TURN:
What “forgotten” women of history would you like to know more about?
Who’s making history right now you’d like to hear more about?
Did you hear that the 61-year-old lead singer of Red Hot Chili Peppers is dating a 19-year-old? That’s a 42 year age gap. Ewwww. You gotta see the pic.
What’s your go-to summer meal when it’s too hot to cook?