This scientist leaned in years ago

I hadn’t heard of the spiral ceiling until I read Laura L. Mays Hoopes memoir, Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling. And after I read it, I realized I had the same opportunity as she while I worked with scientists and engineers in the aerospace industry. Unfortunately, I turned down the chance to be a manager early in my career, took a ten-year break from aerospace to raise my little boys, and by the time I went back, other smart women had passed me by.

So I applaud Laura. She is an inspiration to all young professional women. She has proved that it is possible to have it all – a fulfilling career, a loving marriage, and the experience of being a mother.

As Laura prepares the eBook version of her memoir, she talks about her career and her writing and family life in The Next Big Thing Q & A. Here’s Laura.

***

Hi readers and writers,

My own Next Big Thing is a new eBook version my memoir, Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling: An American Woman Becomes a DNA Scientist.  It is in preparation for summer release.

Why is it a Next Big Thing?

It’s an inspiring read for any woman facing a challenging career, especially one in which women are greatly outnumbered by men.

And Spiral Ceiling is currently the only available book on the life story of an American woman who made it in science while being married and raising children.  Most biographies and memoirs focus just on the science, or mention family aspects only in passing.

Where did the idea come from for Spiral Ceiling?

I taught a frosh seminar at Pomona College on Biographies of Biologists, and the women in the class objected that we only read about women workaholic loners, not any who balanced family and career.  When I told them I had done it, they urged me to write about my own life! 

What genre does Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling Fall into?

It’s a memoir, covering a good deal of the history of women’s entry into the field of science, especially molecular biology.

What actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I think Winona Ryder could play the young Laura Livingston and perhaps Meryl Streep the older one (I loved her Julia Childs rendition!)  I think Sydney Poitier for Richard Mays and perhaps Harrison Ford for Mike Hoopes. I wouldn’t dare pick for my son and daughter, but Tom Goodwin, who has a cameo, should be Tom Hanks.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

In Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling, Hoopes traces her development as a woman biologist, how she fell in love with DNA but encountered discouraging signals from men in science, how she married and balanced both family and career, and why she’s glad not to be a Harvard professor.

Is your book self-published or represented by an agency?

Self-published.  It was almost published by Yale University Press, but they backed out after telling me I was “in the queue” for three years.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Linda Lear’s biography of Rachel Carson, Rita Levi-Montalcini’s memoir In Praise of Imperfection, and Brenda Maddox’s life of Rosalind Franklin, Dark Lady of DNA.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

All women who want to know what they’ll face if they go into a field where career-family balance is a challenge, as well as those who made another choice and wonder what might have happened if they’d stayed in science. I want to show women, especially young women, that “having it all” can be done, and that I found it valuable to construct a life of balance.  So often, they are told they must choose family or science research.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Everyone’s life encounters the unexpected.  In my case, I didn’t expect to marry an African American man, but then when we’d created a good life, I didn’t expect him to die suddenly of a heart attack when still relatively young.  I didn’t expect my interactions with the government’s science research establishment to go the way they did, nor did I realize how rewarding teaching would be.  I didn’t expect my son’s teachers to be racists.  I didn’t expect my daughter’s baby sitters to fail me when she was sick.  I didn’t expect to be involved in establishing the biology section of Council on Undergraduate Research.  So surprises in both directions made life a continual challenge, thrill, and reward.

Where can we read more about your work?

My web site, www.lauralmayshoopes.com, has a blog page on writing and the literary life, a page on my memoir, and a page where you can download some of my short publications, among other pages.  All welcome!

cheers,
 Laura

^{Laura L. Mays Hoopes wants to empower every woman and young girls looking to make a difference and have it all despite the odds. In her book she traces her career through Goucher College with summers in Woods Hole, graduate study at Yale, postdoctoral fellowships at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation and University of Colorado Medical School, and a faculty position at Occidental College in Los Angeles. Later, she became academic Vice President at Pomona College in Claremont, CA, but after breast cancer, she became the Halstead-Bent Professor of Biology at Pomona.}

Mother's Day reminiscing

Mother's Day is tough for me. Since my son Paul's death, I'm still not over the sadness of being without him on mother's special day. Yet I look forward to being with my young son Ben and his wife later this afternoon and evening. I know I'll feel a lot better later on.

Ben generously digitized all our family photos from the time Paul was born on December 31, 1971, so I spent the last hour or so looking through them in iPhoto. So many wonderful memories and so many wonderful pictures.

Here is my favorite - taken in 1991 at our beach by the late Mary Pat Dorr - a couple of years before Paul got sick with bipolar disorder. It was a truly beautiful afternoon.

Happy rebirthing [via Eleanor Vincent]

[This is a reblog of Eleanor Vincent's post today - by permission]

I’m throwing a party for the rebirth of Swimming with Maya. Thanks to the power of networking, it has a new life as a paperback and eBook.

But in 2010, the future of my book did not look bright. Capital Books, the independent publisher that issued the hardback in 2004, was closing its doors. My beautiful book about raising daughters and rebounding after loss would be pulped.

I tried everything I could think of to sell the remaining hardback copies – and had some success. But even if I sold them all, the book would still slowly fade and die. I considered the Author’s Guild program “Back in Print” that creates print-on-demand books for authors in situations like mine. But I’d have to live with a generic book cover and format, and no marketing support for the book.

Sadly, this story is not uncommon. Small publishers close their doors with alarming frequency. And big publishers – those consolidated megaliths – can arbitrarily dump an author if sales don’t measure up.

In worst-case scenarios, authors get little or no notice. My dear friend Madeline Sharples, author of Leaving the Hall Light On, a courageous tale of resilience and recovery following the suicide of her son Paul, had recently received three days notice that her publisher was closing.

Madeline Sharples

Madeline and I met at a writing workshop at Esalen, just months after Paul’s death in 1999, and instantly connected. Over the years, we saw each other whenever we could, and stayed in touch by phone and email, becoming cheerleaders for each other’s ventures in the world of small publishing.

Madeline reached out to other writers when she learned that her book was about to go out of print. She soon connected with a small press in Chicago called 
Dream of Things that agreed to republish her memoir in paperback and eBook format. She promised to introduce me to the publisher, Mike O’Mary.

At the same time, in the spring of 2012, I had just marked the 20th anniversary of Maya’s death. As I sat under a giant California oak tree just yards from her grave, I got a strong message from Maya: “Mom, I want you to bring back our book.” Maya did not want to be forgotten, and I didn’t want her to be!

As in life, she insisted on her place in the spotlight.

That afternoon at the cemetery I made a promise to my daughter. One way or another, Swimming with Maya would be back.

Maya at age 18

A few days later, I called Madeline.

True to her word, she introduced me to Dream of Things founder Mike O’Mary, and by the fall of 2012 I had a contract. Mike worked tirelessly to reissue the book and in February of 2013, the new version was published.

Madeline and I were both born under the sign of Taurus. (My birthday is May 14, hers is May 20.) We never give up! I was with her in Los Angeles in May of 2011 for the original launch of Leaving the Hall Light On, and she will be with me on Friday, May 17, for the “Rebirthday Party” of Swimming with Maya.

Please join us at 7 pm, May 17, at Studio One Art Center, 365 45th Street, in Oakland. Or come at 5:30 pm, and join the fun at “Bites off Broadway,” showcasing amazing local food trucks, hosted by my friend Karen Hester.

Come celebrate new beginnings in life and in publishing with us!

Eleanor and Madeline

I have to brag

Emma, one of the three founders of the blog Book Geeks Unite, posted this review of Leaving the Hall Light On. It's so awesome, I have to share it.

"Madeline Sharples’ Leaving the Hall Light On chronicles one woman’s challenges, grief and ultimately her healing as she and her family battle one son’s seven-year struggle with bipolar disorder and his untimely death by suicide.   As I was searching for words to describe this book (words usually come easy to me), I could not find them.  What to say about this book?  Where are my words?  Can you say you enjoyed a book about a mother’s grief over her son’s death?  Not just his death, his suicide?  I cannot say I enjoyed reading about her pain.  What I can say is that this book completely engulfed my emotions.   There were several times while reading, I realized I was not breathing.  I had to remind myself to breathe.  I realized that is a sign that I am “in” the book.  The author had somehow allowed me in.  I realized she had written me into her thoughts and emotions and had allowed me access to her experiences.  I realized the images in the book were haunting me…the beautiful little boy, the handsome young man, the beautiful family of four, and then the family of three.  Then, I found my words.  This book is poetic.  It is honest.  It is raw.  It is real.  Mrs. Sharples has, in my opinion, poured her soul, in the form of ink, onto paper and decided to share it with the world.

"If you have ever been touched my bipolar disorder and/or suicide, this book is a must read.  

"If you’ve been touched by any mental illness, this book is a must read.  

"Even if you haven’t been touched by any of these things, this book will empower you to overcome any tragedies you’ll ever endure and inspire you to recover."   ~ Emma

Also please go over to her site, Book Geeks Unite, and enter to win either a signed paperback or an electronic copy (the giveaway ends at 11:00 am PST). And if you've read my book, please write your own review. I'd love to know your thoughts.

Thoughts about age and my folks

Today would be my dad’s birthday. He was born 110 years ago. And he’s been gone thirty-eight years. Happy Birthday, Dad.

Taken on Dad's last birthday, May 1975 

(my sister is at his left shoulder)

Age has been on my mind lately. My father died at age 72 and so did my father’s father and my mother’s mother. But, even though I’m in the last days of my 72^nd year, I’m not worried about dying any time soon – at least not from ill health.

Mom and Dad with little Paul

My mother thought she’d go at 72 just like the others in our family. She actually started planning for it by giving away a lot of her things. From the day my dad died when she was 68, she kept saying she was ready to die too. But she was tricked. No matter how much she wanted to follow in her husband’s footsteps, she lived to be 94.

So whose genes do I have – my dad’s short-life or my mother’s long-life genes? Only time will tell.