Declaring Spinsterhood Overview
What can you do when your family harps on you to get married (already!), when your delicious and alluring ex-boyfriend—cheater to the core—believes that you’ve fallen for another guy and sets out to woo and conquer (again), and when you suddenly realize that you have fallen in love with your best friend, the guy whose shoulder has always been available...but is presently being enjoyed by another woman? In Jamie Lynn Braziel’s riotous first novel, Declaring Spinsterhood, she explores the world of 30-something single women, the pressures they face to tie the knot, and what happens when that knot begins to feel more like a noose. In the world of Emma Bailey, nothing is sacred. Including, and most especially, marriage.
Warning: This book occasionally mentions going to church and prayer.
Declaring Spinsterhood Specifications
Book Description: Emma Bailey is thirty years old and single. No problem for her, but a point of round-the-clock contention for her mother, her family, and too many of her friends. In Jamie Lynn Braziel's Declaring Spinsterhood, the terminal illness known as "old maid" is explored from every angle, and the result is a compassionate, compelling, and wickedly funny novel. Emma may stand up before all and declare her intention to never marry, but what about that little place in her heart reserved for Brian Davis? Sure, Brian's seeing someone, and Emma is not a vixen who breaks up relationships, but would it be so terrible if Brian returned the interest? Rather than bide her time, Emma dates…and dates. Some of the men are charming, others less so. With her vow of spinsterhood more a noose than a friend, Emma musters her courage and moves on. That is, until the unforeseen throws up the biggest obstacle of her life: love.
A Q&A with Jamie Lynn Braziel
Question: You've said that you modeled Emma Bailey, the main character in Declaring Spinsterhood, on your own life. How much of you is in her character and how much is purely fiction?
Jamie Lynn Braziel: Emma's character is almost purely fiction. In a lot of ways, I wrote her as the woman I would like to be. She's so much more empathetic, spunky, adventurous, and outgoing. Growing up, I was always the girl with her nose stuck in a book. As for boys, I became painfully shy around the ones I really liked. Emma's completely different, and I aspire to her boldness.
Question: Even in our modern world, there's still pressure for 30-somethings to get married and settle down. Do you think that comes from society, from other women in the same situation, or from within?
Jamie Lynn Braziel: I think society plays a big part, and the pressure begins very early. As girls, we are constantly being sold the fairytale of princess meets prince, falls in love, gets married, and lives happily ever after. Then we are nurtured by society, family, and friends to anticipate the beginning of the dating ritual. In my day, this was to happen around your Sweet Sixteen. All of a sudden, you have a lot of 16-year-old girls whose confidence plummets when they don't get asked out by a boy; this is when the pressure gets internalized. For those who do get asked, they quickly have the fairytale blinders ripped from their eyes and get to face the reality of love and marriage. It's not always happily ever after, and when it is, it takes hard work to make it so.
Question: Emma is quite happy with her life as a bookstore owner but your day job is in accounting. Have you ever thought about opening a bookstore? What inspired you to write that career path for Emma?
Jamie Lynn Braziel: Doing anything related to books and reading has always been a dream for me. In fact, I wanted to be a librarian when I was girl, even going so far as trying to start a lending library among my friends and familys with my small collection of books. That is until I realized that not everyone revered books as much as I did. I quickly closed the library when my books came back with corners folded, water stains on the cover, or worse. Opening a bookstore is the ultimate dream for a booklover, but it is also a very difficult business proposition in this day and age. So, Emma gets to live my dream in her world while I crunch the numbers and pay the bills in mine with a little bookish dabbling on the side. The bookstore idea appeals to my creative side, and accounting appeals to my need for order and tidy answers.
Question: And you're a big Nancy Drew collector! When did you start collecting and how big is your collection now? Any favorite editions?
Jamie Lynn Braziel: Yes, I am! When I received my very first library card at about the age of eight, which I still have by the way, the first book I checked out was a Nancy Drew. I was hooked. My grandpa would give each of us grandkids a month, and I spent mine on Nancy Drew books. My collection now numbers over 400, and it's still growing. My favorites will always be my complete set of The Nancy Drew Files.
Question: What's next for you? Any other novels or writing projects you're working on that you can share with us?
Jamie Lynn Braziel: First, I am finally graduating with my Masters of Science degree in Accounting after nearly six very long years. Then I will give my brain a much needed break and try to catch up on all the sleep I've missed. Because homework didn't leave me much time for reading, I now have a huge list of books waiting to be read on my Kindle. As soon as I've recuperated, I'll bring out the storylines that have been simmering in the back of my mind and cook up a wonderful second novel. Hopefully. As a little teaser, it might just have something to do with that so-called fairytale I discussed earlier.
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