40 is the new 30

I just had a very enjoyable conversation with fellow southern girl and Cosmopolitan contributing writer and author Colleen Rush. Her latest fascinating book is coming out this September, but her last one could prove more inspiration for your to-do-list before you turn 30 or... 40.

Potty Mouth?

Susan Davis, senior producer at NPR/ WUNC's The State of Things and editor of the soon-to-be-released book, Searching For Mary Poppins: Women Write About the Intense Relationship Between Mothers and Nannies has just arranged a show about THE MAY QUEEN on Tuesday, May 16 from 12-1 pm EST. Listen to May Queen contributors, Julianna Baggott, Louise Jarvis Flynn, and Ashley Warlick, discuss the anthology, the generational shift in the idea of the appropriate time for women to have their children, among other topics. Tune in!

Bottoms up!

In the spirit of the book coming out tomorrow, here's a recipe for the May Queen drink that Tennyson unknowingly christened and now we're blessed with this sweet concoction:
The foundation is any good dry champagne, to which is added liqueur brandy, armagnac, kummel, yellow chartreuse, and old stout, to taste. 2 or 3 parts champagne to 1 part of everything else, and lots of ice.

Tomorrow'll be of all the year the maddest, merriest day, for I'm to be the Queen of the May...

Pluck be a lady tonight

Read May Queen contributor Louise Jarvis Flynn's New York Times review of the travelogue memoir Adventure Divas for inspiration for your three things to accomplish before 40!

Julianna Baggott's 3 Things

1. Be able to buy shoes without going through an identity crisis.

2. Not lose my ass, completely, to gravity.

3. Stop worrying about losing my ass, completely, to gravity.

Julianna Baggott is a contributor to The May Queen and the author of four novels -- national bestseller Girl Talk, The Miss America Family, The Madam, and Which Brings Me To You: A Novel in Confessions co-written with Steve Almond (forthcoming, April 2006), as well as two books of poems, This Country of Mothers and, forthcoming, Lizzie Borden in Love: Poems in Women's Voices. She also writes novels for younger readers under the pen name N.E. Bode -- The Anybodies, The Nobodies, and The Somebodies (forthcoming, September 2006), and, outside of the series, The Slippery Map (forthcoming 2007). Her work has appeared in dozens of publications including the Best American Poetry series, Glamour, Ms., Poetry, TriQuarterly, and read on NPR's Here and Now and Talk of the Nation.

Kim's 37 Things

1.Go to Morocco
2.Finish 2 Screenplays
3.Write a Novel
4.Learn French
5.Road Trip through the South
6.Ride in a hot air balloon (possibly in Morocco?)
7.Design a wine label

Nicki's 3 Things

1. Create a poetry and creative writing program that inspires 11-13 year-olds to love literature, but most important, gain a life-long appreciation for the power of self-expression
2. Adapt a screenplay from an old folktale or fairy tale into an animated movie similar to classic Disney films- complete with fantastic music, but with a truly feminist heroine (Are you there, Walt? It's me, Nicki!)
3. Take a Roman holiday sans enfant: splash in the Trevi Fountain, kiss my husband under the Sistine Chapel ceiling, place our hands in the Mouth of Truth, and share gelato on the Spanish Steps!

3 Things Before 40 Intro

In THE MAY QUEEN, Ayun Halliday composes a hilarious list entitled, “A Random Sampling Age Thirty to Forty.” In that vein, Kim Askew and I have created this blog as a challenge to those of us now facing the big 4-0. What do you want to accomplish in the next few years? A romantic fling? Save the world a la Ms. Jolie? To learn to relax? Whatever it is, let us know by posting your top three wishes on our blog and we’ll award the most creative and original response with a signed copy of THE MAY QUEEN and some other special prizes TBA...