Though it’s only August, author Vanessa Diffenbaugh is already looking forward to spending Christmas with her four kids and family rather than working.
Diffenbaugh, who will be speaking at The Grille restaurant in Lake Forest on Aug. 26 and the Highland Park Library on Aug. 25, is making the rounds to promote her new novel, “We Never Asked for Wings,” which was released in early August. She is well known for her debut novel, The Language of Flowers.
It’s been a busy several years for Diffenbaugh, 37, who started writing “The Language of Flowers” in Fall 2008. She had two babies and two teenagers to take care of at the time, she said, and carving out time to write took planning.
“The teenagers were in school all day,” Diffenbaugh said. “The trick was to keep my youngest — who was six months to a year old — awake during the teens’ ride to school, so both the babies would nap [at the same time]. I also did some childcare swaps with my neighbors.”
While Diffenbaugh was confident the novel would be sold, her hopes were modest.
“I would have these conversations with my husband,” Diffenbaugh said. “Do you think I could sell it for $5,000? For $10,000?”
The Language of Flowers revolves around Victoria, a young woman who has recently aged out of the foster system in California. She’s homeless and has difficulty relating to people. She’s also something of a genius with flower arranging.
The novel came out in 2011 and made the New York Times best-seller list that same year. Some of its success could be attributed to Diffenbaugh’s speaking schedule in the U.S. and Europe.
“I traveled a full two years with Language of Flowers,” Diffenbaugh said.
Now she’s traveling again with “We Never Asked for Wings.” She has 14 talks scheduled between now and Oct. 22 in California — where she lives in Monterey — and as far away as Traverse City, Mich.; St, Louis, Mo.; and Fairhope, Alaska, according to her website.
Set in San Francisco, the new novel revolves around the character of Letty Espinosa, who works three jobs while her mother raises Letty’s children. When her parents plan to return to Mexico, Letty has to take on motherhood.
Letty strives to get her family out of a dangerous neighborhood that Diffenbaugh loosely modeled after East Palo Alto, Calif., where she taught technology and art to low-income children after attending college at Stanford University. The novel’s point of view alternates between Letty and her 15-year-old son.
Writing “We Never Asked for Wings” had different challenges than her debut novel, Diffenbaugh said.
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“There’s a certain freedom in writing when you don’t know if you’ll ever have an audience,” she said, of “The Language of Flowers.” “[‘We Never Asked for Wings’] was sold before it was written, which I think added to the pressure. I had real readers e-mailing and Facebook-ing and encouraging me. You don’t want to let people down.”
Still, she’s happy to speak about her book and the Camellia Network, a nonprofit she founded in 2010, according to its website. The Camellia Network assists young people who are aging out of the foster system. Youth Villages, a much larger nonprofit, acquired the Camelia Network this summer, according to Diffenbaugh, who has been a foster mother. She said she is excited about the partnership.
“We served about 350 kids,” Diffenbaugh said. “Now we’ll be able to serve thousands more.”
While Diffenbaugh “definitely” plans to write another book, she’s not going to think about it for the remainder of 2015.
“I’ve been writing the last two Christmases,” Diffenbaugh said. “In January, you can ask me the question again.”
She is scheduled to speak at the Highland Park Library, 694 Laurel Ave., Highland Park, at 7 p.m. Aug. 25, in a free event. She is also scheduled to speak at The Grille restaurant, 181 E. Laurel Ave., Lake Forest, at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 26. The $50 registration fee includes lunch and a copy of “We Never Asked for Wings.” Both talks were organized by the Lake Forest Book Store.
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