How did you get interested in writing?
From my first published Letter-to-the-Editor when I was just a girl, I knew I wanted to be a writer: a journalist. After two decades and by the time I left CNN as a correspondent and anchor, I had written thousands of stories. Some were scandalous, like President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky. Some were funny, like my CNN “expose” that all Santa’s reindeer are actually female (according to the zoological fact that male reindeer shed their antlers in winter). Some were simply tragic, like my coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
I wrote about politics and plane crashes, crime scenes and hurricanes. No matter what, they all had one thing in common: they were other people’s stories.
Why did you feel you had to tell this story?
My new book, “Because I’m Small Now and You Love Me” is an adventure in parenting and life overseas like no other. It’s my own. After my career with CNN, my husband and I moved to Paris and then Tuscany with our daughter, Lulu, who is a babbling preschooler with a running commentary about everything.
When we first arrived in Italy, our neighbors generously brought over fresh red and green bell peppers from their garden. Lulu peered into the wicker basket as they explained the brightly-hued veggies were called peperoni. The only time Lulu had heard this word was referring to spicy round meat slices on pizza in the U.S. She looked up at our kind new friends and loudly announced, “Those not pepperoni ‘cause pepperoni is yummy and those look icky.”
Fortunately, our neighbors did not speak English.
And since then, while they still don’t know our language, Lulu has become fluent in theirs. She knows peperoni means “peppers” (but still thinks they’re “icky”) and now asks for pizza with salami, not “pepperoni.” In fact, Lulu has learned la bella lingua much faster than I.
And she knows it.
“I speak Italian better ‘n you!” she proclaims.
She also makes other proclamations like: “Can I have your jewelry when I am bigger and you are dead?” “I love you and you can have my pizza crusts because I do not like the pizza crusts.” “I don’t want to grow up, Because I’m Small Now and You Love Me.”
It was then that I realized another person’s story was unfolding before my eyes - and ears. A person closer to me than anyone I had written about before.
This book, then, is a collection of the quotes and anecdotes of life with my daughter during that all too temporary time when the world is new.
How did you choose the genre?
As a veteran journalist, I have only written true stories. The incredible and inspiring nature of real stories enthralls me. So, it makes sense to me to write non-fiction. And while there can be plenty of pain and tragedy in our real lives, “Because I’m Small Now and You Love Me” is about finding the joy and humor in life - as that’s what sustains us.
Where do you get your ideas?
I get my ideas during every moment and from everything around me. I revel in the little things. It doesn’t have to be a violent attack of epic proportions from back in World War II, for example, to captivate me. It’s my daughter’s most recent tantrum, last week, when she picked up every single one of her stuffed animals from her bedroom and then, one at a time, trundled them downstairs and hurled them one at a time into the dining room to make sure I knew she was upset.
“I am NOT happy with you!” she bellowed, in case I didn’t know.
“And I am writing this all down,” I thought to myself.
I’ve lived in five countries so far, and I’m convinced that the shared experiences of normal, simple life are what connect us all together. Across countries, across cultures, people raise children and have similar moments of happiness, humor and, of course, frustration.
If you were a super hero or villain what would your power be?
I’m a mom and a wife, so I’m already a super hero! Or depending on whose point of view, sometimes I suppose I may be more of a villain. But if I had to choose a power, I think shape-shifting would be really cool – like Mystique from X-Men. But then again, I would just be happy to look like Rebecca Romijn in that blue body suit.
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Romantic, exotic, wacky and fun!
Set in Paris, Tuscany and the good old U.S. of A., this anthology of true exploits and conversations between acclaimed journalist Gina London and her indomitable daughter Lulu creates a story like no other.
"Because I'm Small Now and You Love Me" shows the magic of life happening--with a lot of faith, pluck, and adventure.
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About the Author Gina London is an Emmy-award winning veteran CNN correspondent and anchor. Based in Italy, she now works as an international executive media trainer and presentation coach, travel expert and voice-over talent. She’s the author of "Because I'm Small Now and You Love Me"--adventures in parenting and life overseas.
London was editor of her high school newspaper in the tiny Indiana town of Farmland where she grew up. The town’s tallest building was the grain elevator and her home was surrounded by corn and soybean fields. But her parents weren’t farmers. Her mom was an instructor at the nearby university and a terrific baker; her dad was a self-taught architect, oil painter, and professional pilot. He was also Gina’s softball coach and hero until he died suddenly in a plane crash just two weeks before Christmas when she was 11 years old. The tragedy of losing a loved one helped Gina be more empathetic and compassionate when she was a journalist and often compelled to interview families of victims like those from the Columbine High School shooting; the Oklahoma City bombing; 9/11; and even other airplane crashes.
During her days as a CNN anchor and correspondent, Gina also covered President Bill Clinton including the infamous Monica Lewinsky scandal that led to his impeachment. She then reported on the George W. Bush Administration including the 9/11 terrorist attacks with stories from New York and Washington, DC. Now, Gina is an internationally recognized communications expert whose work has taken her across the globe from Egypt to the UAE, to Cambodia, to Indonesia to Jordan to Romania to Macedonia and more.
She has worked hand in hand with Iraqi women running for Parliament and Baghdad’s City Council, high-level women in the Persian Gulf committed to social change, and opposition party activists in Egypt. Her work in Egypt during the Hosni Mubarak regime led the government to shut her program down, threaten her life and ultimately forced her to flee the country. Gina now lives in Tuscany where her husband Scotty Walsh studies Comedia dell’Arte. Their daughter Lulu is in preschool and proudly declares she speaks “English, Français, Italiano and also the languages of cats and dogs.”
Her collection of adventures and conversations with Lulu have become the book: “Because I’m Small Now and You Love Me.” Available now! When Gina isn’t writing or taking care of Lulu she enjoys sipping espresso or prosecco surrounded by 500-year-old buildings and chain smoking locals.
FOR MORE INFO
Website: www.GinaLondon.com
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