San Anselmo's Davis Finds Her Audience, and Herself

When she sat down two years ago to write a heartfelt and humorous blog post called From an Older Woman to a Younger Woman, San Anselmo resident Patricia V. Davis had no idea that her words would go “viral” and eventually lead to the publication of her new book, The Diva Doctrine: 16 Universal Principles Every Woman Needs to Know.

Davis kicks off a national book tour Sunday evening at Book Passage with an event that includes readings, a costume contest, swing music and “diva” food (think champagne and chocolate-dipped strawberries). 

“I wrote [the blog] as a birthday gift,” Davis explains. The gift was for a young woman she had met online at a blogging site – a woman who, at age 20, was struggling with many of the issues that Davis grappled with herself at the same age.

Reading the young woman’s blog, Davis says, she saw “a lot of the same anxieties that I had… It was the same stuff that I was worried about when I was 20.” So in honor of a shared birth date, Davis penned her blog post, consisting of 10 lessons that any young woman can take to heart.

“I thought I might be able to save some young women some time with these lessons that I learned," she says.

The blog clearly struck a chord with its intended recipient, and is a dazzling example of what can happen when words go viral. The piece was emailed, shared, posted, and re-posted, and was eventually re-christened “Ten Things I’d Tell My Younger Self” by a website called vibrantnation.com.

“I wrote it in 25 minutes!” Davis laughs, a trace of her New York roots still audible in her voice. The blog eventually made its way to Kim Iverson, host of a nationally-syndicated talk radio show, who invited Davis on the air. From there, things moved quickly, with Davis gaining a national following and interest from a literary agent.

But Davis is no overnight sensation. She has an MFA in creative writing, spent years teaching in New York City public schools, and is, in fact, already the bestselling author of Harlot’s Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss and Greece, which she wrote about her years living in the suburbs of Athens with her Greek husband and their son.

As the daughter of Italian immigrants, Davis found growing up as a first-generation American in New York a turbulent experience.

“People who are first-generation totally get it,” she says. “I felt like a bastard half-child, stuck between two cultures, without a real identity of sense of fitting in. So when I met this Greek guy who was really good-looking and who really ‘got’ me…”  Her voice trails off. She eventually married the Greek boyfriend despite (or perhaps because of) her parent’s protests, and after years living together in New York, he decided that he wanted to move back to Greece to be closer to his roots.

Upending her life and transplanting to a foreign country certainly wasn’t easy, but with the benefit of hindsight (and a bestselling memoir), Davis now sees it as a transformative – and ultimately positive – experience. Certainly she endured multiple struggles during her time there, including the collapse of her marriage, but she also discovered her own inner strength and ingenuity.

With no visible job prospects in Greece, Davis tapped into her entrepreneurial spirit, starting a business importing Scholastic books for the purposes of teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) as well as a teacher-training program to educate EFL teachers on how to use the material.

“It was wonderful and extremely empowering, because up to that point I really felt like a loser,” she remembers. Davis eventually summoned the courage to leave her husband and move back to the US with her son, and met a wonderful man (now her husband) who encouraged her to pursue her dreams of writing.

Though she originally intended to write about the decrepit state of New York City’s public schools, she found that she just wasn’t in that mindset. Instead, her thoughts kept returning to her experiences in Greece – not only the challenges of marrying into and adapting to another culture, but also the positive, sensual experiences of living in an ancient land filled with fascinating history, delicious food, and people with an undeniable zest for life.

Harlot’s Sauce took seven years to write, and towards its completion Davis launched a blog to help market the book. She sensed immediately that the Internet had opened up an amazing number of opportunities for writers, and she seized every chance she could to communicate directly with her readers.

“Some people see this is as the worst time for writers,” she says, referring to those who “just want to sit in a corner writing” and are reluctant to dive into the online world or to engage with their readers through blogs, websites, Twitter and Facebook. "But I think it’s the best time.”

“Of course it depends on your personality,” she adds, and even though our conversation takes place by telephone, Davis’ gregarious and friendly nature is undeniable. She has developed a wide and varied readership over the years through her online activity, and sees it as an honor rather than an obligation: “It’s because I’m out there and on the Internet that I have a career.”

In addition to penning The Diva Doctrine, Davis has continued her blog and also currently runs an online magazine, where she features the work of other writers. She relishes the opportunity to nurture younger talent, emphasizing that “writers should be helping other writers.” She cites Litquake as a local event and organization that does just that.

She's particularly pleased to be kicking the tour off with Sunday’s free event at Book Passage (“one of the few surviving independents”) not only because it’s in her backyard, but also because it’s where she launched Harlot’s Sauce with a Greek-Italian feast in the back room.

Imparting a few last words of hard-won wisdom to Patch, Davis says “You have to go out there and find your audience.” For the proof in the pudding, one need only look at her list of upcoming events: among her many appearances, she’ll be reading with famed SF drag queen “Chlamydia Killroy” at the Castro Theatre; dropping in for a mother-daughter event in Gold Country; speaking to a conference of teenaged "diva geeks" at the Google-sponsored Technovation National Pitch Night; and heading back east to New York where she’ll attend an event organized by a former student that she re-connected with  - how else? -via Facebook.

The 411: The Diva Dare Tour comes to Book Passage on Sunday May 8, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Mill Valley author, journalist and blogger Vicki Larson will also be reading at the event. Admission is free. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.