Novelist Anne Lamott chats with the Boston Herald's Lauren Beckham Falcone on the occasion of her new book, GRACE (EVENTUALLY): THOUGHTS ON FAITH. She'd been feeling tense of late about touring prospects for the book but the recent midterm elections brightened her mood, as does the possibility of reaching readers with her ruminations on a faith-based life she struggled hard to reach. "I think a lot of the stuff I write is recognizable to people," she said to Falcone. "I write about the stuff I am really struggling with, the stuff I believe is universal. I think people feel so alone and so stuck and uniquely worried and neurotic. We're all in the same soup."

Lamott describes herself as an "unlikely Christian" who writes "lousy first drafts" and freely admits to having a mix of confidence and neurosis. "What can you say when someone calls you with a scary or heartbreaking prognosis? You say that we don't have to live along with our worries and losses; that all the people in their tide pool will be there for them. You say that it totally sucks, and that grace abounds. You can’t say things will be fine down the road, because that holds the spiritual authority of someone chirping 'No worries!' at Starbucks; or my favorite, 'It's all good!' at the market. It's SO not all good. And I'm worried sick." But that honesty bodes well not just in life, but in publishing, too...