1. They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but often that first step is the hardest to take. How did you start out?

I suppose the most formative experience for me was going to school and studying Ancient History. Without that, I wouldn't have published anything in the field or thought to publish anything in the field. I'd still want to be writings something, but I have no idea where I would have wound up.

2. Can you tell our readers about the 'Buy a Friend a Book' program and what inspired it?

"Buy a Friend a Book" (BAFAB) is an idea I had in mid 2005. It came to me in the middle of the night after an emergency diaper change, and I stayed up sketching out the idea for it and for the associated web site. BAFAB is a holiday, sort of, that comes around four times a year, in the first weeks of January, April, July, and October. The idea is simple; to surprise someone with the gift of a book just because it's a nice thing to do, a  nice way to spread the word about books that you like: good karma, good books.

The web site where you can find out more about this is http://www.buyafriendabook.com The idea came to me at a time when I'd been mulling over how one might promote books. It also owes a lot to the fact that I hate Christmas and don't celebrate it. I don't like how overwhelming and commercial and obligatory Christmas is. You wind up wasting money on junk for people you don't really like just because it's what you're expected to do; the stores are packed for months in the winter. But I do like the idea of surprising people with small things when you're not expected to.

3. Can you tell our readers about your book "Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece?" What motivated you to write such a book?

In "Trying Neaira" I tell the story of a woman who lived in Greece in the fourth century B.C. She was put on trial in Athens when she was in her 50s. The charge involved her relationship with an Athenian citizen, Stephanos. The case was technical and it was motivated by the prosecutor's feud with Stephanos. But the trial gave the prosecutor the opportunity to bring in all sorts of information about Neaira's past-we would call it irrelevant to the case, but their standards were different. (The prosecutor's speech from the trial survives, and is the source for most of our information about the case and Neaira). And so we hear all about her sordid earlier life as a prostitute. It's fascinating stuff. I wrote the book for people who have no familiarity with the period, so as I'm telling the story I explain anything that needs explaining, which includes information about the ancient sex industry, about Athens' law courts, about the history of the period, and so on.

The speech against Neaira is well known to classicists, but probably not to non-specialists. I was trying to figure out what project I might work on when it occurred to me that the speech could provide an excellent entree into the ancient world for the average reader. It's inherently interesting; it brings up a lot of questions and thus allows one to explore different facets of ancient society; and it's a long speech, so it would offer enough fodder to hang a book on. As I remember, I started working on the book the day after the idea came to me.

4. As a successful author how do you deal with the critics? What words of encouragement can you give an author struggling with discouragement through criticism?

I don't think I'm an expert on this. My books (one is a scholarly monograph on Athenian military command) are not the sort to have attracted a huge audience and so I haven't had to deal with a lot of hostility. I suppose my only advice would be, be as upset as you want to be privately, but never say or write anything ill-considered publicly. We've all seen examples of authors behaving badly in public in response to reviews, and it's not pretty. If someone criticizes your work, you can accept or reject their comments as you see fit, but your response should be a gracious thank you.

5. Your success makes you a role model for aspiring authors who dream of being published. What advice would you give those who long to follow in your footsteps?

I've been working on something new for going on two years now; a book which will hopefully see the light of day some time. For some time I'd had the idea for this in mind, but I worried about not having the time to work on it because of all my other obligations, chiefly parental.When my younger daughter was in kindergarten I finally took the plunge and started writing. I've learned a lot about how to get a big project done from my experiences this time around. With my previous books I had more time on my hands, large chunks that I could devote to research and writing. I don't have that time now, and I don't even know that I have the patience for that level of intensity anymore. At any rate, when I first started writing I forced myself to write something every day. This is advice everyone would have heard before, but my particular take on it was this: I had to write something every day, but it could be as short as a single sentence. The point was to get the project advanced, however little, which has two major psychological advantages:

1. In writing something you've reacquainted yourself with the work and staved off that feeling of fear that comes when you've been away from a manuscript too long.

2. You've added words to the manuscript and are that much closer to finishing. If you take it one day at a time like this, you also take away any feelings of guilt you might have on busy days when you really can't work. Once you've done your day's assignment-and much of the time you'll write more than that one sentence-you don't have to feel bad about not working.

It worked for me, at any rate, with this particular project. I did this for about four months straight at the beginning and ended up with a big chunk of writing done. I still try to do this, but will occasional take breaks. But it was important to me particularly at first because without getting a lot of pages under my belt I might have wound up abandoning the project.

So my advice, given all this, is that large projects - writing or otherwise - can be undertaken in small increments. It's amazing how much you can accomplish by this step-by-step approach.

6. What are the 'dos and don'ts' for authors when working with editors and publishers? What is the best way to ensure that your creation will be the one they want to look at?

I don't think I have sufficient experience to comment on this. My two experiences getting book-length manuscripts published have been pleasant. No problems with editors. But again, I'm writing non-fiction, and irregularly. I imagine prolific fiction writers have many more stories to tell.

7.  As a mother and a successful author of publications and several scholarly articles, what would you say has been more rewarding, motherhood or writing? Why?

Well, the children would have my head if I said writing was more rewarding, wouldn't they, but of course, motherhood is the more important. That's the life-changing experience that we wouldn't give up if we had to choose. Being able to write is just gravy.