Q and A with Author Pearl Cleage

April 28 -- I Some Things I Thought I'd Never Do is the latest book club selection in Good Morning America's "Read This!" series.

Author Pearl Cleage tells the story of Regina Burns, a former reporter who moves to her family home in Atlanta as she recovers from a broken heart and six months of drug rehab.

Cleage has answered questions about the book as part of an online Q & A with ABCNEWS.com.

Q: How/Why did the author become inspired to add the aspect of re-connecting with people from past lives into this plot? —Monica Sund, Flaunt Book Club, Chicago

A: I am not a person who believed in past lives or even thought much about it, but one day my husband said he thought he remembered a past life in which he was an emperor.

I was very surprised and at first, I thought he was teasing me, but he was serious, so I asked him to talk a little more about it. He went into great detail about what it felt like to be an emperor, some of the problems he encountered and how he handled them. Since he is not usually a mystical sort of guy, I was truly amazed and it made me start thinking about the whole question of past lives. I wondered what it would be like to remember another life and to come back with another chance to fix the things you couldn't fix before. I was also intrigued by the fact that he remembered himself in a leadership position. Well, I thought, maybe that explains some of his more imperial behaviors!

When I started working with the character of Blue Hamilton, I borrowed much of what my husband had said to me for that character. I added the part about the society not being able to figure out "the woman question", because that gave me some interesting things to add to my story, but the core of the idea came directly from my husband's sharing of his past life memories. Is is true? Who knows, but I love what it does for Blue's character! As for Aunt Abbie's vision, I have never had visions, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I figure we deserve some reward for surviving menopause!

Q: What was the significance of having only women living in Blue Hamilton's personal home? Was there a reason for developing a main character who is a married woman (Flora) living in the home with her daughter but without her husband? — Cheryl James, Flaunt Book Club, Chicago,