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From her restored mid-century modern pad in Baton Rouge, Ronlyn Domingue thought, paced, ate chocolate, wrote and re-wrote. The Mercy of Thin Air, she said, had been rolling around in her head for years, but in the last few, shed gotten down to brass tacks.

Domingue, 36, spent the first part of her career as a local activist and teacher. Id known since age 8 that I wanted to write, she said, so committed to developing her craft, she sidestepped community work to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing at LSU.

Her debut novel, about a 1920s New Orleans woman who dies suddenly, then hovers between life and whatever comes next, has been described as luminous, atmospheric and literary. Its made it to top picks lists at Redbook, Borders and BookSense.com and has been compared to the bestseller, The Lovely Bones.

We caught up with Domingue between stops on her national book tour.

So, howd you get the name for your sassy flapper protagonist?

She named herself. I was stopped at a light at Perkins and Broussard and a voice in my head said my name is Raziela. I said, OK, and I went from there.

Youre a native Louisianan and your book tour took place a couple of weeks after Katrina. What was that like especially with the book set in New Orleans?

It was torture. Being on tour promoting your book is the ultimate in self-absorption. I wanted to be on the front linesif not in New Orleans, then in Baton Rougeorganizing and helping out.

Meet any freaky fans?

People read the book, come to a signing and expect me to be the main character. Im not anything like Raziela. She has blonde hair and green eyes and isnot to mentiondead. For some reason, theyre surprised to find me sitting there.

So how do feel about your book being called Chick Lit?

I cringe.

Whats your next novel about?

Its completely different from Mercy. Its about a man in his 50sa Vietnam vet who was a one-hit-wonder rock musician. Itll also have to do with urban development and ecology.