Rockin' Women in Denver.

My friend Kim is the Kim Jones in this rockin' line-up and very stylish poster.

Are you in Denver? Check this gig out on April 10th! She's a terrific singer/songwriter. (She used to let me sing with her, even.)

The books are here, for real!

Look what UPS left on our porch today! Books in bubble wrap!

Do I look excited? I AM!

Junot Diaz and Anita Desai

Atlanta's literary community is a vibrant one; just consider the Decatur Book Festival, the Georgia Center for the Book, Poetry at Tech, our indie bookstores (with the recent loss of Wordsmith's a sorry deficit) and other avenues like Agnes Writes and the reading series at the Margaret Mitchell House.

Last night, Junot Diaz and Anita Desai read to a packed house at Agnes Scott College. How fabulous is that? Very!

"How Things Are Constructed" & writing.

This slide show from today's New York Times is gorgeous. I particularly love the CT scan of the toaster, and of the Hungry Man dinner. And the Chicken nuggets. And the stuffed bunny.

This isn't off the topic of writing - isn't "how things are constructed" (quoting the artist whose work is in the slideshow) what we examine when we write? And when we examine our own writing?

And anyway, writers look at stuff.

And I still [heart] Atlanta magazine.

I [Heart] Atlanta magazine

I [heart] Atlanta magazine. Particularly the book section in the April issue.

Ah, Jazz Fest

I saw an ad for Jazz Fest today - New Orleans is about ten hours by car from here, and Jazz Fest advertises pretty heavily in Atlanta - and I realized I won't be going this year.

Book events instead! Muy exciting, you bet!

But, Jazz Fest is where M. and I had one of our first "big" dates, and Jazz Fest is great. And NOLA needs you.

So, in the interest of wonderful music, here's a song that I love, performed by (who else?) The Neville Brothers.

No video, just audio.

Photos and Yoga

I am trying to download some bizarre photos from my neighborhood, but my camera on my phone is defeating me. (In the interest of protecting some kind of writing time, I Will. Not. Buy. An. iPhone.) Will continue to try. Camera shots of billboards reading "You look nice today," and "I'm so glad you're here!" Well, handpainted signs on empty billboard spaces, really. They're worth seeing. Stupid camera-phone. Perhaps the Oracle at Wi-Fi can school me.

Meanwhile, March 28 at Nirvana Yoga (Grant Park) another creative writing and yoga extravaganza! Be there or be square. Click on the link and scroll down to "Creative Writing and Yoga" and register directly with Nirvana Yoga. The URL is also over to the left, on my "Coming Up" list (which I can't get to organize in date order.)

Electronics 1: Jessica 0.

What I've Been Reading

The Sisters Antipodes, by Jane Alison
My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge, by Paul Guest
The Agricultural Almanac for the Year of Our Lord 1887, no author.
student papers
Svengali's Web, by Daniel Pick
Elephants & Butterflies, by Alan Michael Parker

TK: Will refresh myself on all kinds of things for my seminar at "Muse and The Marketplace" next month. Included in that stack? My own book. John Hersey's Hiroshima. Lynda Barry's What It Is. Andre Dubus's Broken Vessels... and the stack goes on.

Here, meanwhile, M. reminds me how a reading list should be done!

The books are here!

Imagine Steve Martin running around in "The Jerk" hollering "The Yellow Pages are here!"

Now, imagine me opening the UPS packet this evening,sent from the fabulous MVV, to receive copies of my book - my book!- in my hand. As the enclosed note said, "hot off the presses."

(They weren't actually hot, but they were very, very cool!)

I shrieked with joy, and then shrieked into the phone for MVV and then into the phone for agent-o-foresight.

Want to see the cover? Go here. And, come to the Margaret Mitchell House on May 6th!

In which I am referred to as "author."

Go here. And come to the workshop, where I will bring a few of the infamous journals that appear in the book. We'll talk about how and why we keep journals, and why there are really no rules for this activity. After all, they're your journals.

And yes, I know "journaling" isn't a word." Journal" is a noun and requires the use of a verb or verb phrase to add action, rather than adapting it into a gerund, i.e. a noun with an "ing" ending to create a verb from a noun.

But are journals the place for grammar?

Invisible Sisters available for preorder!

You can buy it through Indie Bound, or you can buy it through Amazon ! Or you can buy my book at a reading (see "Coming Up" list at left) where I will be so happy to see you and will call you out for being a pal.

Thanks to L. for the 21st century set-ups, and to MVV for the heads up!

Printer Hell

This is a postcard from printer hell. One burned out right after I bought about $100 worth of ink. (But I've printed thousands of ms pages on it, so I hope it has a nice afterlife.) Bought another one today.... not what I needed, too slow and loud and only runs short loads.

Back to Costco tomorrow. Try again.

Thanks, M., for being the brains behind the installation, anyway. I just act as scrub nurse. Here's the scissors, here's the installation disc. Here's me throwing a printer out the window into the snow.

Weather is here, wish you were beautiful. That's either a line from a song, or an old joke.