"Lacerating Detail"

The Jewish Book World says that "Invisible Sisters: A Memoir" has "tenderness as well as lacerating detail."

Thanks, Jewish Book World!

Winston-Salem on a Saturday afternoon!

Two Saturdays from now, in fact - June 6th at 1pm at Shakespeare and Company in Kernersville! Me, Invisible Sisters, and ... you?

Come check it out if you're in the area. Good reading, great Q&A (you bring the questions, I'll provide the answers) and if I read the part about the 2nd grade play, I'll sing part of it. (Okay, maybe you don't want me to.)

In the meantime, heading to NY for some long-overdue catching up, a notes-free performance, and maybe some good shopping.

Both events will involve fancy shoes, like the ones above.

Oh, and Atlanta? How come we can't walk on the sidewalks like everybody else?

Thanks, M.L. for the photo, and T. for getting me hooked on artisan shoes.

Inspiration

Because Maira Kalman inspires me to make art, in her NYTimes pieces, or you can take seventeen minutes out of your day and watch this TED talk with Kalman. Funny, bittersweet, gorgeous, and you'll want to make art when she's done. Or at least play the clattering teacup & Slinky in the New York Public Library. (Thanks G. for the heads up to the link.)

Statements you can make in the yoga community

Statements one can make in the yoga community include; "I just got my nose stud hooked on your rug."

For real.

Stop Being in German, you stupid calendar!

The settings are selected as "English," I write in English, and yet, the calendar shows up in German. On M's computer, too. And off-site. Anyone got any tips? You can figure the calendar OUT if you don't speak or read German, but still... ideas are welcome. Some days it's in English, some days it's in German.

Guest bloggin'

I'm guest blogging over at Perpetual Folly today.

The topic? Book promotion!

Check it out. Perpetual Folly is hosted by Cliff Garstang, a terrific writer and interesting guy, whose short story collection, called "In An Uncharted Country," is forthcoming from Press 53 this September. (It has a gorgeous cover - I can't wait to read it!)

Even the names are a scream

Last night M. and I went to see a phenomenon first-hand; we went to the old Yaarab Temple on Ponce de Leon Ave to witness a BOUT between - yes, THE APOCALPSTYX and the SAKE TUYAS!

We went to RollerGirls. We cheered (or jeered, since they have "jeerleaders") and stomped our feet and laughed and made up our own RollerGirl names.

My friend A., and her husband A., were coincidentally seated on the wooden bleacher beside us, and are our heroes now for 1) offering us each a beer, and 2) being savants and figuring out THE RULES immediately!

(It's BYOB. We forgot that part. Next time, we'll remember.)

Go, Rollergirls!

(photo from the National Museum of Rollerskating. Who knew?)

In other news, the Atlanta Journal Constitution has a terrific review of Invisible Sisters today! Thanks, AJC!

Blog-terview

Poet (I almost wrote "and writer," but aren't poets writers? yes.) Tom Lombardo posted a nice blog-terview about Invisible Sisters here.

Blog-terview. Let's make blog the "secret word" of the day, like on the old Pee Wee Herman show.

Blog. AAAAAGH!

Malaprop's, Asheville

What a wonderful kick to see Invisible Sisters: A Memoir in the window at Malaprop's Books in Asheville. And to read to a great group of people, and meet folks like Gillian, who read in the book in her local library, was vacationing in Asheville (who wouldn't want to do that!) and with her husband, happened upon Friday night's reading. Beshert - meant to be.

And Malaprop's is a class act; they gave me a gift bag with their house coffee beans to take home!

Big Sam and Me

My sister Sarah, who was a petite person, could declaim the opening lines of "Gone With the Wind" in an alarmingly deep and loud tone. QUTTIN' TIME, she bellowed, along with the character Big Sam, in the first minutes of the classic film.

Sarah and I almost got thrown out of the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, Mass., because she bellowed and I laughed. It was a matinee. No one else was there, except for the usher, who took offense at our rowdy behavior. We loved the movie. We were playing along!

All this to say THANK YOU to the good folks at the Margaret Mitchell House, and all my friends, old and new, who came out on a blustery evening to hear some of "Invisible Sisters"and to ask very good questions.

And to quote Scarlett, "tomorrow is another day." And it's off to Asheville!

Here, assigned reading. I've got to find my rain boots

More rain, more hail, I've got rain boots on the back porch. Meanwhile, read this. You'll dig it. Moody, evocative, well-crafted, and illustrated, too!

Craft talk and writing tips

Interested in writing creative nonfiction? (Essay, memoir, narrative nonfiction?) One of the best "rules for writing" I've heard is "read, read, read, write, write, write."

So, okay, what do I read?

You could settle down for a very long time with some of the titles on Sue William Silverman's immense reading list.

Invisible Sisters: A Memoir is on it now, too, between Gornick and Harrison. I may just faint.

Happy 90th birthday, Pete Seeger!

Happy birthday, Pete Seeger. My birthday wish to you would be a Nobel Peace Prize.

Be cool, kids (snap fingers and swagger to a Bernstein score)

And go here.

Thanks, Verb!

Read Verb. Bookmark it!

sold out!

A Cappella books reading and signing last night; felt to me like story-hour, with people sitting on chairs, on the floor, and making themselves (almost) comfortable on the sidewalk outside.

This is the first reading I've heard of where someone got panhandled - and gave out change - while they were listening the to the author.

Thanks, Frank, for the stepladder to sit on during the signing, and thanks, readers and friends, for laughing in the right places, crying in the right places, and asking really great questions.