The Reading List!

After Amanda Gable's terrific book launch last night, (I can't wait to read her book) I ran into a former student who told me some really cool news; that Invisible Sisters is on her reading list for her MFA program!

I'll bet she's been given this list of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction.

I loved my MFA program, partly because I was directed to read so many wonderful books that were new to me, and I had an ironclad reason to block out hours - hours! - of reading time.

What a thrill to be a drop in that bucket this time around.

"Perfect choices for summer reading."

Thanks, Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, for calling Invisible Sisters a "thought provoking" memoir, and one of their "perfect choices for summer reading."

You can read their review here . Phoenix, Arizona, and Atlanta's symbol is a phoenix... I knew I liked you!

Random Acts of Kindness

To the neighbor (and reader) who left the gift of a new, leatherbound, pocket notebook in our mailbox, personalized with a lovely note about their reading experience with Invisible Sisters, I am speechless. I called and left a thank-you message with your partner, who answered the phone and I know will pass my thanks along, but you and readers like you make all the tough writing days, the "where is this metaphor going" writing days, and the "I have nothing worth saying" writing days all but vanish.

I'm so moved by your generosity of spirit.

And I needed a new notebook.

And will do something nice for someone else.

Decatur Book Festival!

The most fun you can have on Labor Day Weekend. (Okay, so DragonCon and Drive-Invasion are in town, too, but you know what's first on your list, right?) Atlanta's the cultural apex September 4 - 6.

Just take a look at this lineup ! Writers who read! Writers who empanel! Writers who workshop with you! Books! Kids, adults, antiquarians (books, not people, but that's good, too.) Writers who wrestle!

Yeah, you heard me. Wrestle.

And take MARTA, okay?

If you love a writer...

If you love a writer, this post from blogger and writer Eileen Flanagan will tell you how to show your love.

The Real Star of the Show...

This is Kona, the real star of the show at Bound to Be Read in East Atlanta.

Here she is, selecting a book.

Thanks, Kona, for being the warm up act last night, and for keeping the audience company during "Inside the Writers' Studio!"

To Be Recited By Authors...

A friend forwarded this, and it's so good, and so funny, that I'm sharing it with you.

TO BE RECITED BY AUTHORS UPON THE SIGNING OF ANY BOOK CONTRACT, BEFORE TWO WITNESSES, AND A NOTARY PUBLIC ...

I have to admit that I'm guilty of not entirely upholding this pledge, since I've been known to check my Amazon rankings.

But wait, there's more... Inside the Writers' Studio in East Atlanta, Thursday!

Research - it's a pesky thing. When to start? When to stop? Do I really have to go to the library? (No, but what's wrong with a good library, huh?)

I want to talk to you (yes, you, over there) this Thursday evening at 7 at Bound to Be Read Books in East Atlanta, during "Inside the Writers' Studio." I'll read from Invisible Sisters - some of the researchy parts - and lead a discussion about one of my favorite things, which is research. Really.

I'll bet you had resources you didn't even know you had.

Come by and let's chat, right after the EAV Thursday night farmer's market! It's in the parking lot at the hardware store. Then walk up the street to the bookstore. The weather's nice!

Rockin' with Amanda Gable, new author

Big congratulations to my friend Amanda Gable, whose first novel, The Confederate General Rides North , comes out next month, with praise from big-time southern writers like Joshilyn Jackson and Jill McCorkle. Amanda and I met a few summers ago when we were both fellows (so to speak) at the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences in Rabun Gap, Georgia.

Amanda will be reading in Atlanta and other cool places, like Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, over the next few months. The book's website (and the book, I'll bet) have a map of the Confederate General's Ride North... so follow Amanda to a reading!

Thanks, Blue Elephant!

I'm late in posting this big thank you to Blue Elephant Bookshop in Decatur. Great reading, great audience, and a bookstore that if you're in Decatur (or out that way) and haven't visited, you might ought to! I love independent bookstores for so many reasons, not the least of which is the passion the booksellers have for the written word and the art of the book, and how different the stock is at each store.

Thanks to Laura & Teresa (seen above) who run Blue Elephant , and to new friends and old ones, including the most excellent Mark, Gina, Cathy, Nancy, Juliet, Eileen.. so many pals who came by and asked great questions.

In the interest of making art...

In the interest of making art, I'm going to drag this thing - also known as my IBM Selectric typewriter from COLLEGE! - up from the basement, install it in my office, and just see if I feel like writing on it, or using it for envelope-addressing, or making collage elements, or what.

Just lifting it and hauling it up a flight up stairs will be an art project.

Whatcha Doin' Tonight?

Whatcha doin' tonight? Me? I think I'll go over to the Blue Elephant Bookshop in Decatur and read from Invisible Sisters, maybe do an author talk. Want to come by? Around 7:15? Great! I'll be the woman in the red linen dress. You?

Writing Merch helps a friend - check it out

Creative people come up with creative ways to make things happen. Check this out, and see if you don't need a t-shirt or tote bag that proclaims your art, and helps someone out.

Chatty

Tune in tomorrow (or anytime after tomorrow, though the magic of the Internets) to Georgia Public Broadcasting's "Cover to Cover" radio show, in which the patient and kind Frank Reiss extracts an entire radio interview from me.

In other news, go here to read Frank's thoughtful memorial to Atlanta writer and legend Paul Hemphill, who died today at age 73. I had the honor of interviewing Mr. Hemphill once for a magazine piece about Atlanta in the 1960s. We met at Manuel's Tavern (of course ) and he was, as I recall, Lincoln-esque.

Me & Stephen King, or, from Mt. Desert Island to Atlanta in one day.

Yesterday, on the drive to the Bangor Airport, on the way back from Ellsworth, Maine, with a too-brief appreciative gasp at the mind-boggling beauty of Mt. Desert Island (... long story...short trip...), E. and I stopped for ten minutes at the Borders Books at the Bangor Mall so I could sign their shelf stock.

So the nice clerk at the Bangor Mall Borders says, when I thank him for checking the inventory and taking me to the Memoir Section so I can sign my books, "Oh, Stephen King comes in all the time and signs his books."

"Do people get excited about seeing him?" I asked.

"No, it's pretty normal," Sean the book guy says, unflappably Maine-ish.

"Is it scary?" I asked. You know, Stephen King, scary books, all that.

Nope. Reg'lah guy.

Thanks, Bangor Mall Borders!

Thanks, too, to Mt. Desert Island (above) for being SO GORGEOUS and giving us a brain-rest from otherwise hectic but important and not-scary family tsurris.

(Photo from the tourist bureau.)

Hey, Mainers!

I'm thinking that some bookstores around Bangor might have some signed copies of Invisible SIsters later this week, seeing as how I'm going to be in Maine for a family thing, and feel the need to pop into a particular large bookstore that I know has my book in stock - and sign some shelf stock.

Maybe I'll go to the beach, too. And see some family, and try to be a mitzvah. And write on airplanes.

Always a good idea...

M. took this photo in Central Park a few weeks ago, when he was in NY for work.

Always a good message.

Poetry as the core of a perfect travel article

This is such an integrative, reflective, and joyous travel piece, from the New York Times. Here's the poet Mary Oliver's work, and her landscape.

Musical Interlude - and a soundtrack if you've read Invisible Sisters

This is the soundtrack to the Jamaica interlude in Invisible Sisters, if you wanted to know. If not, it's a great look and listen to 1969 reggae as it began to seep into US charts.

Also good on the iPod when running.

Desmond Dekker -
"The Israelites."

And no, the first lyric is not "baked beans for breakfast," as I've read somewhere. It's "slaving for bread, sir." :)