A Writery-Readery thing to do in Atlanta this week

A writery-readery thing to do in Atlanta this coming Tuesday night is to go to the Margaret Mitchell house for TC Boyle's reading and book signing!

I'll be there. With new shoes on.

Acting out, part II

Apparently I've moved from Tasmanian-devil speech to obtaining more fancy footwear . I continue to act out.

In the meantime, the three different classes I met with at Wingate University this week all knocked me out with their erudite, thoughtful questions, and their outstanding campus. (Dudes, that is one seriously nice theater y'all had me speak in on Monday night.)

We got to talk about adulthood and aging and how that plays out in my book - and my life, since my book is about my life. We talked about "on and off" time (I think I remember the phrase right) which is when you mature socially early in some things but not in others. Okay I married at 39, and now I understand why, psychologically.

We talked about imaginary friends for kids - good or bad? (Good.) We talked about how to talk to a child about death. We talked about research in writing nonfiction, about the use of the pronoun "I" and why it's hard to do at first. We talked about all kinds of things.

I had a blast. And I got to see old friends K, J, & A, and make new ones in L and MC!

Tasmanian Devil-ese

Effective immediately, I will only speak like the Tasmanian Devil for the next twenty-four hours, due to extenuating circumstances that make gibberish seem appropriate.

Back to normal, erudite English with a minor Atlanta accent (with fundamental education in Latin, French, and Spanish) within a day.

Brain Density

This is an image of a phrenology map. I am lately researching phrenology for this novel in progress. What is phrenology? Walt Whitman was into it.

I haven't forgotten my blog-sponsibilities. I will do the list of ten images to capture a period of time and space, as directed by my friend the brilliant Janisse Ray.

1. Saw Janisse Ray speak at the Smith Gilbert gardens in Kennesaw. Atlantans, go there! It's a hidden gem!
2. Ah, the teaching quarter begins again. That's where I've been. In class!
3. Book proposal in progress. Shhhh.
4. Requires research and marketing-brain. A portion usually dormant.
5. Oh, residencies from whom I'm waiting to hear - when will it be March so you can dash my hopes?
6. Yoga practice. Lots of discussion and action with things like my rhomboids and my midline. Does not require brain. (See item #1)
7. Urban Cannibal's CSA has provided with a box of wondrous things.
8. Now I have a lot of ginger and will try to make candied ginger.
9. Ginger is a vaso-dilator. Alleviates headaches.
10. I am no prescriber, I just play one on my blog.

11. (A bonus round!) See you on Monday at Wingate University in Charlotte NC! Be there or be square!

PS Image from University of Liverpool.

Look Around You

Henry James wrote that a writer is someone on whom nothing is lost.

In class, that means I tell my students to listen to conversations in the world, to take note of sights and smells and the way things feel.

For me at my desk, that means interrogating my work and drilling down to find why I use a metaphor, what my concordances mean - there's a reason I keep using a word or phrase - and where the connectivity lies in the piece as a whole.

And this week, next week, for a while to come, it means look at Haiti, and donate what you can to organizations helping on the ground in the disaster. For me, that's Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders. There's a button at the bottom of this page to make it easy for you. Just scroll down!

Visiting Author

Hey, look, I'm going to be a visiting author at Wingate University near Charlotte!

I'm excited about the author event and reading, and also, especially, about workshopping in a variety of classes; not only writing, but cultural studies, too!

So far, snow

I tried to take a picture last night of the backyard and the rim of silvery snow-laden trees, but the cell phone camera didn't do justice to it, so I let it go.

This morning, though, was my favorite part of a snow day: the quiet! Just the sound of wind chimes on the porch (great big ones that go "bong" instead of "ting," thanks M!) and the occasional whoosh of wind knocking snow from branches.

Snow makes of me a sappy writer. Unless I'm driving at night in Western Massachusetts in the snow, in which case I am a terrified writer.

Will snow prevent intrepid writers from coming up to Kennesaw tomorrow for my Georgia Writers Association workshop? Roads are clear down here in East Atlanta. By noon tomorrow, I hope we will have warmed up enough for safe driving!

UPDATE AS OF 1PM FRIDAY. WORKSHOP POSTPONED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER! STAY TUNED FOR RE-SKED -DATE!

photo is from my cellular phone of a street in my neighborhood, blocked with caution tape and pylons because of the incline and ice. Where are my skis?

The favorite book you've never heard of, or, word of mouth

Okay, well, if you read this blog, you've heard of it, but for the readers of Atlanta's Creative Loafing, some of whom maybe haven't heard of it, Invisible Sisters is one of the favorite books of 2009 of three - count 'em, three, of my favorite authors. That would be Sheri Joseph, author of Stray and the gorgeous Bear Me Safely Over, Collin Kelley, author of Conquering Venus, which will grip you from page one, and Susan Rebecca White, author of the very funny and sly Bound South, and a new one coming soon. (the list is alphabetical by surname in the interest of fairness.)

A big writerly MWAH to my writerly readerly supporters and pals. Be like them, and spread the word about books you like!

And then there's this review from Atlanta Magazine! "Best of," even!

my new moniker

This from my pal J in Nashville:

"We are crow-tattoo-on-arm-writers-who-used-to-live-in-Michigan-but-now-live-in-the-South-and-have-MFAs-from-Queens-University-of-Charlotte-and-first-names-begin-with-a-j!"

In other news, drinking broth and tea and preparing for an unpleasant procedure tomorrow involving tubes. (Routine, y'all.)

Because I am really hungry, I am taking my ferocity out on the page, and will write many thousands of words today. Of which maybe one hundred will survive, but you know the drill.

Are you coming to The Georgia Writers Association workshop on Saturday next where I will tell you secrets of research? Yes, I hope you are!

photo credit: mine.

Lit Happenings in Atlanta: or January's busy!

Y'all do know about the literary events calendar over at Verb, right? I mean, Monday January 11th, do I go see Jayne Anne Phillips (yes) or Elizabeth Gilbert (meh, for me) reading at separate venues in town? What about the week after that? Or, like, Margaret Atwood a few weeks later? Or TC Boyle in February?

Check Daren's calendar over at Verb. See you at one or the other or the other event. Happy New Year of reading and writing!