So I Said to Myself, Self, I Said...

I seem to be attacking the big work in the mornings lately (on the days I don't teach.) Yesterday, I finished the massive draft of a book proposal (shhhh) well ahead of schedule, then got some good news for 2011 (shhhhh) then did some other stuff, and realized, "Self, you get an afternoon to mess around!"

So I went by A Cappella Books (see sidebar! Go on!) and then dropped in on the Grant Park Summer Shade Festival. King of Pops was there, so I had a green apple lemonade pop. Saw some excellent art. Saw some excellent neighbors and friends. Heard some good music, including some folks who sounded a LOT like the Subdudes, which is a good thing.

And took a picture of this sign. In my 'hood, a person just might bring a lizard or a rodent to a festival, but it's safe to say the signmakers were being jovial.

Get 'em while they're hot!

And I do mean hot ... it's eleventy hundred degrees outside and there's a few copies of Invisible Sisters: A Memoir that have been baking happily in a warehouse.

Now they're sprung from the warehouse, and waiting to go home, one by one, with you!

Where to get 'em?

A Cappella Books has new copies of Invisible Sisters, freshly baked. ( A pun that my sister Sarah would have enjoyed, so let's give it up to the universe.)

Things that are on my mind...

My friend Tracy teased me the other day by reminding me that there's more to life than writing. At the time, we were at a baseball game, which is harder for me to process than 8th grade algebra, which I failed and had to do again in summer school and got, like, a D-. How can X = 7? Seven equals seven! How can a player be "out" if I can see him right there on base?

Anyway, things that are on my mind other than writing.
1. Park 51 and the First amendment. (Yes, I support it.)
2. Bumper stickers that read "Nope, Keep the Change" (they depress me.)
3.Atlanta's Beltline project (public art, greenspace, and mass transit - what's not to love?)
4.The concept of tikkun olam , and where did it go in public consciousness?



(image from MIT library)

Ever wonder if you were normal?

Hey, it's me, the "new normal," Psychology Today online!

The idea of "new normal" clicked with me the first time I heard it. How about you?

Thanks, Ethan Gilsdorf of "Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks" fame for the blog space!

I see the future...

I see several - no, it's hazy - no, it's coming clear... it's four (!) opportunities to come say 'hi' and one (!) opportunity to take a writing workshop with me! (Okay, the workshop is one of those four. Signs point to yes that I never claimed math as a strong suit.)

Yep, I'll be at the Suwanee Festival of Books next Sunday, August 29th, for two appearances ( a reading at noon, and a panel about the craft of memoir with the fabulous Kimberley Kennedy and Ad Hudler at 3) and at the Decatur Book Festival the following weekend, September 3 and 4th. The workshop's September 3, and there's a panel with oh so many Atlanta mover and shaker writers AND a bookstore owner on Saturday at 11:15. Yep, Laurel Snyder , Collin Kelley , Karen Head , and Jef Blocker from Bound to Be Read Books . (Kona the PR cat approved it.)

Want to know about social networking and writing? See you on the 4th! Will you be there? Yes, definitely!

Here's Suwanee Festival of Books , and here's Decatur Book Festival . The workshop registration is at the bottom of the DBF homepage.

The real reason I do what I do

Because there was a letter in my faculty mailbox this morning, a real letter with a stamp and a little sticker on the back that read "thank you."

And inside was a long letter from a reader who happens to be the grandmother of a student, who I know gave a copy of the book to said grandmother. I know because I signed it.

So, this letter thanked me for writing a little bit about being Jewish, a lot about families, and was a letter that took courage and a generosity of heart to write.

(And made me gasp while I read it in class. Because I was reading it while my students were doing an in-class assignment. I don't get letters at work a lot - I wanted to read it right away!)

So thanks, K's Grams. You did what a grandmother should - you made me feel like my not-great day was all better, and reminded me why I do what I do.

Oxford!

Nope, not England (although our lucky friend Collin just came back from across the pond...).

This is the writerly, southerly, Oxford, the one with Ole Miss and Square Books. AND the Oxford Creative Nonfiction Conference .

I'll be there. So will heavy hitters like Lee Gutkind, Dinty Moore, Neil White, Beth Ann Fennelly. Will you be there, too? I sure hope so!

Odetta tribute

Because Odetta's music meant a lot to me, and because Doria & Calavino bring so much to our odd little neighborhood, and because local art support is the way to be... check this out .

You know you want to pitch in, right?

Best magazine articles ever...

From Cool Tools, via Twitter, here is a list of the 100 Best Magazine Articles Ever.

Of course "Frank Sinatra Has A Cold" is on here, as is a piece by Joseph Mitchell, work by Joan Didion... oh, those of us with MFAs in Creative Writing will happily revisit our grad school reading lists plus more. Wipe your slate clean for the day and dally here.

I plan to.