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So, I'm a bit stressed these days. An interest is being shown in my novel that-will-most-likely-not-turn-into-anything-but-right-now-I'm-both-hopeful-and-preparing-myself-against-the-sadness-of-a-rejection-by-making-a-plan-for-what's-next-and-watching-this-silly-video.
Maybe it's because of the obsessing, but don't you think this turtle's journey is a metaphor for the writer's life? The steadiness, the determined focus, the struggles - all for a nibble of lettuce.
And here I go again, once again in St. Augustine. The Other Words Conference is November 10 -12, and I'm presenting at two panels. "Memoir: Who Are You Writing For?" is on Friday and Saturday I'm reprising "The Search For A Literary Agent." And I'm part of the Friday night readings.
And there are plenty of other panels on so many subjects - from the use of profanity in your work to "Fire Ants and Leaves of Grass" (about nature writing) to the use of point-of-view and narrative voice in creative non-fiction and poetry. And I've heard from returning writers that anything by Ira Sukrungruang is not to be missed.
And don't forget the keynote speakers - Jenny Browne, Alice Friman, Diane Wakoski, Michael Gills, and Carol Frost. Yep, I'm going to load up on anti-inflammatories and go to everything.
The opening scene of this trailer, that little half-naked child with under arm crutches and strapped-on braces, could be a picture right out of my family album. Here's one that actually is.
Lives Worth Living is an upcoming Independent Lens film about the early disability rights movement. Here in Gainesville, it first shows on Thursday, October 27th at 10pm on PBS.
Amy Hempel, D.A. Powell, Laura Kasischke, David Berman, and Kevin Young are all reading, presenting craft talks, and mingling at receptions here in Gainesville this weekend beginning tomorrow, Thursday. Here's the full schedule for the Florida Writers' Festival.
For sure, I'll show up on Friday night to hear Amy Hempel and D.A. Powell. The readings begin at 8pm at the Ustler Hall Atrium near the University of Florida stadium.
It rocked. Big congratulations to the women of Jane's Stories Press Foundation - some of whom are pictured here.
What makes a writers conference work? First, it was well run by a group that was having a good time doing it, and this sense of hospitality and welcome permeated the day.
Maybe my favorite part of Karen McElmurray's workshop on "The Floating World" of memoir was the discussion. Intelligent discussion. Non-self promoting discussion. Genuine discussion. You know, the kind of thing that can sometimes happen in a group of women. And the writing exercise left me with a piece that might turn into something - me, at thirteen, in a claw-foot bathtub, drinking a stolen beer and shaving my legs for the first time. Now, that's a good workshop.
The "Successful Quests for a Literary Agent" presentation that Anne Martin Fletcher and I gave, I'm pretty sure, went well. We had a great time doing it.
Georgia Banks-Martin had a rapt audience for her poetry workshop and all the while there were individual critique sessions offered at no added cost. And, an important quality for a workshop, the lunch was delicious.
By the time of the reading that night we'd become a community of writers - thanks to Jane's Stories Press Foundation.
Well, me along with Karen McElmurray, Georgia Banks-Martin, Shobha Sharma, Kimmy Van Kooten, and Anne Martin Fletcher. Even if you haven't been able to make it to that day's Women Writing Retreat, come to this final, free, and open to the public event at Anastasia Books (81 King St). Seven pm.
I'm either reading fiction about a hot-flashing lesbian in relationship trouble or an essay about rolling in the mud of Payne's Prairie. But then there's that short, short piece about morphine and my mother. I promise, I'll have it figured out by Saturday night.
Anne Martin Fletcher and I have put together what I'm pretty sure is going to be a kick-ass presentation (Aren't I humble?) about the quest for a literary agent. Our "quest" stories, our work, our writing backgrounds are so different and that right there is instructive.
The talk will be chock-a-block with specifics, but the part I want to share here is more amorphous. By the time I finished writing this novel, I'd spent maybe a year in revisions. Which means the way I cared for my writing was to be tough, critical, unsparing, and always trying to see it as someone else, someone detached. But when I wrote the query letter this didn't work. Open-hearted, generous, enthusiastic, unconditional, delighted - all these qualities had to somehow reappear. Between now and the conference, I'm hoping to have something more articulate to say about the importance of falling back in love with your work.
So, the Writing Woman Retreat, Saturday October 15th in St. Augustine, presented by the Jane's Stories Press Foundation.
See these bluecurls. I bought one plant for $2 at a Native Plant Sale years ago. Each winter, I shake the seeds into my skirt and wander around flipping them over the ground. And right now, there are hundreds of bluecurls blooming in my yard.
So, and some of you can probably mouth this rant along with me, stop it, just stop it, with the drug and water-addicted yards. Gainesvillians - use the Native Plant Sale on Saturday, October 8th at Morningside Nature Center (8:30am-12:30pm) as an opportunity to buy and learn.
P.S - If you join (and you can do this on site) the Native Plant Society or Friends of Nature Parks you can show up on Friday night. Some vendors sell out before Saturday.
UPDATE 12/1/11: The "library phantom" has struck again!
". . . a book is so much more than pages filled with word. This is for you in support of libraries, books, words, ideas….. a gesture (poetic maybe?)" So says the note left with this paper scuplture left anonymously at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh. "The Poetree" it's come to be called.
And then, over at the National Library of Scotland this sculpture appeared with the note "A gift in support of libraries, books, words, ideas (and against their exit)."
Later the Scottish Storytelling Centre received a dragon. And now the Filmhouse, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and the Central Lending Library have been gifted.
The local media says they've figured out who the artist is. The public says they don't want to know.
