Two posts in one day?

Peter Miller of Freebird has written a very nice blog post about the reading...it includes a podcast link.

Thanks, Peter!

This says it all

What better way to update my extremely moribund blog than with this all-too-accurate portrayal of the modern author. Thanks to Peter at Freebird Books and Goods for cluing me into this at the reading I gave there last night...which, of course, I didn't post about here or even on Facebook.

Hey, I did tweet it, though.

More Readings Coming Up

First off, there's a bit more on that meteor strike here.

Next, I'm going to be doing another round of readings in Manhattan over the next couple of weeks.

First, on Thursday, September 27th at 7pm, I'll return to KGB Bar (85 E. 4th St.). Reading with me will be Chandra Prasad, Sebastian Matthews, and Red Hen publisher Kate Gale. Should be a great time.

Then, on Wednesday, October 3 at 7pm, I'll be at the beautiful bookstore McNally Robinson (52 Prince St.) with Kurt Brown, Doug Van Gundy (you bringing the fiddle, Doug?) and Jeffrey Harrison. I'll be the moderator that night.

Northern Exposure

The time has come for me to take this show on the road. I'm headed to Maine.

Next Thursday, August 2, I'll be reading at Books Etc., 38 Exchange St., Portland, 7pm. That morning at 8am, I'll be on Steve Hirshon's radio show on WMPG (90.9, Portland) promoting the reading.

And on Saturday, August 4 at 2pm, I'll be at the Fertile Mind Bookshop at 105 Main St. in Belfast.

I have to admit, I'm feeling some apprehension. I love Maine, and I've had some amazing times there. I learned a lot there—how to stack wood, how to recognize the song of a white-throated sparrow, how to drive on snow. And of course my first book came from my Maine experience.

But it is a dark place in my mind, too, where I went off the rails more than once. I haven't been back for three years, since I went to see my grandmother a few days before she died.

So in a way I feel like I'm facing some demons on this trip.

I'm trying not to dwell on the demons, but instead on the old friends I hope will be there the cheer me on. Or at least applaud politely after I'm done reading.

Here I come.

Cornelia Street Thursday

If you missed my readings this past weekend (the one at Sunny's was particularly exhilarating), you'll have another chance on Thursday the 10th, when I'll be appearing with several other Red Hen authors at the Cornelia St. Café, 29 Cornelia St. in the West Village.

Hope to see you there.

Upcoming Readings

So, the big day is upon me. May 1 is the pub date for my book.

On May 4 I will be reading at KGB Bar, 85 4th St, in the East Village. Also on tap will be Richard Grayson and Tao Lin. The reading starts at 7pm.

On May 6, I am thrilled to be part of the Sunday's at Sunny's series, at Sunny's Bar, 253 Conover St., Red Hook, Brooklyn. Gabriel Cohen, who created the series almost five years ago, will be reading from his new novel, Boombox. Peter Godwin, author of the memoir When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, will also be there. The reading starts at 3pm.

Sunny's is a real treasure, a slice of the old New York waterfront. I highly recommend it to anyone. Here's how to get there:

By bus: take the B61 toward Red Hook from Atlantic Ave. & Court St. (or from the A train midtrain exit at Jay Street Borough Hall). Get off near the end of the line at Van Brunt & Beard streets., walk 1 block right and 1/2 block left. Or take the B77 bus down 9th Street from Park Slope (or from the Smith and 9th Street F train stop--exit at the rear of the train and come down the stairs to street level and the corner bus stop.) Take the bus in the direction of Van Brunt Street and Red Hook.

If you're driving: From Manhattan, take the Brooklyn Bridge and get off at the Court Street exit--then take a left on Cadman Plaza West, which will turn into Court St. Go about a mile, past Atlantic Avenue, and take a right on Sackett Street. Continue straight for five blocks, across the overpass over the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, and take a left on Van Brunt Street. Continue down almost to the end of Van Brunt (you'll see the waterfront up ahead) and take a right on Reed Street. Go one block and take a right on Conover Street--you'll see a big sign that says BAR. That's Sunny's.

Then unexpectedly, I will be reading at Cornelia Street Café at 29 Cornelia St. in the West Village on Thursday, May 10, at 6pm, with several other Red Hen authors.

Manhattan Reading Scheduled

So I've confirmed that I will be part of a reading of Red Hen authors at KGB Bar in the East Village on May 4. It starts at 7pm and goes until 9pm.

The pub date is now less than a month away. Which means I have to step up the blogging, if nothing else.

Back from Atlanta

Got back Saturday night from the AWP conference in Atlanta, where the people are oh-so-nice and the architecture--at least downtown--is oh-so-soul-crushing. Had a great reading at A Cappella Books in the lovely Little Five Points neighborhood, and had a chance to bond with all the Red Hen people.

Thanks especially to all the (self-styled) Red Hen Chicks for sharing a night out on the town. Who knew that eight people could fit in a compact sedan? Steph, you're a rockin' driver.

Thanks also to Doug Van Gundy, West Virginia poet extraordinaire, for all the conversation, and for the fiddle music. The Polynesian setting of the Trader Vic's at the Hilton gave it that edge of cultural dissonance we all love.


What did I learn on my journey? First and best, that people laugh in the right places when I read from my book.

Next lesson? That spending three days in an airless hotel full of writers is like being on a mental version of one of those crazy pirate ships at an amusement park. Talk about mood swings: I'm brilliant. I'm worthless. My work is important. My work is meaningless. All 5,000 of us, more or less in unison.

Glad to be home.

My First Reading

I'll be reading from my book on Friday, March 2, at A Cappella Books in the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta, a city about which I know absolutely nothing. The reading starts at 7pm, and if you're anywhere in the vicinity, I hope you'll show up.

The reading is scheduled to coincide with the AWP conference, where my publisher, Red Hen Press, will have a table. I am going in part to learn as much as I can about the business of marketing books, but mostly because, after five years of uninterrupted motherhood, a room at the Sheraton Atlanta looks frighteningly appealing.