Everything is Awesome.

Ok.  I finally saw the movie and dear reader, I don't know if it was the blinding sinus headache prying my brain apart, the vertigo inducing 3D glasses perched over my regular glasses or the sight of my two children and husband giggling in unison at the screen but: I cried.

Wept really. At the end there, I was a slobbering mess.  And I can't stop singing the song and was really honestly and not in a snarky or wink wink way, moved by the whole thing.  The writers did a great job and made the movie bigger than the sum of its parts, which isn't easy when working with LEGO.

LEGO LEGO LEGO LEGO LEGO LEGO.

I have a cousin, newly 30, who asked me what LEGO was.  Seriously? I was astounded that there was someone in the world who had somehow escaped all knowledge of LEGO, when it takes up more than its fair share of real estate in my day to day life and psyche.  Lucky lucky girl.

ANOTHER DAY IN BRICKSBURG

In a fit of rage I wrote a piece about LEGO called "Another Day in Bricksburg" and sent it to McSweeney's Internet Tendancy for kicks.  They seemed to like it and tossed it up on their site and 1.2K hits and counting here we are.

Then the charming and witty gentlemen over at The Dinner Party Download asked if I could read it for them as an addition to their show and it's going up tonight!

It can also be heard here :
THIS WEEK'S SHOW.

They did a great job with it and I loved recording it and I love radio.  I have always wanted to do a thing for NPR and now, it is done. Thanks to everyone over at the DPD for inviting me.  It was grand!

xxoo

Wednesday was the fifty-first anniversary of Sylvia Plath's death and I wanted to mark the day because I loved her so much when I was a teenager and love her now.

This sad anniversary comes very close to Valentine's Day and since And Then Things Fall Apart is a kind of valentine to Ms. Plath, I like to do something around Valentine's Day to celebrate everything, her work, her influence, her influence on me, my book, and that old brag of my heart I am I am I am. 

And there's a huge heart on the cover so...there's that too!

I've been tweeting like mad all week with fun links and photos and art about Sylvia Plath, her work, and the way she inspires artists all over the world.

If you FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER by 2/14/2014 you will be entered to win a signed copy of And Then Things Fall Apart.

xxoo

Sparkle Tiger!

I've been very busy of late writing and writing and writing.  And also, reading.  And editing and dying my hair and doing yoga and cramming for first grade spelling tests with my 6 year old.  I couldn't spell "beautiful" until 6th grade but, I digress.

I think I have, as they say in the biz as "unputdownable" draft for a new book! We'll see what happens.  This writing of fiction is weird.  I just am doing what I am doing and writing what I am compelled to write and hope it works for readers who are into whatever it is that I'm doing.

And also I have become a weekend face painter.  I love nothing more than getting up close and personal with a cheery five year old and transforming them from a sleepy birthday cake high kid into a sparkle tiger, or a mysterious fairy queen, or a monster with bloody teeth.  For real.  It's the best and makes me feel alive and I've learned a lot of things in my little life but one of them is this: You must always make time and room in your life for doing things that make you feel ALIVE.

And sometimes on Saturday nights I drink too much wine and paint my whole family and we run around the apartment (no we haven't moved) growling at each other and laugh till we are dizzy.

The blogging is good.  Keeps me honest. Since my book came out I have realized how much I love and respect all my fellow writers and readers and how we are our own tribe.  XOXO to all

TWITTER GIVEAWAY!

Follow @ArlainaT & RT this for your chance to #win @amyreedfiction's CRAZY. I loved it to pieces & so will you! HARDCOVER, baby.

Amy Reed is a great writer and a real inspiration to me.  I love what she is doing with her work and she is also a kind of bad ass.

I loved BEAUTIFUL and CLEAN and well- what is there NOT to adore about CRAZY?

Yes yes yes.  I'm trolling for twitter followers, but also, I love to promote the work of writers I admire so...


WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Today is the day to win CRAZY!

xoxo

Real blog post soon...

Tiny Beautiful Things

Life is not the easiest thing.  So many events and people and happenings in my life of late are awesome and amazing and beautiful too.  What the hell am I so FREAKED OUT ABOUT?  Well, David Rakoff died, for one thing.  And I know I know he had been sick for a while but I wasn't really paying attention and the news today that he is gone gutted me like a fish before I even had my coffee.  So that brings things to a sharp point.

Summer is on it's way out.  The days are ever so slightly shorter and the kids are ever so slightly taller and tanner and more sophisticated than they were three short months ago.  Reading.  Diaper free. Big boy beds etc.

I feel like something big is supposed to be happening.  Huge and exciting and life changing in the best of ways.  Some mornings, this feels exciting.  Most mornings it feels like I'm just waiting for loved ones  to die.  For me to age suddenly and then get sick and die myself before my kids.

GOOD MORNING!

But then something happens and everything feels OK. Or at least like it's not so full of suck.

Is this what a midlife crisis is?  Could be.  But as I become more and more of the adult I am the closer I feel to the seventeen year old I once was. That's weird right?  But for me, it's a real truth.

This is a long way to say that you should all run to your nearest independent book store and buy TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS by Cheryl Strayed.

She is the advice columnist for The Rumpus and she is wisdom on a stick.  She is grace and badassery and like your mom, best friend, inner true self and God all rolled into one on their best day ever.  Her advice for every situation is spot on and illuminates what is means to be alive and the tools you need to survive.  She uses her own life to connect everyone's life. And that's what great writing always does.

I saw her read at an Upstairs on the Square Event in Union Square.  The place was packed, SRO and I was delighted that she was so popular. I had to stand in the mosh pit area and listened while flipping through art books about Courtney Love and the grunge scene in Seattle, French interior design, dragon art, while Cheryl skewered my heart like an olive on a toothpick.

I love her.  I needed to hear her that night and read her tonight, and tomorrow, and the night after that.
We all should.  So do it!

...And a darling teen writer in Sheboygan won a signed AND THEN THINGS FALL APART.  Just for FOLLOWING ME ON TWITTER!

Here's a little life advice from Ms. Strayed:

The useless days will add up to something. The shitty waitressing jobs. The hours writing in your journal. The long meandering walks. The hours reading poetry and story collections and novels and dead people’s diaries and wondering about sex and God and whether you should shave under your arms or not. These things are your becoming.

— Dear Sugar

You cannot convince people to love you. This is an absolute rule. No one will ever give you love because you want him or her to give it. Real love moves freely in both directions. Don’t waste your time on anything else.

— Dear Sugar

There are some things you can’t understand yet. Your life will be a great and continuous unfolding...You will come to know things that can only be known with the wisdom of age and the grace of years. Most of those things will have to do with forgiveness.

— Dear Sugar

Most things will be okay eventually, but not everything will be. Sometimes you’ll put up a good fight and lose. Sometimes you’ll hold on really hard and realize there is no choice but to let go. Acceptance is a small, quiet room.

— Dear Sugar

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER! AND WIN!

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER TODAY TO ENTER TO WIN A SIGNED COPY OF:

@ARLAINAT

Shameless, I know but for real... I'd love to have a zillion more followers!