On Freaking Fire!

"Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire."

 -- Arnold H. Glasow

So.

My Day

At 7:30 a.m. I drag the 5 year old to the kindergarten at the highest point in Manhattan and then drag the little one to his daycare at the bottom of the hill and I go half way back up a kind of hill and wait for the BX7 bus.  On the bus I try and get a seat, the solo kind in the front, and check my email on my iphone. 30 minutes later (around 8:30a.m.) I wind up at this cafe in Inwood which is like any awesome cafe in Brooklyn but closer to where I live. 

I go to the bathroom and put lipstick on.

I get a coffee, sometimes with a little cow.

Sometimes not.

I find a table either by the window or in the corner by the kitchen.

I take a picture of my coffee and tweet it.

I open up my Macintosh device collection of iphone, ipod touch, and the laptop that will not die.

I find a good station on Pandora- Lou Reed or David Bowie (they fit this book best so far).

I ass around for half an hour.

Then I meditate a bit.

Then I write.

AndthisbookispracticallywritingitselfbutnotreallyandIhopeit'sgoodIhopeit'sgoodIhopeit'sgood.

Three hours later I pack up, and take the bus home.

I make dinner at 3pm or so.

Pick up the kids at 4:30/5:00.

Home.

Bath.

Dinner.

Teeth.

Story.

Bed.

TV

Wine.

Book. 

Bed.

Voila!  This is my life!

And I love it but whoa. I left a LOT out (laundry, reading series curating, bathing, yoga, sleep, laundry laundry laundry, lunch with agent, readings, blogging, facebook, mom dad, Wild Kratts, Halloween costume planning, soccer, NCTE planning, John Green meeting nerves, haircut, hair dye, pedicure, finding the one umbrella that isn't broken that is in the way back of the closet and then it didn't even rain this morning, Big Bird doll for the baby or he won't take a nap at day care, gluten free cooking for fun and profit.  I could go on but I don't want to BORE you...)

Why not follow me on twitter?  @ArlainaT

New look for blog soon.

xoxo

What's in a Name?

I'm having some title trouble and I don't really want to go into it except to say there is this new book out, by fellow MFA holder Lish McBride, with the best title ever.

Are you sitting down?

It is called HOLD ME CLOSER, NECROMANCER and I am so green with raging envy at the amazingness of it that it only makes my own title search all the more difficult because, well, it is hard to see through the green haze.

The cover's Lou Reed cool too.

And it's on my to-read list and I hear, from smart people, that it is a great novel too.

As for this title business let me be clear. This is an issue for me in all areas of my life, putting a clear label on a thing. If you do a little digging, you will see that my short story title prowess is also rather lacking (although I rather liked "Cannibals"). I had trouble calling my husband "my Husband" till about a year ago and don't get me started on how we named the kids. The words I would use are... slowly, passionately, randomly. Which describes the way I do most things in my life.

My soon to be named novel is about a lot of complex things and I don't want to scare people by some freak show title. But then I want it to be a name for my book- not just any book out there. I want it to be:

• catchy
• enigmatic
• specific
• funny
• weighty
• start with the letter A
• wink to Sylvia Plath
• avoid being too Plathian

How hard could it effin be?

Stay tuned...