Got Milk?

First, I am alive. I have been swamped with edits, children, house guests and life, I guess. I love blogs, I love blogging and forgive me for ignoring my responsibilities. Here's an update

1. I totally bailed on NANOWRIMO. My kid's birthday was in there and I had to take a bus with a baby and a stroller to Target to buy crap for the party because I couldn't do it any other day and then I was a whole 2 days behind and was never gonna catch up no matter how many pep talk emails they sent to my inbox. I am not discouraged. It made me think about my next project and now I'm all committed.
2. I've been listening to a lot of Terry Gross interviews while I work and I love it.
3. I have not done laundry in too long. We are finally out of sheets, towels and underwear.
4. I have lots of fun little Sylvia Plath things going on and I'll tell you more about it when I have time and when they happen.

And now I must share THIS with you because it is precisely these kinds of things that make me fall in love with people and the internet all over again. Thanks to Paisley Pajamas for the heads up... just clickety click on the HERE for funtimes.

I'm Running Away to Join the Circus.

Have you heard about this? There's this PBS Documentary about the Big Apple Circus like a behind the scenes Real Housewives of New Jersey but real and cool and it is amazing. It's called, THE CIRCUS, a six part series that started yesterday and airs on Wednesdays at 9pm EST. I am already addicted and can't wait for more. I also just found out that a parent I know's partner is the editor and THIS is why I love NYC. There is also this woman who lived near me who actually did pack it all in and joined the freaking circus. I think she was into hooping or horses- I can't quite remember but the point is, she did it. She packed up her hobo kerchief, slung it on a pole, and hopped a freight train dreaming of the glamour of the flying trapeze, trained tigers and sequined fishnets. I have a relative who did something similar with drag queens and dancing poodles but that, my friends, is a story for another day.

BONSAI!!!!

I am doing it. I am going to write a novel in 30 days. Hannah Moskowitz made me do it. And my life made me do it, too. I have three ideas for another book and I'm the kind of writer that needs to be threatened, whipped, cajoled, shamed, dared, challenged, tricked, peer pressured etc. into producing words. I think I would be more productive if I would stop self editing at every opportunity and use the bonsai approach- just vomit out 50,000 words and then prune, trim, hack away until I like the deformed little tree that remains.

I have mocked the NaNoWriMo in the past as a gimmicky exercise in futility but have seen the light. I need to get started. I'm going to just write my guts out: EVERY DAY. For one month straight. Wish me luck. I'll keep you posted. I think I'm going to try and expand my favorite and most successful short story "Buying the Farm" into a novel ala the great Meg Mullins.

I'm getting my literacy charity links together and they are good ones. If you have any suggestions, let me know!

Geek Alert

There is this company called Outofprintclothing that sells t-shirts with vintage book covers on them. For each shirt they sell, one book is donated to a community in need through their partner Books For Africa.

I wanted to buy, oh, all of them but I ended up getting To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, and The Master and Margarita. Three of my all time favorites and what better to wear to a promotional event for AND THEN THINGS FALL APART than a Young Adult classic under a cozy boyfriend sweater?

And this way I can write them off for tax purposes. Because I can't believe I spent almost $100 on t-shirts. But they have sexy lady tees too so check them out.

At the end of your purchase, they flash an image of these happy African children in school uniforms reading books. And all guilt was miraculously gone.

SHOP SHOP SHOP! they have all kinds of badassery for sale...

I should think about linking some donation buttons to literacy charities. I don't know about you, but this blogging seems pretty narcissistic. To me anyway. Next post will be all about my headshots.

Oh I DO crack myself up!

I Am Alive...

Just been a little crazy. My most favorite thing I've done since we last spoke was obey my horoscope entirely (thank you Susan Miller at Astrologyzone.com). She said that I would get an opportunity to volunteer for something and I should just say yes and not question it. And so when my neighborhood Harvest Festival put a call out for facepainters I did as instructed and said "Yes!"

Now, I have never facepainted before but I'm an artist and a master of disguise and I love kids who love to get painted and dear reader, it was: AMAZING.

I brought my own brushes and used the lead painter, Donetta's, paints. I began at 1:30 and stopped at 5:00. I painted about one kid every 2-5 minutes so that's about 2,000 children.

I was sore. I was tired. But I was inspired and so into it! The kids were great and fearless. I did fairy princesses, harlequin masks on two cool 6th graders, pirates, Spidermen, dogs and cats and leopards. My favorites were the scary ones. One girl wanted to be a Vampire Princess. Two older boys didn't know what they wanted to be but I made them Day of the Dead skulls and they loved it. I did a Rainbow Tiger with a large glittering jewel on her forehead. I made an 18 month old a stubbled and scarred wayfarer on the high seas.

It was like the universe gave me a big kiss and a glass of wine.

Awe.

Some.

I also started throwing pottery again and oh mysterious 30th follower- when the stuff emerges from the kiln, I'll send it out!

This is what I do whilst taking a month long vacation from writing...

Reading and Writing

If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write.

--Stephen King

Thank you twitter. And thank you @adviceforwriters.

So right (write!).

I am editing. And planning a birthday party. Doing laundry. Washing the kitchen floor. Making lamb chops for dinner when my dad came to visit. Whipping up gobs of Flubber with borax and glue. Writing. But reading?

No effin way.

A woman of magnificence I know recommended a book to read called Lonely Werewolf Girl about a skinny, Scottish, runaway, werewolf princess named Kalix. I am loving it. It is so not what I usually read but I am making time in my ridiculous schedule to read it.

I abandoned Marie Antoinette. I have foresworn mindless television watching save for Sunday marathons of HBO and Madmen and the occasional netflixed pic on Thursday and Saturday nights.

This is what it takes, people. I have a stack on my nightstand of books to be read and here is a list:

A Visit from the Goon Squad

The Artist's Wife

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Marlene Dietrich, a biography

If I Loved You, I Would Tell you This

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

Bonjour Tristesse

I better get crack a lakin'

And 30th follower and winner of mysterious prize? I have not forgotten about you!

Yes, there is a winner. No, I don't know what the prize is...

We have a winner for the 30th follower! She seems grand and when I decide what it is she has won... I shall send it and then make it public here.

I'm editing like mad and am preoccupied with the work at hand. It's like work, this editing. The writing writing is like playing. It's like playing badminton on hallucinogens with ovulating angels.

Editing is like work. Temping on Wall Street type work and I don't like it. What's so demoralizing about it is that your editor, if she's any good-- and mine is very very good-- finds your weakest spots as a writer and irons them out dele mark by dele mark.

You thought that no one would notice that weird thing about the grandma and just keep reading. Wrong. You thought your quirky use of punctuation and the word "and" was groundbreaking? Nope. You thought that your MFA from Columbia University gave you a complete understanding of correct comma placement and how to conjugate lay, lie, lain. Ha. Were you deluded!

That's were this is at. And ending a sentence with a preposition is bad English. It just happens to be how people from Chicago talk. Unfortunately.