Relevant to my interests

In 48 hours this week I bought, devoured, and finished Liz Strout's newest novel, Lucy by the Sea. To say it is relative to my interests is the understatement of 2022. Like my own novel currently in search of a publishing home, Lucy by the Sea is set in early pandemic days. It's so strange to read about what is already a period piece, less than a toddler's life ago. Depressing. Inspiring. Reminding really - I'm not alone in blocking out certain memories from that period, even having placed the last third of my own novel there. Each revision brought it back fresh, and that was not always a welcome experience.

There's much to mourn with Lucy in this gorgeous book by Strout. But I also leave feeling a new appreciation for all of us. The resiliency we've had to dig so deep for, the humanity we've held onto amid such painful, isolating, confusing, and divisive times. The tiny steps we each took to keep going, to stay connected to loved ones, to hold onto our dreams, our humor. Good glory!

If you need a novel written by a deeply compassionate writer with a deeply feeling narrator and a compassionate, sweeping view of humanity that lays it bare, get thee to an independent bookstore and pick up Lucy by the Sea.

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My Litquake 2012 Report

I've been avoiding putting this together, because a part of me really doesn't want this year's Litquake festival to be over already. The other part of me is still cranky-tired, wandering around trying to get to all those projects I said I'd get to after Litquake, and feeling post-Christmas like. In short, this year's Litquake was AMAZING. Every year has been awesome, but this one was particularly special for me because I got to actually help plan the awesome. As a volunteer during the festival for the past several years, I definitely felt like I contributed to making each event I helped at awesome, but this year, being on the committee,* I got to witness the tremendous build up to the festival that happens the whole year prior. The amount of love, sweat and time that goes into it is incredible, and I'm not sure I've ever been part of something so cool. Which is not to say I'm not still cranky-tired and looking forward to feeling fully recovered.

Writing Exercise #2 for Setting as Character

Today I tromped all over San Francisco to collect sensory details, photos (and a snack or two) from each of the neighborhoods that my novel's characters live in. Now, they are not real people, but they do live in a real city, so the fun of it all is finding little details that I would never have noticed before because I'm trying to look for them through my character's eyes. I discovered a few inconsistencies that I'll need to go back and fix (silly things like the wrong bus line, or the fact that type of architecture doesn't appear in that 'hood), and found a few details I will want to pepper the text with. Mostly, I just had a really fun time walking all over the city (I clocked 6.5 miles of walking!), and BONUS, the water in my apartment was shut off for the day so it really was the perfect excuse to get the heck out. Oh, and the weather was about as gorgeous as could possibly be. Okay, now I'm just annoying myself with my own happiness. Here are som

What To Expect When You Are Expecting A Pandemic

“When I think about all that has to transpire to get from pregnancy to the birth, I am overwhelmed by time and the unknown. It’s not useful to contemplate. There is only today, and it is good.” I documented my move from ambivalence about parenting, to IVF, to motherhood, as well as all of Year One. I did it longhand because that’s what I did back then. So now, finally, I’m typing all those pages up, in part because of the great What If that living amid a pandemic creates. And I came across this yesterday and it is so true for the current moment, for this, the fifth week of Sheltering in Place. Ways this time is like pregnancy: It can make you fat. It will definitely make you crave near-constant meals and snacks. You will swing from feeling good to anxiety-laden, angry, irritable and back again several times a day. You will want to know how this will all unfold, how hard it will get, exactly how you and your life will be changed. You can’t know any of that. Ther

Invincible Summer

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