The Writing Life Too

Pale gray skies this morning and the rains are supposed to end today. Since it was in the 80s on Saturday, when it crashed into the 50s yesterday the air felt raw and unfair. My pal Stacey and I were eating lunch at a Thai restaurant in her neighborhood and wondering why we can't concoct the sort of curry sauce we were tasting and when we stepped outside again it felt like winter. Since my relatives in Wisconsin are still shoveling winter off their sidewalks, I'm aware this sounds like whining.

Bush is going to meet with the Pope today and 12,000 people are expected on the White House lawn. Last time I visited D.C. the White House looked about as inaccessible as a medieval fortress so I imagine that they’re changing their security measures today and removing some of barricades. Do you know Bush’s hosting a fancy, huge 81^st birthday party for the Pope and the Pope is not going to attend? And that the Pope is going to speak to the U.N. about Bush & Co. leading this country via fear? Isn’t that fascinating?

More roundups on writing and writers Every week storyteller Garrison Keillor writes an essay about some aspect of life that is posted at salon.com. Today it’s about the merger of Delta and Northwest airlines. He describes how when he was a boy in St. Paul, Northwest held a promise of escape and romance.

He writes: “I did not fly in an airplane until I was 28 years old and that was a late-night Northwest flight on a 747 to New York. I sat back in the 30th row, surrounded by empty seats, my nose to the window, and when we came down through the clouds to the great city spread like a blanket of glittering stars and into Kennedy Airport, I felt as if I'd been given a great prize.” The story is at http://www.salon.com/opinion/kellor/2008/04/16/northwest

If you like women’s fiction I want to alert you that Jennie Shortridge has a new novel coming out on May 6, Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe. Jennie’s first book was Riding with the Queen ( I talked about some of her writing techniques in Between the Lines) and her second novel was Eating Heaven. I believe she’s going to become the Elizabeth Berg of the Northwest (she now lives in Seattle, although I met her when she was living in Portland.) Also, if you’re an aspiring or first-time author, you would be wise to pay attention to Jennie’s promotion strategie. For Riding with the Queen her book signings included live music. With her second book which had food themes, she baked cookies for people attending her events. She also talks to book clubs and various groups, teaches at conferences (I recommend her workshop on writing sex scenes) and blogs at http://www.redroom.com/blog/jennie-shortridge

And speaking of blogging. I meet and work with lots of writers who want to get a book published and often my first bit of advice is that they need to start blogging. Why? Because every writer, including those who write mainstream fiction need a platform and a blog is an easy way to build one. The second reason is that even before Julie and Julia became a book (after it was first a blog about cooking Julie Childs’ recipes) editors at publishing houses were trolling the web for blogs that might be translated into a book. A story on this topic is at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/fashion/30web.html?_r=1&oref=slogin I suspect the latest $300,000 advance will make you a believer.
And for helpful information on making your blog readable, check out http://onlineapps.newsvine.com/_news/2008/03/24/1387514-how-to-make-your-blog-post-look-more-professional written by techie Andrew (akaonlineapps). As always, happy writing.