Author to Author to Awesome

So apparently there's this rule in improv comedy: whatever bizarre scenario your partner invents, you don't refute it. The answer is always "yes, and..."

I have been getting a lot of mileage out of that idea, especially when I travel. "Hey, will you hold this snake?" "Sure thing!" "Should we head over to the Makeout Room and listen to some X-rated slam poetry?" "Uh, yeah!" "Want to shack up in my auntie-in-law's spare bedroom and then have birthday okra for breakfast?" "Boy, do I!" (It was phenomenal, by the way.)

So when a nice Scandinavian-sounding fellow emailed me out of the blue one day and said "hey, we haven't really met, but while you're in California, do you want to come down to Carlsbad and shoot an author video?", there was really only one answer - and y'all, it's been one of the best yet.
Now I have a question for *you*, friendly friends: do you want to check out my buddy Sven Davison's ridiculously kickass "Author to Author" writing/publishing video series and subscribe to his channel?

Midnight Confession II

I don't know why, but I'm having a really hard time taking off the red hat and being a real person again. It is just such a thrill to go out into the world to delight and disgust the unsuspecting masses - and SO hard to go back to all those other less-fun feelings that you just can't put off forever. Fear and sadness are dragging me something fierce today.

I tell you what, though: this weekend was just a hell of a thing. It was such a revelation to meet someone who is everything I want to be when I grow up - who has built her identity on love and realness and unstoppable charisma, both as an author and a teacher - and who is massively, awardfully, bestsellerly successful as a result. I mean, I was going to keep at it regardless... but what a blessing it is to have artisanal human proof that it CAN be done.

Tangentially: it is a special kind of shocking when you meet somebody who seems to see your entire self. We are so accustomed to spinning our hexagonal heads around to meet the world with whichever face the present audience expects (partner, employee, parent, friend, whatever) - and not at all prepared to encounter someone who speaks affectionately and directly to our raw living core. I totally get it now, and I’m sorry I didn’t before.

Anyway. Keep at that relentless, visceral person-work, y'all. Riding herd on all those stampeding feels will wear your ass right out, and STILL beats the alternative by a country mile.

Cactus and Kangaroos and Kate Forsyth!

Okay, so I just finished my first-ever "master class retreat" in beautiful sunny Eugene, Oregon. It kind of wrecked me. The students were phenomenal. I have a massive girl-crush on the organizer. And getting to spend four whole days training up a bona-fide word-slinging *squad* has ruined me for everything else. It's weird and gross and lame to admit this, but being the big name on the marquee is a whole new level of ego BDSM.

So now I'm officing out of a grocery store coffee shop, mournfully packing up my riding crop and stilettos and belatedly recollecting my own literary kink-dungeon back home. Here are the relevant points:

1. Oregonians: if you write, you need, want, and deserve to acquaint yourself with the Wordcrafters organization in Eugene. I have never met a kinder, more hard-working organizer than Darryl Lynne Evans, and ANY show she puts on is going to be more than worth your while. Next one starts up in August!

2. Texians: provided DFW is not entirely underwater by next weekend, we are bringing in Kate Forsyth (all the way from Australia!) to instruct, delight, and enthrall us. This infinitely-improbable author lays claim to 30 books for children and adults, an ALA award for Best Historical Fiction, and a PhD in fairy tales. No, I didn't know you could do that either. Booksigning on Friday the 16th - all-day two-part writers workshop on the 17th (plotting/pacing/suspense in the morning, and pan-genre research and worldbuilding in the afternoon) - and a damn fine time throughout. This is a gutsy first for us here on the back end, and one we're really excited about. If you want to learn from a one-of-a-kind special talent, pave the way for more A-list authors coming to town, and help us establish DFW as a nationally-recognized literary hotspot, please help us welcome Kate with a packed house!

And just to say thank you for reading all the way to the end of this, I won't even close with another dominatrix metaphor. You are welcome. Now go sign up!