| Readings in NYC this week! |
[May. 6th, 2008|03:39 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  busy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Moonage Daydream/David Bowie | ] |
Thanks for all your sympathies on the bird poop story. I have to admit, when it happened—well, after the skeeve factor—I laughed and laughed. It was pretty funny. In an icky, I-have-poo-on-my-head sort of way.
I have been remiss in letting folks in the NYC area know that I have two readings this week. Here’s the scoop:
***WEDNESDAY, MAY 7TH***
6:00-7:30 pm
Jefferson Market Library
425 Avenue of the Americas (i.e., 6th Avenue off of 10th Street)
New York, NY 10011
(212) 243-4334
Teen Author Reading Night with:
Tara Altebrando, What Happens Here
Libba Bray, Up All Night
Erin Haft, Meet Me at the Boardwalk
Cheryl Klam, The Pretty One
Nico Medina, Fat Hoochie Prom Queen
David Levithan, David Ozanich, and Chris Van Etten (aka David Van Etten), Likely Story
Lizabeth Zindel, The Secret Rites of Social Butterflies
***THURSDAY, MAY 8TH***
5:00-7:30 pm
BOOKS OF WONDER
18 W. 18th Street
Super fun book party for the short story collection, UP ALL NIGHT (bunny slippers optional), featuring:
Peter Abrahams
Libba Bray
David Levithan
Patricia McCormick
Sarah Weeks
I may read from BOVINE on Wednesday night. Technically, I’m scheduled to read from my short story, “Not Just for Breakfast Anymore,” but I’m reading from that story the next night at the UP ALL NIGHT party and frankly, I don’t want to read the same thing two nights in a row. I’m perverse like that. So it’s possible if you show up on Wednesday night, you’ll get a preview of BOVINE. Or not. Maybe I'll read from THE CARE AND FEEDING OF PENGUINS, a guidebook I wrote in sixth grade. Maybe I'll stare meaningfully at the audience until people begin to feel uncomfortable. Oh, readings are such fun.
I also have some technical questions I’ve been struggling with and suddenly it dawned on me: take it to the people. You guys are techno-geniuses—I CAN ASK YOU!!! So I am.
1. Okay, anybody with a Mac out there want to tell me how I upload pics to LJ? I thought it might be fun to start doing that but strangely enough just clapping my hands and saying, “And…NOW!” “Shazam!” “Hit me baby one more time!” does not get the job done. If you can walk me through it as if you were educating someone with a brain injury, please do.
2. What are your thoughts about MySpace and Facebook? I was thinking I could have a blog on one or both, but should I? I’d basically be posting the same blog just in different places (cause we all know I’m not always on top of the bloggage thing…) I don’t know. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, pros and cons. Speak to me, people.
3. I don’t actually have a number three but things just look better in threes.
4. Oh, wait--I do have another techie question: Some of you have left me messages in my LJ inbox. I have tried to reply to them and gotten some kind of automated response saying, "You're icky and we don't like your shoes and we're not letting you play our reindeer games so there!" Okay. It didn't actually say that, but it did tell me that there were some parental controls or some such that wouldn't allow my message to go through. I don't really know what to do about that. So if you've left me a message in my LJ inbox can you please make sure that it is possible for me to respond? I'm not ignoring you--promise.
5. Also--anyone know how I do polls? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? That might make counting for the Viewer's Choice Blog a lot easier.
By the way, I went to see IRON MAN on opening day. GOALLLLLLLL!!!!! Loved it. Love Robert Downey Jr. with a passion. I will be going again. Two thumbs up.
Here’s hoping your weekend was bird poo-free. |
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[May. 6th, 2008|12:46 am] |
I won't go into particulars related to a friend of mine, but I just want to post here what are essentially well-known truths that folks ignore all the time:
Do what makes you happy, which also allows you to feel productive and take care of "your own," whatever "your own" may mean to you.
Don't let the bast*rds get you down.
Ignore the naysayers if you are committed to a particular course. If you decide to quit and change course, do it because you have a new idea and commitment -- not because someone told you to, or actively discouraged you.
I'm talking mainly about anyone who is writing fiction in particular, although I suspect this applies to many endeavors.
But particularly with writing: write what makes you happy and brings you a sense of fulfillment. To me, it's the only way to be a writer.
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| The Old "Diary Trick" |
[May. 5th, 2008|12:17 pm] |
Every now and then I have to do a trick to get myself to wake up in the middle of writing a novel. This usually comes when I'm knee-deep in it and would rather deal with anything else in the world other than solving the problems of the novel.
So, to trick myself out of this, I bought a diary and began writing as if I were the one character in question who was giving me trouble. I have been writing out her entire life and viewpoint. I'll draw on this from the book, but it is not the main writing itself.
I just need to see her as more alive, and get to know her far beyond the boundary of the novel itself. Then, judiciously, I'll draw from her life into the novel.
On another note, I have an exciting new project that still too early to announce, but it's currently in the planning stages and I think it'll be a lot of fun.
Best,
Douglas Clegg
http://www.DouglasClegg.com |
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| Luck |
[May. 1st, 2008|05:57 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Los Angeles/X | ] |
A bird pooped on my head this morning.
As I was walking the boy to school, I felt a disgusting plop and I put my fingers up and pulled them away, covered in bird yuck. Ewwwww. The boy, of course, fell over laughing."A BIRD JUST POOPED ON YOUR HEAD!!!! A BIRD JUST POOPED ON YOUR HEAD!!!!"
Just then, his pal Milo and Milo's mom, Kathy, caught up to us. "A bird pooped on my mom's head!" Josh shouted between laughing gasps. People passing by smiled. The smile said, sucks to be you right now.
"That's supposed to be good luck, you know," Kathy said.
"Really. It's good luck to have a bird poop on your head."
"That's what they say."
"Is 'they' comprised of people who do not have bird poop in their hair?" I said, wiping frantically at my scalp with a baby wipe.
"You should be in for a very lucky day today. At least it should all be uphill from here."
When we got to the school, I saw my friends Lina and Debbie. "How are you, my dear?" Lina asked.
"A bird just pooped on my head."
"That's a sign of luck!" Debbie said.
"It's a sign of something. I think of poop in my hair."
"You were chosen!" Debbie insisted.
"Right. I feel very special. I would hug you but, you know, my head is full of luck right now and I don't want to share."
I went to Tea Lounge. My friend Geri made me coffee.
"A bird just pooped on my head," I told her.
"Oh my god. When? Just now? That's supposed to be good luck, you know."
Does everyone know about this but me? Was it in the paper?
"So they tell me."
The other barista, Mark, sidled over. "What's up?"
"A bird just shat on Libba's head."
"No way. That's good luck."
"I'm feeling luckier by the minute. Also I feel a strong urge to put my head under the faucet and rinse with Tide."
"You should play lotto," a lady in line prompted.
Or wear a hat, I thought. "It could be worse. A bird once pooped in Cyndi Lauper's mouth during a concert." Don't ask me why I know this. More valuable real estate being taken up in my brain by useless factoids.
"See? Good thing it was just your head," the lady said.
My friend Brina met me at Tea Lounge for our writing date. I told her about the bird poop. She did not tell me I was lucky. She offered to get me a tea. This is why she is my favorite person today. My phone rang. It was Barry. I took the call outside, keeping a careful distance between my head and any pigeon perching spots. Barry did not sound happy. In fact, he sounded like somebody had stolen his happy and replaced it with a ball of dirty tissues.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"You're not gonna believe this. The ceiling just fell in."
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you well. It sounded like you said the ceiling fell in."
"I did."
"What happened?"
"The guys were working upstairs and Billy fell through the floor and the ceiling came down on top of my computer," Barry said.
"Oh my god."
"My computer's okay, but now they're going to have to replace the whole ceiling. It's covered in plastic right now." Barry sounded pale. Yes, people can sound pale.
"I will bring you a case of chocolate and a straw," I promised. "Hey, wanna hear something really funny? A bird took a poop on my head! That's supposed to bring luck."
Pause. "I think it brings disease."
"Oh God. I'm so skeeved. Don't let the shower fall through the floor before I can wash my hair."
So that was my day. I'm not feeling any luckier right now. But my hair is really, really, really clean. |
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