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where writers come to play

Announcement: Someone interviewed me for a change.November 22

No blogging for me until the new year (except for in the comments section, where you can always reach and distract me). But I do want to point you to an interview I did with the lovely and talented Jordan Rosenfeld. She asked about the courage and stamina required of writers, and I’d love to hear how you‘d respond to her questions.

The interview is here.

Jordan very generously made this interview available via the link because I asked her to, but truthfully, her interviews are part of a newsletter, and it would be a nice gesture to Jordan if you subscribed to that FREE newsletter by clicking right here. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

For kicks, I’m posting this photo that those of you who have access to my MySpace pictures may have already seen. The cute one is my good friend and soccer teammate, Kenny. Part of what cracks me up about this photo is my rained-on hair and the cerebral palsy pose - one more reminder not to take myself too seriously. The cool thing about the photo, though, is the other reminder - that my best friends accept me, flaws and all.

Oh! Al

Monthly Wrap: Times We Turned PinkNovember 6

Before I get to the monthly wrap, I just want to acknowledge this historic election. I haven’t felt so emotional and deeply grateful since my kids were born healthy. (With maybe the one exception of when one of my boys got me a Madeline tea set for my birthday so we could have tea parties together.) It’s an amazing time - turning away from divisiveness and towards what we might become if we work together.

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This month, we told stories of the foolish things we’ve done. I do foolish things on such a regular basis that it just seems like part of life-as-me includes walking into a tree after passing someone cute, or carrying a briefcase upside down to a job interview, or managing to parallel park underneath another car, or answering, You’re Welcome when someone asks, How are you?

But I’ll share a story I told to my friend, Kimberly, the other day when we had lunch together.

As many of you regulars know, Mr. Henderson and I started dating when we were both 19. That’s more than half of our lives ago. But we did break up for a significant period of time, and this is a story of that in-between time, when we were broken up but trying to hang out as friends again.

He show

Dan Conaway, Literary Agent (part 2)November 4

Welcome to Part 2 of my interview with the incomparable Dan Conaway, a literary agent with Writers House, and more importantly, my confidence-building, book-saving, wicked genius agent. Today we’re going to focus on his background as an editor; his period of anonymous blogging; and his understanding of what writers go through when they write, edit, and try to sell their books. I hope you’ll leave comments because it’s good for agents and writers to hear from each other! (And if you missed Part 1 of my interview, just click here.)

Don’t forget: Dan is not seeking new clients at this time, so please don’t send him your manuscripts. Simply use the information he’s so generously sharing, and chat with him in the comments section, if you like.

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You’ve been both an agent and an editor (working for Putnam, HarperCollins, Polygram, HBO, etc). I imagine that gives you a unique perspective on the business.

Hmmm…I’m not sure. I’m not great with grand theories and such, to be honest—in fact, in some ways I think I consciously try not to think too much about “The Business” in broad prognosticating strokes, because if I did I might

Question of the Month: FoolishNovember 2

Tell me about a time you felt foolish. Where were you, and what happened?

I was looking through my scrap book for a picture of anyone looking embarrassed, and came across this one of little Green-Hand, looking more coy than anything else, but I’m so in love with the photo (and the boy), I had to post it.

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Wednesday, my amazing agent, Dan Conaway, is back for Part 2 of our interview. He has a great story of participating in a major conference while wearing a disguise. And all I have to say is, You do not want to miss this story or the rest of the interview. See you then!

(And don’t forget to vote on Tuesday, Nov. 4th. If you don’t know where your polling place is, click here. Bring your driver’s license or a recent bill or your voter registration card. Do not wear any button or t-shirt or anything else that will get you accused of electioneering. But do go early and bring along any of your friends who plan to vote for Obama.)

Monthly Wrap: Our Most Pathetic HalloweensOctober 31

I just want want to say how much I loved hearing the stories of your most pathetic Halloweens: the man who answered your request for candy by giving you dead chickens, the yellow body paint that wouldn’t come off, the parents who had you passing out evangelical pamphlets, the small children you terrified in your dead can-can girl outfit, …!

Here’s my story of deciding to go to a Halloween party on my due date. Mr. Henderson wanted me to go as a watermelon farmer. He was going to buy me a pair of biggie-sized overalls, cut out the front, and paint my belly. Nice!

Then we decided painting my stomach might make things difficult for the midwife if I happened to go into labor that night, so we kept thinking.

At the last minute, we thought a better (and warmer) option would be for us to go to the party as Don Juan and some chick he knocked up. The problem with doing things at the last minute is getting the costume right. Mr. H pulled something from the costume shop at CMU, where he was teaching at the time. The kinds of dresses that are stored there are generally designed for beautiful, skinny actresses, and let’s just say the costume he chose didn’t fit. There was the problem about how high the skirt hung in fr