Past Updates
January Update
I hope it’ll be filled with many great things for you. The past year indeed held its share for me, and once again I thank so many fabulous and kind readers for their support and interest. Without you, I wouldn’t get to do this for a living.
And I’m very happy to be living. This summer I marked the tenth anniversary of my breast cancer diagnosis, a wakeup call that continues to tap me on the shoulder and remind me how lucky I am. As an old t-shirt of mine proclaims, I’m “Just glad to be here.”
The year began with the unexpected death of my father-in-law, John “The Diamond Shea. On the first Christmas without him, my brother-in-law Johnny presented the family with DVDs of a 90-minute video interview Tommy and I had done with The Diamond 17 years ago. What a thing to have, and I’m so glad we recorded it in the first place. If you have the technology, or can borrow it, I’d really recommend doing an interview with the loved ones of your choice. Sit then down, focus the camera on them and start asking away: How’d you get here? What was your childhood like? How’d you meet Ma? What kind of kid was I? It’s easy enough to do, and you’ll be glad you did.
The first weekend in February I’ll be making my first visit to the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference, which will be held this year in Washington, D.C. I’ve heard so much about this annual event and am eager to finally attend. I was prompted by an invitation from the wonderful author and friend Rita Ciresi, who has assembled a breast cancer-related panel to take place Feb. 4 from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. titled “Fact and Fiction: Four Women Write About the Disease All Women Dread.” Stop by if you’re at the conference. Details are at www.awpwriter.org/conference.
Also in February, I’ll begin a six-week writing workshop at Writers in Progress in Florence, Mass. To be held six Tuesdays starting Feb. 8, from 6 to 9 p.m., Focus on Fiction is for beginning and intermediate writers starting a new story, or a new section of a story. A manuscript critique is included in the tuition. For details, please visit the site.
I’ll also be teaching several classes for students at Bay Path College in Longmeadow, Mass., where I am writer-in-residence. As part of that very fun job, I’ve been working with Bay Path’s director of special programs, Briana Sitler, on assembling the Feb. 19 Bay Path’s Writers’ Day III, a day of lectures on, well, writing. The keynote speaker will be my very own agent, John Talbot, who'll start of the day with a talk then will meet with writers who request individual consultations. We'll also have talks by Kim Dana Kupperman, managing editor of the prestigious Gettysburg Review; international journalist and newly published author Jonathan Green; acclaimed Maine fiction writer Lewis Robinson (www.lewisrobinson.com); and local singer-songwriter legend Judy Polan. To register, visit http://www.baypath.edu/NewsandEvents/Conferences/WritersDay.aspx or email Briana Sitler at bsitler@baypath.edu.
I’m thrilled that Tommy Shea and I have received a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to present a night of writing information, inspiration and exercises April 7 at 6:30 p.m. at the Palmer Public Library in Palmer, Mass. The event will be free and open to all ages. Come on by that night – bring a notebook, a pen and your interest in writing.
And I look forward to April 30, when I’ll be part of a fundraising book signing and book sale to benefit Weston Rehabilitation Center for Women in Holyoke, Mass.
As for the state of my desk, it’s a lot clearer since the book I’ve been referring to as “the palmreader novel” was sent to my agent. We’re keeping fingers and paws crossed for an interested publisher.
I continue to write for Obit magazine, which just published a piece I wrote on the classic Christmas tune “Fairytale of New York.” There is a lot to look forward to in the new year, including checking out some bad writing - http://badwritingthemovie.com/bw/Home.html.
For some good writing, I offer this poem I discovered on The Writer’s Almanac, sent along with thanks again, and all best wishes for a blessed new year.
Suzanne
Be Mine
by Paul Hostovsky
I love mankind most
when no one's around.
On New Year's Day for instance,
when everything's closed
and I'm driving home on the highway alone
for hours in the narrating rain,
with no exact change,
the collector's booth glowing ahead
in the tumbling dark
like a little lit temple
with an angel inside and a radio which as I open my window,
a little embarrassed by
my need for change
(until the silence says
it needs no explanation),
is suddenly playing a music more lovely
than any I've ever heard.
And the hand—
so open, so hopeful,
that I feel an urge to kiss it—
lowers the little life-boat of itself
and takes the moist and crumpled prayer
of my dollar bill from me.
Then the tap, tap,
tinkling spill of the roll of coins
broken against the register drawer,
and the hand returning two coins, and a voice
sweeter than the radio's music,
saying, "Have a good one, man."
I would answer that voice if I could—
which of course I can't—
that I've loved it ever since it was born
and probably longer than that.
Thought "You too,"
is all I can manage,
I say it with great emotion
in a voice that doesn't sound like me,
though it must be
mine.
"Be Mine" by Paul Hostovsky, from Bending the Notes. © Main Street Ray Publishing company, 2008.