Week in review
Nov. 13th, 2011 08:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catherineldfIt's included an evening out with other writers, an evening at someone else's reading, a reading I did and lovely time spent with an old friend. Well, and work and all the usual things that go on in my weeks. Wednesday was a delightful Writer's Night gathering with most of the usual suspects. Thursday, I was off to a reading at Magers and Quinn Bookstore with Jana, author C.M. Harris and her partner Cheryl Gordon. We ran into mystery and children's author Lance Zarimba, who I hadn't seen since he was in one of my Loft classes a year or so back. Lance has a new gay mystery novel with MLR, amongst other things.
The reading at the store was from Windy City Queer: LGBTQ Dispatches from the Third Coast edited by Kathie Bergquist (a book none of us are in, seeing as we don't live in Chicago) and featured several of the different authors from the book. The readings were a fine mix of poetry, nonfiction, literary fiction and mystery and we greatly enjoyed most of them. I picked up a copy of the book and chatted with Kathie. In addition to editing, she runs a reading series at Women and Children First Bookstore in Chicago and is interested in having me there to read next year. I'm hoping to get it to tie in with Chicon and perhaps do another reading in Milwaukee or Madison en route. More on that as schedules get sorted out for next year. I'm really psyched about the prospect. :-)
Friday night was spent cleaning in prep for our pal Naomi, who came up to visit from scenic Iowa on Saturday. She got in about fifteen minutes before I had to leave for my reading with Michael Merriam at True Colors Bookstore. We headed over, picking up Mr. Matt at Sovereign Grounds on the way. I turned up with cupcakes from the Franklin Bakery which were greeted with enthusiasm. We ended up with a crowd of about 18, including the charming half-double, who I don't believe I've met outside of LJ before. We had fun, people laughed in the right spots and Q&A seemed to go well. Big thumbs up all around. Mike sold a couple of books, I sold a few books (True Colors still has copies of A Day at the Inn, A Night at the Palace and Other Stories, BTW). I picked up a tome on artisanal flatbread and pizza crusts, which includes gluten free recipes, as well as a book by local mystery author Linda Morganstein (who has a release of her very own coming up at True Colors on Saturday, Nov. 19th at 4PM).
Then we were off to Pizza Biga, where they seated us in the Turtle Bakery due to the size of our party. We enjoyed a fine meal and good conversation until Jana pulled into town from teaching at St. Ben's. Then we were off to the RIverview Winebar for tea and chocolate mousse. Then back home to play with kitties and talk art. This morning, Naomi and I had breakfast at the Modern Cafe on Chicago, followed by an expedition to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, then off to Pho79 for yummy pho.
All else is most writerly excitement. I was asked to record a reading for the Cocktail Hour, a podcast that is mostly about lesbian fiction. And cocktails. Perhaps I can get them to come up with an interesting 'virgin' one for me. I'll post when I've a. got it done and b. have an idea of when they'll post it.
The reading at the store was from Windy City Queer: LGBTQ Dispatches from the Third Coast edited by Kathie Bergquist (a book none of us are in, seeing as we don't live in Chicago) and featured several of the different authors from the book. The readings were a fine mix of poetry, nonfiction, literary fiction and mystery and we greatly enjoyed most of them. I picked up a copy of the book and chatted with Kathie. In addition to editing, she runs a reading series at Women and Children First Bookstore in Chicago and is interested in having me there to read next year. I'm hoping to get it to tie in with Chicon and perhaps do another reading in Milwaukee or Madison en route. More on that as schedules get sorted out for next year. I'm really psyched about the prospect. :-)
Friday night was spent cleaning in prep for our pal Naomi, who came up to visit from scenic Iowa on Saturday. She got in about fifteen minutes before I had to leave for my reading with Michael Merriam at True Colors Bookstore. We headed over, picking up Mr. Matt at Sovereign Grounds on the way. I turned up with cupcakes from the Franklin Bakery which were greeted with enthusiasm. We ended up with a crowd of about 18, including the charming half-double, who I don't believe I've met outside of LJ before. We had fun, people laughed in the right spots and Q&A seemed to go well. Big thumbs up all around. Mike sold a couple of books, I sold a few books (True Colors still has copies of A Day at the Inn, A Night at the Palace and Other Stories, BTW). I picked up a tome on artisanal flatbread and pizza crusts, which includes gluten free recipes, as well as a book by local mystery author Linda Morganstein (who has a release of her very own coming up at True Colors on Saturday, Nov. 19th at 4PM).
Then we were off to Pizza Biga, where they seated us in the Turtle Bakery due to the size of our party. We enjoyed a fine meal and good conversation until Jana pulled into town from teaching at St. Ben's. Then we were off to the RIverview Winebar for tea and chocolate mousse. Then back home to play with kitties and talk art. This morning, Naomi and I had breakfast at the Modern Cafe on Chicago, followed by an expedition to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, then off to Pho79 for yummy pho.
All else is most writerly excitement. I was asked to record a reading for the Cocktail Hour, a podcast that is mostly about lesbian fiction. And cocktails. Perhaps I can get them to come up with an interesting 'virgin' one for me. I'll post when I've a. got it done and b. have an idea of when they'll post it.