On Making Art: Katherine Dunn, Communicatrix, Derek Sivers, Seth Godin, Yours Truly on Book Studio

A batch of items today:

Artist / farmer / pie maker / senior animal caretaker Katherine Dunn over at the delightful Apifera Farm blog has this to show and say about anger and art.

Communicatrix interviews Seth Godin on making art.
(P.S. How do you know if you've been lulled to sleep? Do you drink Diet Coke? I am not kidding.)

Derek Sivers interviews Seth Godin, ditto (the music angle).

Et moi? No, I didn't interview Seth Godin. But Bethanne Patrick interviewed me for Book Studio about the Washington DC story behind the story of my novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire. If I do say so myself, it's a pretty good interview, though either I have the camera lights directly in my eyes or I need to work on keeping my eyes open while I speak (probably both).

More anon.

The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire at the Upcoming Virginia Festival of the Book

This March 19, for the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville VA, I'll be participating on the panel "True Stories of Fact and Fiction" with Lenore Hart (Nevermore) and A. Roger Ekirch (Birthright). Moderator will be Larry Baker. For more information, click here.

Winter Writing Workshops with C.M. Mayo

an Miguel de Allende (Techniques of Fiction); Bethesda MD (Dialogue Intensive): and Rehoboth Beach (Point of View). Click here for more info.

Daily Drop Cap

he Daily Drop Cap by graphic designer Jessica Hische (who also runs this blog): I love it!

Gargoyle 55

K, the (as yet) unanswered e-mail has gone from Mount Everest to Popocatepetl to... um, Ixtazihuatl. Still quite a hill. But I just had to take a break from it all to mention the outstanding new issue of Gargoyle. Love the cover! Andy Rumball's "Aoife Mannix".) Just a few of the contributors: Sherman Alexie, Kate Braverman (one of my favorite short story writers), Moira Egan, J.D. Smith, and --- drum roll--- Lyn Lifshin. Lucinda Ebersole and Richard Peabody, you rock. Nita Congress, you too. More anon.

Blogs Noted: Dianne Aigaki, Lulu Torbet, Dylan Landis, Judith Leaver, Steve Clemons, David Taylor, World Question Center, London Review

fter a novelesque December, I'm still tackling the Mount Everest-sized (ok, got it down to say, Popocatepetl-sized) e-mail backlog. But I blog on! Herewith the latest crop of blogs noted:

-->Dianne Aigaki (Offering what looks like an amazing Tibetan adventure)
-->Dylan Landis Notebook (New blog by the author of Normal People Don't Live Like This)
-->Judith Leaver (Freelance writer based in Washington DC)
-->London Review Blog
-->Soul of a People (the blog for the book by David Taylor)
-->Lululand (Lulu Torbet, writer and artist based in San Miguel de Allende)
-->The Washington Note (Steve Clemons)
-->World Question Center

Grace Cavalieri's Cover

Wow! Sounds Like Something I would Say is soon to be out...

Seven Minutes of Yoga (+ 5 Minutes of Writing)

Over at the the Cowgirl Yoga Blog, Margaret Burns Vap talks about a news year's resolution of a minimum of 7 minutes of yoga per day (as inspired by the NY Times' Dr Oz). Speaking of new year's resolutions, why not try 5 minutes of writing per day? If you're flummoxed by a blank page, "Giant Golden Buddha" and 364 more 5 minute writing exercises are available free on-line here. Namaste & more anon.

2010 E-Mail Manifesto

UPDATE December 2016: Email Nijerie in the Theater of Space-Time

I owe a lot of you e-mails. (I am owed a lot of e-mails, now that I think about it.) Isn't everyone overwhelmed, snowed under, treadmilling up to the nostrils in the stuff? Yet, so much of it really does matter. So many messages I sincerely do appreciate! Starting Monday, January 4, I will be responding to e-mail again in what I hope will be a more timely matter. Meanwhile, I will catch up as best I can. My personal guidelines for 2010:

---> E-mail checking once, max twice per day.

---> Answer e-mails from family and close friends first. Because they are first.

---> Remember: there are such things as vacations, weekends, and free evenings.

---> Be here now. This is not possible with a Blackberry.

---> Delete mass e-mailed jokes (sorry, but help me out here, OK?)

---> Ditto anything with an unsolicited attachment (people who send attached PDFs for their newsletters, etc, please use a link to the PDF on your website).

---> Always (unless it's totally spammy, i.e., from someone I don't know) send a thank you / congrats to anyone who announces a new book / show / anything that took time, know-how, and guts to share.

---> Send a real letter / note / curious postcard at least once a week.

More anon.

3 Most Frequently Asked Questions About the Writing Business

To my (happy) surprise, I am guest-blogging today over at the Writers Center blog, First Person Plural, with a re-posting of my answers to the three most frequently asked questions about the writing business. More anon.