It’s me! I’m back! Or else in your spam.
Happy Easter. I hope you and yours are all excellent. At this very moment, my husband and eldest are boxing with some director friends in Echo Park and my youngest is sleeping. A great time to write a newsletter.
Stuffies! I’m using a random number generator and notified two people this week. More stuffies mailing out soon.
I got some good news that I should probably not announce, but will hint at. I’ve subscribed to a news magazine for several years. My daughter reads it every morning before school. Anyway, I’ve hoped for a while now that they’d review my next book, as my daughter would open the magazine and be like: that’s my mom! Last week, the magazine did one better, and asked me to write a column. I’m DELIGHTED.
In other news, it’s spring break. The kids got stir-crazy, so we took them to an air B&B between Joshua Tree and 29 Palms for two nights. In a wild stroke of luck, they had their own guest house with a pool table and record player complete with ABBA’s greatest hits. As seen below, the house was in the middle of nowhere, and reminded me a little of “The Hills Have Eyes.”
We climbed rocks in Joshua Tree National Park. In a reversal of the typical, the rocks had great traction and were much easier to climb than they appeared. Highly recommend. Also of note, the shrubbery was littered with Western Tent Caterpillars. I noticed that they shake their heads a lot. Wikipedia informs me that this is to avoid parasitic flies. Who knew?
In other news, my youngest’s soccer game was canceled yesterday because of a highway closure. But the team was already in Griffith Park and the coach had reserved the field, so we played parents against kids. GREAT FUN! I also learned three things: 1) Running a field for an hour is actually pretty hard. 2) There’s a really good reason parents aren’t supposed to shout instructions from the sidelines. I mean, I knew I was supposed to kick the ball! 3) It’s a million times easier to tell when a player is off sides when you’re actually playing the game. I was rarely able to figure it out as a spectator.
I would, 100%, play in adult soccer league. I would do this badly but with great enthusiasm. I also had a moment, while playing, where I thought: This is a good time. It’s nice when you know a good thing as it happens.
But no more of that! Pretty soon I’ll be talking about gratitude and making prayer hands like some nut from Plymouth Valley.
The above is the new trailer Atria made for A Better World!
Also — The tour is still happening! If you want to go to Rhinebeck or The Strand, they’re asking people to get tickets in advance.
Saturday, April 6, 2:30 pm at Dark Delicacies in Burbank, CA: a conversation with film critic Amy Nicholson, immediately followed my a 3-4pm signing: you can preorder the book and I’ll sign it there, then they’ll mail it to you.
Sunday, April 7, noon-4pm: Vortex Books and Comics, Columbia, PA pre order it and I’ll sign and they’ll ship.
Thursday, April 11, 7pm: Village Well Books in Culver City, CA. Preorder here.
Sunday, April 14, 11am: In conversation Hilarie Burton at the Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck, via Oblong Books. Get yer ticket here.
Monday, April 15 at 7pm: In conversation with Patrick Radden Keefe at The Strand in NYC. Tickets Here.
Saturday, April 20 4:30-5:30: panel, Haunted: The Contemporary Gothic Novel at the Los Angeles Festival of Books, Norris Theater
We’re working on a Chicago date in May and I’m excited to announce the person I’ll be in conversation with. She’s very cool! So cool!
Until next time — thanks for playing.
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