My afternoon at WORDSTOCK with Charle Yu was pure joy. That sure is a nice, talented man. Everyone should buy his book. I’m in the middle of reading it and can’t stop.
this is a porchlight
This morning I fly to San Francisco to be a part of the iconic Porchlight Story telling series where, though I’ll surely be outclassed, I plan to enjoy myself enormously. If you are in the SF area and want to come see the show the details are here: http://www.porchlightsf.com/thismonth.html
I will be reading this coming Sunday at WORDSTOCK.
click image for link to details or read on...
And according to the schedule I will be reading with the amazing Charles Yu.
Mr. Yu wrote this book.
There are two things of which I am not sure in all of this.
1) I don’t know what “reading with” means. I kind of hope it’s a bizarre 1960s-retro-dada-french experimental theater kind of thing where we each sit on the stage facing away from the audience simultaneously reciting passages from our book while stock footage of tanks runs on the overhead screen.
by there is a lot of red in this post. Must be the alienated fires of transformation burning...
But somehow, I think this is not what they meant when they said that Charles Yu and I were reading together. I think they meant that we are psychologically paired, which I consider a high compliment, and that our audiences share something in common. Other than venue. Anyway, he’s great and so get there early enough to see him. It’s this Sunday and I go on at 3pm. Charles Yu is at 2pm.
2) The second thing I am unsure of is why WORDSTOCK is always capitalized. I mean, I understand why they do it, for branding. But why do I do it?
Next post, on to the Bay Area where I will get to tell a story at the inimitable Porchlight Storytelling series for their special Litquake edition…
Due to the amount of cool events and stuff (Why, what a lovely and particular word you’ve landed on Ms Veselka, so elegant and descriptive: stuff…) I get to do over these net few weeks, I am go to post them separately in a stream so that they each get the attention they deserve.
And so I don’t get so overwhelmed and freaked out that I burrow into the mud.
if I'm very still they'll think I'm a...I'm a...worm burrowing--wait, this isn't smart at all.
So first up on this little glory train is…The Nervous Breakdown and Wordstock event this Monday (October 3rd) at the Bunk Bar in Portland Oregon!
like movie stars!
And if you can;t read the details…go here http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/gharrison/2011/08/tnble-portland-10311/
…and more great events to come. I am so very lucky and truly, truly grateful for all of this.
I have been asked to read with a cast of amazing writers here in Portland this weekend (sept 9/10) for an event called This! Fest. It’s a mix of musicians and writers all doing really short performances, which is pretty neat because it’s so rare to hear so many people putting it o the line all in one night. Truly, the line-up is great and I am more than honored to get to join them. My reading will be around 9:30 on Friday but the festival is over two nights and it is all going to be good. Please come.
Go here for the details http://portland.readinglocal.com/events/this-fest-at-the-woods/
For my Portland friends…
A few spaces are available in the weekend boot camp (Sept 10/11) called “Creating New Worlds.” If you are looking for a short sharp writer slap to wake you out of your torpor (and I know I am!), this might be the class for you. And it is genre friendly.
click picture to link to class description at the Attic
(Go here if I have failed to link the URL correctly http://atticwritersworkshop.com/workshop/july-weekend-boot-camp-creating-new-worlds-vanessa-veselka)
And starting in mid-September I am also leading a 5 week non-fiction workshop called “The Truth About Truth.” This one will meet Thursdays during the day so it’s good for freelancers and moms and no good scoundrels. Like me. And here’s the link to that one:
http://atticwritersworkshop.com/workshop/september-october-truth-about-truth
thanks. more updates to follow.
If we learn geography by invading countries and learn about the weather through hurricanes and animals by monitoring extinction trends, we will eventually understand our universe. I am sure of it. Here’s what I learned this morning: there is a difference between a storm tide and a storm surge.
But not to this house…
no witch. we checked.
That’s what I really want the headline to say. There was just a 5.9 near Mineral, VA that shook NYC a little and generated constellations of headlines and twitter feeds and cell phone cluster bombs. The earthquake: shocked, jolted, rattled, shook, the east coast according to the news. Still, I prefer surprised. Because that’s what it was. A surprise.
I have no idea who these nice people are but I think the degree of surspise must be related to the depth of the gulf between the surprisee and the crowd, which doesn;t apply to earthquakes. Typically.
New England/NYC book tour… 1) Tornado in the Berkshires 2) NYC earthquake 3) Hurricane, penciled in for Saturday. SURPRISE! Ah, weather.
Back to geology.
Half of my obsession probably stems from maps like these…
see? nothing to worry about.
As a general rule, the less your state geological map resembles this…
… the better. Maybe. I guess it depends what the age the colors represent. In this case, the 80s, which was a very bad decade for earthquakes and gated snares…
this map will not feed back (because it isn't a hollow body and / or the amp has too much headroom) but it's still a fine state.
