OLD STUFF/NEW STUFF/RED STUFF/BLUE STUFF
Part of the reason I haven't posted a blog in a long time is about sixfold.
First, I'd decided to use pictures with my blogs; and since my assistant and beloved friend Pamela English became mother, in March, to Owen Riley Johnston, younger brother of Carter Andrew Johnston (photo to follow) I haven't been able to include a photo with my blogs because only Pam knows how to do this.
Pam wanted a girl, but really likes Owen despite this and was emotionally prepared for his birth since I knew he was a boy since conception. I have Gen-dar -- which is different from Gay-dar and radar but equally accurate.
And since I have five sons, and have adopted two daughters, I have advised Pam accordingly.
Anyhow, photo-wise, I'm not easily daunted.
I did try to post photos, ala my lovely author friend Holly Kennedy (on her website blog) and Patricia Wood (on her website blog) and Jodi Picoult (on her website blog) and pretty much everyone except for me.
When I try to do this, the nose of the individual picture spreads across the whole page like the state of Nebraska on a map (I'm in the state of Nebraska right now, by the way) although my website guy, Steve Bennett (the world's greatest website guy) tells me on my new and even more terrific website (soon to debut) this whole picture/blog thing will be a lot simpler. And then I'll have to learn to do it on my MySpace pages (oprah_author and deepend_author) and soon a page for my upcoming novel 'Still Summer,' which I will use to meet new friends who also love books and gossiping about life and books in general.
So those are two new things -- Owen and the website revamping.
A great deal of other stuff also is new.
I'm not sick (so far as I know) although some readers were alarmed when I wrote about speaking at Alice Hoffman's amazing fundraising event for the Hoffman Breast Center at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge.
I was one of six authors.
Among them were number-one bestselling Jodi Picoult, my pal and wearer of spangles (and along with me, bare feet by the end of the evening); Gregory Maguire -- author of 'Wicked,' (yes THAT 'WICKED'), as well as 'Son of a Witch' and about twenty hundred other incredibly cool and successful novels, with whom I formed a one-way admiration society because he was too terrific a speaker, only to learn later it was mutual; Robert Parker, who immortalized the suave detective Spenser (for hire) and whose wife (whom he said he married "before she was born") also is, like the charming, gutsy and too-darn-real-to-be-that-much-of-a-genius Alice Hoffman, a breast-cancer survivor.
There also were two other amazing authors -- Susan Orlean, whose amazing non-fiction saga 'The Orchid Thief' became the Oscar-winning movie 'Adaptation,' who read an essay about liberal sissy bridesmaids who became voracious, skeet-shooting Amazons (with the bruises to show for it) at a wedding in Scotland, and dearest of all, Ann Hood, whose unendurable and yet somehow beautifully uplifting novel, 'The Knitting Circle,' tells the story of a woman whose loss parallels the story of the loss of Ann's own little daughter, to a rare form of strep. Most moving of all to me was to see Ann's husband, who with her recently adopted a sweet toddler daughter, hold her close after she spoke.
There is nothing more more assuring than a loving marriage sealed in the fire -- like Ann's, like Alice's.
You can read more about the event if you look for the account in the Cambridge Chronicle -- Alice lives in Cambridge sometimes. It features a video clip of me in which I first look as though I'm stroking out but then talk about the event in a way I really do feel. (And I did look better than that, especially my hair, which I "did" in an upsweep copied from a photo of Claire Danes while stuck in the Rochester airport.)
Okay.
On to some new stuff.
I'm three-quarters finished with my next novel, called 'Fly Away Home.' It's the story of two people, both pregnant with babies through the process of surrogacy, who become best friends and even each other's helpmeet in crisis -- without ever once seeing each other's faces.
My idea of a retreat for writers that wouldn't be a real colony (just a place for very, very reliable people to go and write, free of charge and free of food -- they'd have to provide their own bagels and bedding, but aside from that, only a cleaning fee) is almost ready to come true. Although it will never be a 'writer's residence,' like the magnificent Ragdale Foundation or MacDowell Colony, it will have wireless, cable TV and a beach nearby....on Cape Cod.
A friend was going to do this and decided against it. She had the money but decided times were too chance-y.
Because of an excellent act of avarice on the part of a female relative of mine, I don't. But I'm going to do it anyhow. I don't like to back off from a risk.
I keep saying it's only for women; but it's really for some certain men, too. You know who you are.
Twin-bed mattresses in good condition, a cool-looking little desk and rugs of any description (except ratty ones) cheerfully accepted.
That's a new thing.
I've been dickering (my eldest daughter, age 11, calls this "bickering") on Craigslist for old things, such as furnishings for this putatative palace of publishable prose. And one thing I've nailed down is a pale (very pale) beige sofa.
So what goes with pale beige? Anything? I'm thinking blue and pale (very pale) yellow. What goes with a couch that's red and green? Besides Santa Claus? (Red and green are complimentary colors. I know this because my husband is a recovering studio arts major.) I'm thinking cream, pale cream, or sage, pale sage. If you have an ideas (or paint) let me know.
So that's what's new with me.
Another month or so and the gearing up for the appearance of my novel 'Still Summer' starts, with pieces already in magazines such as 'Parenting,' and 'Real Simple.' (They have nothing to do with the novel but there you are...)
Write and tell me what's new with you.
OH! I forgot!
The most important things of all!
My number-three son, Martin, graduates next weekend with honors and becomes part of the first BFA class in Musical Theatre at Indiana University in Bloomington. My number two son, Dan, finished his first year of Culinary Arts school with great grades (and a great recipe for shrimp pasta). My number one son, Rob, won a People's Choice award for something having to do with giving the avatars on Second Life cell phone messages (you have to be under the age of 25 to understand this). But he is planning to attend Full Sail next year to major in mass platform gaming as he clearly has a gift for this. Until then, if you have a problem with your computer (ANY computer, of ANY kind, ANYWHERE in Wisconsin or Illinois) he can help you set it up for fix it, which he is doing freelance right now.
My number four son, Will, graduated his first year of preschool without causing any actionable damage to the school or faculty (Will is a bit of a rough-houser and the size of a small tractor) and my number five son Atticus graduated to a sippee cup.
My daughters remain practically perfect. (Photo to follow).
Yours,
Jackie M.