writers | Ann Leary, author of The Good House

A Wild Night

The Lift Trucks Gallery sent me this short video that they made of last night’s reading. If you don’t blink, at the very end, you will see me up at the mike. But as the others have said, the most fun was (for me) before the event, and (for them) afterward.

I arrived at our designated meeting spot, Tazza Cafe, and as one of the others stated, within minutes, our screeching and cackling and guffawing had driven the other patrons away. Most had arrived before me and Tracy very graciously offered to buy me a cup of tea and then we all got to gabbing, and honestly, it felt like I was with family.

A Great Book, A Great Contest

I hesitate to interrupt all the introductions with a new blog but I encourage people to keep coming out! I don’t want to say welcome, because many of you have been reading all along, but, it’s lovely to hear all the new voices.

I have been insanely busy, this week and so have many people I know. First, my friend Dani Shapiro has a new book coming out on Monday. The book is called Devotion and it’s a beautiful examination of her spiritual journey in what she calls “the afternoon of life.” Click on her link and have a look at her books and blog and introduce yourselves while you’re there. I’ve already read Devotion and recommend it highly!

Big News

Because so many of you have emailed me and commented here about how much you have loved reading Dan Chaon’s Await Your Reply, I decided to ask Mr. Chaon if he would be interested in doing some sort of Q & A with us. He said that he would be happy to, and then I asked Steve Bennett, who owns AuthorBytes, my web design firm, if he could find some way that we can do some sort of live chat right here on the blog and he said that he would be happy to.

So, now I’m happy. Very happy!

Hag Alert

Today I received an email from the original man of the blog himself, our very own Alan, who very gently and quietly reminded me that his friend, author David K. Leff, would be reading and signing books at my favorite bookstore this afternoon. So off I went at 2:00 to hear David Leff talk about his book, Deep Travel: In Thoreau’s Wake on the Concord and Merrimack. His talk and his book are about what he calls, “a methodology for looking.” They’re about looking mindfully at the everyday places and things and thereby gaining an understanding of their history and man’s part in it.

Yes I Will Yes

“…and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.” James Joyce, Ulysses

My friend Davyne Verstandig, head of the Litchfield County Writers Project, recently asked me if I would like to attend a lecture about James Joyce, given by author Frank Delaney.

James Joyce? Frank Delaney? Yes I said yes I will Yes.

A Reading, New Friends, Dorothy

Friday night I participated in a panel discussion with two other authors, Marie Bostwick and Lauren Lipton. It was part of a series done by the Litchfield County Writer’s Project, in conjunction with the University of Connecticut. As soon as I arrived, I met Marie and Lauren and we were instant best friends. We all had dinner with Davyne Verstandig, who is the director of the program and then we went on stage to read from our novels and answer questions from Davyne and the audience.

That’s Davyne on the left, then me, Marie and Lauren.

Lady Chatterley’s Crisis

When I was a teenager, I couldn’t wait to get my grubby little paws on D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover because I had heard it was banned when it was first published, and I expected it to be filled with very naughty sex scenes. I recall being bored by the book and not finding it naughty or sexy, though I was highly perplexed by this “crisis” that Lawrence kept describing. Lady Chatterley and her lover would cry out as they reached their “crisis” simultaneously or one after the other, or sometimes Lady Chatterley was spared the crisis altogether, and oddly, she was disappointed.

If You’re Free Tomorrow Night…

Tomorrow night – Friday, May 1st – I will be reading from my novel Outtakes From a Marriage and participating in a panel discussion with two other authors, Marie Bostwick and Lauren Lipton.

The event is part of a series done by the Litchfield County Writer’s Project, in conjunction with the University of Connecticut. If you live in the Connecticut area, and have nothing else to do, try to come. It’s free! It’ll be fun and not boring, promise! For information call 860-626-6850.

Writing and Publishing

We’re home now but I had so much fun touring schools and especially visiting Boston, my old home.

Yesterday, I was a member of a Q&A panel about writing and publishing. It was a part of a career symposium at Emerson College. The best thing about it was meeting two fantastic women and fellow authors. I flatter myself by calling them my fellows, as they are somewhat (okay, a lot) more accomplished as authors than I am. But they were great fun and lovely and I really enjoyed our discussion.

Turndown Wisdom

At our very swanky hotel, the housekeepers place a card with a quotation on the guests’ pillows during the “turndown service.” That phrase has always struck me as odd. “Would you like turndown service?” a pretty young woman will ask, after rousing me out of bed (I go to bed too early for some hotels).

“No thanks, I don’t need to be turned down tonight.”

Anyway, the quote awaiting me on my pillow last night was, “A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another’s.” Jean Paul Richter

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