Kevin Larimer, editor of Poets & Writers, the essential professional magazine for literary writers, gave me a good pep talk in his editor’s note in the July/August issue. He notes that writers, including me, sometimes apologize for how long it took to write something or how they stumbled along the way, and insists that “writing is messy,” and no excuses are necessary. You can read his note here. The interview with me he mentions is conducted by Peter Ho Davies, distinguished award-winning fiction writer and old friend. It’s not available online, but you can get it at good bookstores, and you can see the terrific website here.
Colorado Public Radio recommends LC
How nice that Cathy Langer of the Tattered Cover is spreading the word about Little Century on public radio! Listen to the interview here.
Annie Bloom’s, Huzzah!
I’m really looking forward to gathering tonight with some folks at Annie Bloom’s Books in the Multnomah Village neighborhood of Portland. Little Annie Bloom’s is a staunch and lovely presence on the roster f Northwest indie bookstores. The reading is at 7 pm, not 7:30, as previously published here. I’d love to see you tonight!
Keeping the Time Straight
It’s been wonderful reading to all the friendly (and loyal) readers, friends and family who’ve come out to recent events at Third Street Books in McMinnville, Powell’s Books in Portland, and Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle. Great energy, and intelligent questions that help me clarify my thinking on all sorts of issues about form, style, characterization, and the writing and publication processes. For some reason, though, I cannot seem to keep the times of my readings straight. I keep thinking something’s at 6:30, when it’s at 7 pm, or 7:30 when, again, it’s 7, or just getting the entire day wrong. I’m hoping this is not a manifestation of some deep ambivalence or self-destructive tendency, since that would be par for my psyche’s course.
Profile in my hometown paper!
The McMinnville News-Register doesn’t miss much of what goes on in the Yamhill Valley, and I’m delighted to have had a conversation with veteran reporter Starla Pointer. She wrote this lovely profile, and I’m grateful!
A Girl From Yamhill: essay on style of Beverly Cleary
I’ve been revisiting the hilarious world of Beverly Clearly recently, with my five-year-old son. Cleary spent her early childhood just a few miles up the road in Yamhill, Oregon, and the creek that runs behind my house is named for Cleary’s grandparents. My short essay on Cleary’s style as a writer appeared in THE OREGONIAN newspaper’s Sunday Living section recently. Read the article here.
Northwest Book Lovers giving away LC!
The pizzazzy folks at Northwest Book Lovers (nwbooklover.org) have a great promotion called “Five Winners and Another Chance,” and this week they’re giving away LITTLE CENTURY. Read the particulars (it includes leaving a comment on the interview they conducted with me, but hey, how hard is that?) here.
Parade Magazine recommends Little Century
Happy to have Parade Magazine’s endorsement for the novel, and delighted to be in such a cool group of fresh books!
Northwest Book Lovers Interview
“That world felt and looked and smelled so different—dust and heat and hawks and ponderosa pine and juniper. We stayed in a tiny single-wide trailer that smelled heavily of heating oil, and when I went outside, there was the smell: spicy and cleansing. When you looked up, BOOM, the mountains were hanging over you in this kind of massive, unutterable beauty.”
Brian Juenemann interviews me on the sources of the novel for the Northwest Book Lovers website. Read the whole conversation here.
The Bookstore of Your Dreams
“[The] characters are so vivid that I despair at saying goodbye.” Cathy of Tattered Cover loves Little Century.
