Bubble Man   5:03 p.m.

a piece of work

In the Mail Today from Meg

Windy. Freezing. Low low tide. Hardly anyone about except for Tom & me and Scooter Man. 

An hour later and he's still scooting. Peter & Carmen run up! We say hello and I scoot home.

A Note from the Publisher

The most exciting thing happened today. The doorbell rang. It was UPS delivering a copy of my book! Just one. I'm not sure yet whether it's a proof or not––but it is a real book, in the flesh. The printer did a great job, I think, only he got the endpapers backwards and put the red ones in the back and the violet ones in the front.

Do I not have the sweetest damn publisher in the whole damn world?

Here's another sample spread for you to see.

preview

Enchanted Evening on the Beach

Peter and the Woof

And Anne, too!

Why I Married My Husband

I came out of writing group last night practically in tears. When I got home Tom woke up and asked me how it had gone. I said not so good.

"Why?"

"Well, some people read poetry. The people who read poems usually read 3 or 4, and they pass copies of the poems around right before they read. You're supposed to write your comments on your copies of the poems as they read them. When they've finished reading, everyone critiques the poems on the spot. I can hardly get through one poem. Then before the next person reads, you're supposed to turn your copies back in to the person who's just read so they can see your comments when they get home. So when it was time for me to pass my comments back, I'd look down at my copies and all I would see would be lines and squiggles where I had been pretending to write. So I hid my copies in my folder. It's hard for me to understand poetry."

"Don't you read your poems?"

"Yes, but my poems rhyme!" (sob).

"Next time, before you go, let me see what you're taking to read. I'll take all the rhymes out."

"Will you really? OK."

"And remember. No capital letters."

"You're right."

"And no punctuation, either."

Magical Field Trip

To see Jasper Johns at SFMOMA with Gina (only I liked Takashi Murakami better than J.J.).

THEN!! to the Contemporary Jewish Museum to see the Ezra Jack Keats exhibit. So good.

A picture I did for Jamie, who's just taken the position as design director at New You.

5:01 p.m.

 what I bought last night at Creativity Explored (art by Christina Marie Fong)

I know when you see me carrying this brand new bag you're going to want one of your own. So you might as well go ahead and order it here for $22.

But if you walk into Creativity Explored instead of ordering online, this $100 tote bag can be yours for only 15 dollars. That's right: 15 dollars for this $100 tote bag.

An opening this evening at Creativity Explored: Portraits by Vincent Jackson (above)

He can't stop drawing portraits. He draws on maps (above) and boxes (below).

me, Greg, Salbee

A wonderful dinner beforehand at Thai House 530 with Tom, Salbee, and Pat.

And look who we ran into at the show.

Cheryl, we missed you.

5:15 p.m.

Lunch with Allyson! I was excited to hear about the app she developed and put together. It's called Today's Step, and it offers inspiration and support for recovering alcoholics. See for yourself and give it a try.

p.s. I had coffee with lunch.

p.p.s. Another thing I loved about our time together was that Allyson regaled me with tales of her two kids: Stella, who is six; and Nick who is 14. If you have kids and would like someone with a big ear for kid stories, call me and let's get together.

Did you know that the original illustrator of the Pippi Longstocking stories was Ingrid Vang Nyman, and not Louis S. Glanzman? I didn't, and I'm happy about it. But could this be true? A Pippi Longstocking graphic novel that Astrid Lindgren and Ingrid put together in 1957? Well here it is, right before your eyes.

Meg, what's the difference between a comic book and a graphic novel?

We bought our movie tickets online and waltzed into the Kabuki without having to wait in line. Our tickets were on our phone! I think this is very exciting. At the Kabuki you're able to reserve seats, too, so you can always get an aisle seat if you plan ahead.

There's a little bar and restaurant in the theater, not to mention the fact that it's right next door to my favorite bookstore, Kinokuniya.

I'm looking forward to the day when absolutely everything I need to carry around (drivers license, credit card, library card, comb, umbrella, etc.) can be on my phone.

5:10 p.m.

My life got so much bigger yesterday, it makes me want to start posting bigger photos. I was asked to join the TIAPOS writing group and I went for the first time. For years I've dreamed about being in the group. I remember saying to Tom five years ago that if I ever got asked to join, it would be the biggest honor I could imagine. Then I didn't get asked and I didn't get asked, and I remember saying to Tom one night about a year ago, "You know, even if I did get asked to join TIAPOS, I probably wouldn't want to go. Because it meets on Thursday night! And by Thursday night I'm too tired to go anywhere."

Then in December Jane emailed me an invitation. My heart stopped. Within one minute I replied YES! and went straight to Google to try to figure out how to get there. 

Last night was the first meeting of the year. It was magnificent. I was so jangled that I didn't take one photo, and now I'm upset about not having a picture of the beautiful table we sat around. At the table were eight humans, a cake, some chocolate lace cookies, almond pastries, things like that. Underneath the table were a dog and a cat.

When everyone had read, Eric asked where in the schedule he should put my name for longer pieces. That's when I knew the meaning of the word happy, because it meant I could come back in two weeks. I want to end with an exclamation point but an exclamation point isn't strong enough.

Gina, Kristin, msmasmush, and me by the sea

5:03 p.m.   More people than EVER outside on the first day of the year