At the moment, I am feeling like I never want to go back to California again, and would rather scamper off to the ends of the earth and find new stories and fresh adventures. However, you should take solace in the fact that a) I've had a cocktail and three glasses of wine and steak and lots of stories, so I'm high on life, and b) my passport is in California, thus acting as a ball and chain to my daydreams. So I will be on my flight to San Francisco on Thursday, surly but committed to the California life for the foreseeable future (aka two weeks, since I go to Iowa on the 22nd).
sssanyway. Today, as you may have guessed, was close to perfection. I slept too late, but I rallied and spent the morning doing business-type stuff, since I have some promotional activities coming up that I needed to prep for. I did that while drinking coffee and sitting at my little kitchen table, and it was all quite delightful (even when I got a warning for a tsunami in San Francisco, which turned out to be an erroneous text message, but made for a confusing couple of minutes). Then I showered and ventured outside, where I ran into my airbnb host (quite fortuitously - a) because I enjoyed talking to him, and b) because it turned into him doing my laundry for me, which means I shall roll into NYC so fresh and so clean). And then I grabbed a gluten free sandwich at a cafe down the street before venturing back to my hideaway...
...and once I got here, I pretended to be a denizen of corporate America for a couple of hours. One of the women who used to report to me wanted some advice on a job opportunity, so we talked for an hour. Then, my old boss (the little boss) wanted some advice on a conference, so we talked for thirty minutes. "Lol" is all I have to say to that.
Then I went to a cafe and worked for a couple of hours, quite successfully. And then I dropped my laptop off at my airbnb and went to Strangers and Saints for a drink, which turned into two drinks (one of which was the Wampanoag gimlet, which is the only other word besides 'swamp' that is pronounced like 'wamp' should be pronounce, although it's Native American) and also some shrimp and some oysters since it was happy hour and I was feeling peckish. The bartender (Rob) remembered me from last time (all of four nights ago), so we had a delightful conversation since the bar was still pretty quiet then.
But I had to adjourn early for my evening activity - there was an author talk at a really cool renovated barn space (not a round barn, alas), which involved Geraldine Brooks and Amy Bloom, and I'd bought the ticket on a whim yesterday when I saw the flyer in town. It was a delightful way to spend a couple of hours - Geraldine Brooks wrote 'Year of Wonders', which was about a plague village in England in the 1600s, and which I read for a continuing studies class several years ago (it was one of my fave historical fiction books in recent memory). She also won a Pulitzer for one of her other works. And I haven't read Amy Bloom, but she was an amazing speaker, and she's working on a novel about Eleanor Roosevelt and her relationship with a female journalist, which sounds like it's going to be a super interesting read.
Their conversation was inspiring - it's usually great to hear other writers talk, but these writers in particular had a certain level of presence and wisdom and wit that was quite wonderful to behold. Of course, this left me feeling like I need to be writing millions of stories, most of which aren't romance (which is probably why I'm feeling like I should run away to the ends of the earth).
After that, I came back to my place for a little bit, and then tried to go out for a proper dinner but was surprised to find that the restaurant I intended to go to had stopped serving food by 9:30pm (even more surprised because several art galleries were still open). So I ended up back at Strangers and Saints because I was too hungry to walk farther into town, and I had a steak and two glasses of wine and some ice cream while scribbling in my journal for a couple of hours and listening to the guys next to me talk about poppers and how much they would enjoy being in the navy (this all sounds like a stereotype but I swear it's true). And now I need to sleep - I only have one more full day here, and I got my edits back from my editor tonight but haven't read them yet, so I need sleep and a clear head to tackle tomorrow. Goodnight!
sssanyway. Today, as you may have guessed, was close to perfection. I slept too late, but I rallied and spent the morning doing business-type stuff, since I have some promotional activities coming up that I needed to prep for. I did that while drinking coffee and sitting at my little kitchen table, and it was all quite delightful (even when I got a warning for a tsunami in San Francisco, which turned out to be an erroneous text message, but made for a confusing couple of minutes). Then I showered and ventured outside, where I ran into my airbnb host (quite fortuitously - a) because I enjoyed talking to him, and b) because it turned into him doing my laundry for me, which means I shall roll into NYC so fresh and so clean). And then I grabbed a gluten free sandwich at a cafe down the street before venturing back to my hideaway...
...and once I got here, I pretended to be a denizen of corporate America for a couple of hours. One of the women who used to report to me wanted some advice on a job opportunity, so we talked for an hour. Then, my old boss (the little boss) wanted some advice on a conference, so we talked for thirty minutes. "Lol" is all I have to say to that.
Then I went to a cafe and worked for a couple of hours, quite successfully. And then I dropped my laptop off at my airbnb and went to Strangers and Saints for a drink, which turned into two drinks (one of which was the Wampanoag gimlet, which is the only other word besides 'swamp' that is pronounced like 'wamp' should be pronounce, although it's Native American) and also some shrimp and some oysters since it was happy hour and I was feeling peckish. The bartender (Rob) remembered me from last time (all of four nights ago), so we had a delightful conversation since the bar was still pretty quiet then.
But I had to adjourn early for my evening activity - there was an author talk at a really cool renovated barn space (not a round barn, alas), which involved Geraldine Brooks and Amy Bloom, and I'd bought the ticket on a whim yesterday when I saw the flyer in town. It was a delightful way to spend a couple of hours - Geraldine Brooks wrote 'Year of Wonders', which was about a plague village in England in the 1600s, and which I read for a continuing studies class several years ago (it was one of my fave historical fiction books in recent memory). She also won a Pulitzer for one of her other works. And I haven't read Amy Bloom, but she was an amazing speaker, and she's working on a novel about Eleanor Roosevelt and her relationship with a female journalist, which sounds like it's going to be a super interesting read.
Their conversation was inspiring - it's usually great to hear other writers talk, but these writers in particular had a certain level of presence and wisdom and wit that was quite wonderful to behold. Of course, this left me feeling like I need to be writing millions of stories, most of which aren't romance (which is probably why I'm feeling like I should run away to the ends of the earth).
After that, I came back to my place for a little bit, and then tried to go out for a proper dinner but was surprised to find that the restaurant I intended to go to had stopped serving food by 9:30pm (even more surprised because several art galleries were still open). So I ended up back at Strangers and Saints because I was too hungry to walk farther into town, and I had a steak and two glasses of wine and some ice cream while scribbling in my journal for a couple of hours and listening to the guys next to me talk about poppers and how much they would enjoy being in the navy (this all sounds like a stereotype but I swear it's true). And now I need to sleep - I only have one more full day here, and I got my edits back from my editor tonight but haven't read them yet, so I need sleep and a clear head to tackle tomorrow. Goodnight!
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