I gave a small talk to fellow writers and poets recently at the Bryant Lake Bowl as part of Lightsey Darst’s fab writer’s salon, The Works. I did it with a creative collaborator of mine, the fab singer-songwriter Chris Koza.
Here’s what we did: A few days prior we wrote a song together based on some characters in my novel-in-progress. We used our talk time at The Works to talk about the process of writing a song based on a novel’s characters, how two artists in different disciplines can help each other, and, of course, the beauty of Bruce Willis’s Seagram’s Wine Cooler commercials.
Then, Chris performed the song we wrote. And wow. It was awesome. If you can’t play a guitar and sing, the next best thing is writing for someone who really really can.
Can’t wait to work with Mr. Koza again in any possible way. How lucky I am to know such a beautiful dude. Mwah to you, Koza. Mwah. Mwah. Mwah.
Another book review in the Star Tribune. This one I really loved: The Bullhead Queen by naturalist and Chisago County resident Sue Leaf. Think Annie Dillard but a Minnesota mom. Think Paul Gruchow but more bouyant and into people. I highly recommend it for Minnesotans, Lutherans, canoers, suburban nature lovers, bird watchers, and mothers of teenage sons.
I wrote a feature for the Star Tribune about the book "Methland" and the reaction of its subject, the Iowa town of Oelwein (which happens to be where I was raised). It was a terrific experience and the story turned out well.
My favorite part is all 43 of the comments. That was quite a lot for a feature story, editor Claude Peck told me. And for several days my story was the second-most read and second-most emailed story on the paper's website, after the story about the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile crash in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin.
The book was going huge before, but according to the Barnes & Noble employee who sold the book to my sister about ten days after the article appeared, "Every since that lady wrote that article in the Star Tribune, we can't keep this book on the shelves!"
BTW, I saw it at the Rosedale Borders yesterday. They had about 10 copies out.
Very much enjoyed working with senior editor Claude Peck.
I must mention the new book Methland, as it is about the place I was raised (and where my parents still live), Oelwein, Iowa. I've read the book, and both the New York Times review by Walter Kirn and the Wall Street Journal review by Bill Kauffman. Both reviews are valuable reads, though Kirn is more sympathetic to the rural experience, with Kauffman more critical of the book's execution.
There are no easy answers to how rural economies and people will survive, though it seems that the Methwatch program and some federal legislation have made it harder for desperate people to get pseudoephedrine or anhydrous ammonia, key ingredients in rural meth-making.
Here's to addiction-free living (except for the coffee) and surviving a childhood in a dying town with my wits and brain cells intact.
Here’s the essay I wrote for MnArtists.org examining the state of contemporary novels written by women through comparing and contrasting Heather McElhatton and Norah Labiner—two Twin Cities novelists whose books came out within weeks of each other. I am very proud of this one, and credit my editor Susannah Schouweiler for making it even better.
Apparently people talked a lot about it. It’s been around, and I’ve gotten emails from colleagues commenting on the buzz.
Here's the book review I did for the Star Tribune about Norah Labiner's new book, German for Travelers. I also wrote about the book in an essay for MnArtists.org, and interviewed Labiner for the Decider. I wish everyone would read her books. I find her work to be breathtakingly good. It's real literary fiction, the kind you rarely see anymore. Such control… Such vision…
Here’s the review I did for the Star Tribune of Heather McElhatton’s new "bitch lit" book (that’s chick lit, but for bitches, says Heather), Jennifer Johnson is Sick of Being Single.
I also wrote about the book in an essay for MnArtists.org, and interviewed McElhatton about this book for the Decider, which also appeared in the Twin Cities print edition of The Onion.
I did an audio interview with McElhatton two years ago for MentalContagion.com when her first novel, Pretty Little Mistakes came out. (You can listen to some of my other audio interviews of writers there too.)
I’m following her career closely. I find her work to be wonderfully subversive but wrapped in an unassuming, populist package, as if she is behind the book, shoulders shrugged, saying, "What? What?" with a guilty smirk on her mug.
When I see something I like in musical theater, I try to write about it. The dudes over at the Power Balladz show are really on to something, and I'm not just saying that because I know all the words, having been raised in rural America in the 80s and early 90s.
My interview with star Dieter Bierbrauer for the Decider (the regional A&E web presence of The Onion) includes our talk of the operatic stylings of Meat Loaf, the genius of Steve Perry, and the difficulties of wearing skin-tight unitard pants.
