Literary Mayhem

So it turns out working a “real job” means much less time for things like blogging (not that I’m complaining). However, most of my free time lately has been devoted to yet another labor of love. The second Lit Crawl NYC is taking place this weekend and it’s going to be leaner, meaner and a whole lot of fun. We have real programs this time around (I just sent them off to be printed) and real sponsors  and Jack and Jane, the brilliant masterminds behind Litquake, will both be participating.

Plus, people are talking. Just yesterday, we were in The New Yorker. Go us!

I’d go on gushing, but, alas, I don’t quite have the time. Check out more at litquake.org/ny and if you’re anywhere near Manhattan on Saturday, May 16, you’d be missing out if you didn’t make your way down to the East Village to crawl a bit.

WOW

I have been remiss in blogging these past few weeks. And a few folks (though mostly my mother) have called me out on it. But I’m coming back around. These past few weeks have proved not a little insane, so there’s my excuse. What have I been doing? Well, here is a list of some of the highlights that have kept me from blogging:

1. Writing. I’ve become somewhat prolific, writing weekly food bits for Maria Liberati, as well as some pieces that will appear in CBS Watch! Magazine. Woohoo!
2. Writing. On top of actual work I’ve gotten, I’ve joined a writing group. Hello novel, or at least step one of a novel, which is actually starting it.
3. Reading. Yes, I have actually gotten back to reading. These days I’m obsessed with If on a winter’s night a traveler, a book I’ve started several times before. It was actually the reason I discovered Italo Calvino but for some reason I read other books and never that one. Anyhow, it is brilliant and tough and absolutely gorgeous. And its philosophy on reading and the making of books is oh-so-reminiscent of all those literary theorists with whom I am infatuated.
4. Interviewing. When it rains it pours. I’ve been on many interviews recently, ranging from The New Yorker (!) to some e-learning company where it turned out they wanted me to promote psychic courses. (Yikes.) I’d say the New Yorker was the highlight, even though it was a long shot.
5. Getting a job. I’m now going to be a tutor at the Harlem Children’s Zone, a phenomenal organization, a great way to give back, and the ideal way for me to combine my two loves: teaching literature and writing.
6. Planning a literary festival. Oh yes. That. It will be a post in itself, but for now, suffice to say that I’m bringing Litquake, San Francisco’s great literary festival, to New York. For one phenomenal night. (Mark September 27 on your calendars New Yorkers!)

And those are just a few of the things I’ve been doing instead of blogging. Sleep? What’s that?