Gertrude Stein moves to Paris
joining her brother Leo at 27 Rue de Fleurus in 1904. She would not return to America for thirty years.
Patricia Nell Warren, beloved story-teller, at the 6th Annual West Hollywood Book Fair, Sunday 30 September 2007.
No one ever said it'd be easy.
A sunny day here and a very respectable crowd in West Hollywood Park for the assorted book stores, organizations and publishers' booths and events. Among the many offerings and many fine writers and authors, my dear friend [Note to family, but not my "special" friend] Eduardo Santiago moderated a panel of first time novelists in the Fiction Pavilion, while over at the Writer's Pavilion, Daniel Olivas led a discussion on Blogging, which included Kevin Roderick of the blog L.A. Observed, Adrienne Crew of "Blogosphere: Best of Blogs" (www.blogsbestof.com), Mark Sarvas of the Literary Weblog, The Elegant Variation and the novelist Margo Candela. A charming group and informative session, especially for this novice blogger!
Then to the Queer, Hot and Avant-Garde Pavilion for a panel entitled, "Gay Publishing: State of Emergency?" moderated by our friend Christopher Rice, with guests Charles Flowers, Executive Director of the Lambda Literary Foundation and Editor of The Lambda Book Report; the adorable Noel Alumit ("Letters to Montgomery Cliff") and Patricia Nell Warren, whose novel "The Front Runner" has sold an estimated ten million copies and been published in eleven languages, "the first modern story about gay love to become an international best-seller." (see her publishing company's website at www.wildcatpress.com).
And much much more -- Gore Vidal was at the Book Soup Booth, signing, as was Mark Salzman. Michael Silverblatt of KCRW's Bookworm (http://www.kcrw.com) also made an appearance, along with a number of other literary notables, writers and local celebrities.
Now for some of us, of a certain generation and sensibility, it is always a little remarkable being at a gathering like this. Of course E.M. Forster may tell us all, "Just connect" -- to one's readers, and presumably to the world and reality and all the rest along with it, but on this relentlessly bright and un-autumnal afternoon, I was reminded of what Henry James said instead, about working in the dark. Not that I write with the lights out, but I think you know what I mean. You type blind into that infinite world-wide-web's intangible ether, you transcribe the words rushing and tumbling disobediently in your head, while various discontented critics shuffle and cough in the shadows, nudging, doubting, reminding you of all the other times and all the other people who've ever come along wanting to reach out and touch someone, (please god anyone), because they had an idea, they had a feeling, they had "something to say."
"The people who read my blog could be here," Kevin Roderick observed matter-of-factly from the dais, "and I wouldn't know them by face. I wouldn't know them," he added, and paused, as if bracing himself for a shout-out (I for one was too shy to raise my hand). Not a bad thing necessarily, not recognizing your readers on sight. Just the nature of the dynamic of blogging. And really one could venture to say that's true of most kinds of writing, publishing, communicating. You don't always know who you're talking to. You don't always get any feedback. You don't always want it.
Then there's the Process. Patricia talked about the experience of a story tugging on her sleeve, wanting to be told, wanting to be written. One in particular, when she was living in Spain under Franco, and "the Church controlled everything."
"You don't think in that moment about how you'll market it," she said to the audience. "A writer doesn't think about whether it's a best selling, mass-market story. Whether it has appeal to gay readers or any kind of reader. Whether it'll ever get sold in a big chain book store. The story nags you and nudges you to be told. It wants to be told."
She told us "The Front Runner" ended up being sold lots of places mass-market books got sold in 1974. A love story of two men and you could buy it in grocery stores and drugstores and even at an Army Base's P.X. "That's how it was, back then," she said.
She looked out at us, sitting there in the tent with her, and you could see her thinking about the stories that have tugged at her, the characters that have called to her, chosen her to be their channel, to be their story-teller. The stories she's written and perhaps the stories that still call to her, waiting in the shadows and in the dark, to be told.
No one ever said it'd be easy.
A sunny day here and a very respectable crowd in West Hollywood Park for the assorted book stores, organizations and publishers' booths and events. Among the many offerings and many fine writers and authors, my dear friend [Note to family, but not my "special" friend] Eduardo Santiago moderated a panel of first time novelists in the Fiction Pavilion, while over at the Writer's Pavilion, Daniel Olivas led a discussion on Blogging, which included Kevin Roderick of the blog L.A. Observed, Adrienne Crew of "Blogosphere: Best of Blogs" (www.blogsbestof.com), Mark Sarvas of the Literary Weblog, The Elegant Variation and the novelist Margo Candela. A charming group and informative session, especially for this novice blogger!
Then to the Queer, Hot and Avant-Garde Pavilion for a panel entitled, "Gay Publishing: State of Emergency?" moderated by our friend Christopher Rice, with guests Charles Flowers, Executive Director of the Lambda Literary Foundation and Editor of The Lambda Book Report; the adorable Noel Alumit ("Letters to Montgomery Cliff") and Patricia Nell Warren, whose novel "The Front Runner" has sold an estimated ten million copies and been published in eleven languages, "the first modern story about gay love to become an international best-seller." (see her publishing company's website at www.wildcatpress.com).
And much much more -- Gore Vidal was at the Book Soup Booth, signing, as was Mark Salzman. Michael Silverblatt of KCRW's Bookworm (http://www.kcrw.com) also made an appearance, along with a number of other literary notables, writers and local celebrities.
Now for some of us, of a certain generation and sensibility, it is always a little remarkable being at a gathering like this. Of course E.M. Forster may tell us all, "Just connect" -- to one's readers, and presumably to the world and reality and all the rest along with it, but on this relentlessly bright and un-autumnal afternoon, I was reminded of what Henry James said instead, about working in the dark. Not that I write with the lights out, but I think you know what I mean. You type blind into that infinite world-wide-web's intangible ether, you transcribe the words rushing and tumbling disobediently in your head, while various discontented critics shuffle and cough in the shadows, nudging, doubting, reminding you of all the other times and all the other people who've ever come along wanting to reach out and touch someone, (please god anyone), because they had an idea, they had a feeling, they had "something to say."
"The people who read my blog could be here," Kevin Roderick observed matter-of-factly from the dais, "and I wouldn't know them by face. I wouldn't know them," he added, and paused, as if bracing himself for a shout-out (I for one was too shy to raise my hand). Not a bad thing necessarily, not recognizing your readers on sight. Just the nature of the dynamic of blogging. And really one could venture to say that's true of most kinds of writing, publishing, communicating. You don't always know who you're talking to. You don't always get any feedback. You don't always want it.
Then there's the Process. Patricia talked about the experience of a story tugging on her sleeve, wanting to be told, wanting to be written. One in particular, when she was living in Spain under Franco, and "the Church controlled everything."
"You don't think in that moment about how you'll market it," she said to the audience. "A writer doesn't think about whether it's a best selling, mass-market story. Whether it has appeal to gay readers or any kind of reader. Whether it'll ever get sold in a big chain book store. The story nags you and nudges you to be told. It wants to be told."
She told us "The Front Runner" ended up being sold lots of places mass-market books got sold in 1974. A love story of two men and you could buy it in grocery stores and drugstores and even at an Army Base's P.X. "That's how it was, back then," she said.
She looked out at us, sitting there in the tent with her, and you could see her thinking about the stories that have tugged at her, the characters that have called to her, chosen her to be their channel, to be their story-teller. The stories she's written and perhaps the stories that still call to her, waiting in the shadows and in the dark, to be told.
George, so glad you came to watch our panel and participate in the Q&A. Much luck with your blogging!