Re: Me

I have been informed that any self-respecting author these days has a blog. Never one to sneeze at shameless self promotion, I am offering up my attempt at a blog. Going forward, I expect to write about 1) my book, my travel writing, and all things authorly 2) my family because in a pinch, my six-year-old always offers up material and 3) anything else that comes to mind. Before I even get started, let me link you to a few of my favorite blogs so far: Sticks of Fire , Tampa Book Buzz , and The Mommy Blog. I swear to you, I read those blogs every single day. I also read a lot of books and at least one newspaper every day. My favorite book that I've read lately is Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. And that makes me think of a funny anecdote. I'm at a writers conference and one of my favorite authors, Margaret Atwood, is the keynote speaker. She's a small woman with a shawl and she sat as she spoke, the microphone aimed down from the nearby podium. Much to my surprise, she's a laugh riot. She has a slow, dry delivery and a Canadian sense of humor. I was reminded at the time about my similar surprise the year Salman Rushdie gave the keynote address. He was funny too. Fast forward to me standing at the end of the book signing line clutching my copy of Oryx and Crake and getting sweaty palms about meeting one of my author heroes. It's finally my turn and being me, I get tongue-tied and star-struck and blurt out to Ms. Atwood, "You are funnier than Salman Rushdie." Imagine the look on her face, not having had any context given for the comment. She actually made some sort of reply but by then the sound of blood rushing in my ears drowned out all sound. I just pushed my book across the table, got my autograph and skulked away. Remind me to tell you about other celebrity run-ins sometime. Ciao.