Three Things from Mid-September
Books, Bits and Bobs, Travel Planning…
What I’m writing…
Oh, friends! There’s truly nothing better than the day your book arrives. For years it has been just an idea, words on a screen, crumpled coffee stained pieces of paper. And then, finally, it’s an actual book.
When I was a teenager browsing the shelves of the Waldenbooks at the Warwick Mall, I never dreamed my own books would be in bookstores some day. I couldn’t imagine the sheer joy that comes from holding a book you wrote in your hands.
Yesterday was one of those days: a box arrived and inside to my utter delight were copies of Life’s Short, Talk Fast: Fifteen Writers on Why We Can’t Stop Watching Gilmore Girls.
Although I edited this one, I am also one of the 15 writers with an essay in it. On sale November 12, but available for preorder now.
Let me share the excitement with you!
In fact, I’m so excited that I’m giving away three copies of Life’s Short, Talk Fast to the first three subscribers who tell me here if they are Team Dean, Team Jess, or Team Logan.
I would like to share something else with you too. I’m beyond lucky that my very first novel, Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine, has been in print since 1987.
Warning: these four book covers and the two that follow are cropped weirdly. I tried!
But my other older books have not. They had good lives, were mostly well reviewed, and sold in varying degrees of okay. Enter Open Road Media, who for years now has made them available!
It’s been my great pleasure to have several of my books that are no longer on bookstore shelves as actual books, available as ebooks through Open Road Media. In their own words: Driven by the mission of bringing great literary works back to life, Open Road Media partners with premier authors of classic and contemporary works, making their content available to readers around the world.
Two of those early novels, Places to Stay the Night and Ruby are on sale through the end of the month ($2.99 and $1.99 respectively). So if you’d like to read some early Hood, here’s a good opportunity.
What I’m knitting…
I have had a week of dropped stitches, miscounts, and the wrong tools for my Shakerag tee. Frustrating knitting exacerbated by Season 3 of The Bay, which you may remember was my latest British Detective show to watch while knitting.
Season 3 changed DS Lisa Armstrong on me without warning! Oh, how I loved Lisa. No offense to DS Jenn Townsend but when thirty stitches slide off your needle and you read the pattern wrong, you want your British detective show to be reliable. (My darling husband was puzzled when he read DS here. What can I say? He isn’t addicted to British detective shows. Should you be like him, DS is Detective Sergeant. There’s also DI—Detective Inspector…)
Well, today I took a stroll to my local knitting store for the sole purpose of shopping for some bits and bobs, not yarn. It was a glorious fall day, after I did this:
At 12:30, free from the Fiat, I walked down Bleecker Street to West 10th and West Village Knit & Needle, which is tiny and adorable. When I arrived they’d just received a big shipment of yarn and it was fun stepping over piles of pinks and yellows and multicolored skeins to get to the bits and bobs.
Part of my frustration this week has been that most of my knitting stuff is in Providence due to space issues in our 411-square-foot West Village love nest. But that problem is solved with tapestry needles, multicolored stitch markers, and the cutest airplane approved scissors. Next to buying books and yarn comes buying cute bits and bobs. Now I hope my knitting improves…
What I’m thinking about…
Spain!
As most of you know, I am a nomad at heart. I love to be home, but I also love to travel. So much so that I’m often asked how I plan my trips. My greatest feat was in February when we went to the Isle of Skye and I organized two flights, four trains, three ferries, and four drivers—and it went off without a hitch!
I have a few rules for travel: Having stayed in some really bad ones, I’m not a fan of Air B and B’s unless I’m traveling with my family and we need a lot of rooms. Even then, I try to find alternatives, like Waimea Plantations Cottages in Kauai where six of us went to celebrate Michael’s birthday last year. The authentic, heritage plantation homes were built in the late 1880s to 1930s.
Also, I’m not a fan of tours. Which is why I have to plan everything myself. I am, however, a fan of food tours in the places I travel. My husband wrote about why for the New York Times.
I also like a museum or architectural tour so I can understand what I’m looking at.
For our upcoming road trip through Andalusia, after we mapped out our route, I first emailed our food guide from when we were in Madrid a few years ago. Oliver knows our sensibilities and taste and sent us great suggestions.
Then, I started googling and making lists. I like hotel recommendations from The Telegraph, cross referenced with Trip Advisor, Google reviews, and the hotel’s own website, plus random internet searches. (Most Romantic Hotels in Toledo, Best Tapas in Granada, Sherry Tours in Jerez).
Soon, I have something that looks like this:
What can I say? It works. I will report back on this after the trip and let you know how it all went.
And also…
In creating a life as a writer, I wear a lot of hats. There’s the actual writing, of course. Teaching at the New School and (sometimes) NYU. Teaching at writers conferences. Running writers workshops. Private manuscript consultations. And directing the low residency Newport MFA. Phew!
I didn’t get an MFA. When I first started writing seriously, I was working as a flight attendant with erratic hours and perpetual jet lag. But if there’d been a low residency one, I might have done that. Low residency MFA’s allow people of all ages who can’t drop everything and move somewhere for two years to keep their jobs or raise their kids or take care of their parents and still finish that novel or memoir or poetry collection and get an MFA
I love the model: a week on the Salve Regina University campus in Newport, Rhode Island, in January; another week on campus in June; and in between one on one mentorship with a faculty writer. You get the benefits of being on campus and the benefits of one on one attention. Plus your MFA and the book you’ve been dreaming of writing will be in hand!
We are reading applications until November 1 for our January residency. If you or someone you know might be interested, let me know!
Thank you, as always, for reading. I hope the rest of September is without frustrations for you and filled with dreams of faraway places!
Ohmygosh that middle Hermia photo 🤣
I look forward to your substack every month! So many fun adventures ahead for you! I have Scotland and Isle of Skye on my list. I have an instagram friend who lives on the Isle of Skye and is redoing a charming little cottage and is a photographer. It looks so romantic and magical. I usually do all the planning too, but this summer did a tour to Peru. It seemed too much to organize-2 flights and 2 train rides once we were in Peru. Glad I did, had an amazing trip and lots of free time. Enjoy your fall! Read The Stolen Child over the summer and loved it!!!!!