May 3, Houston: The big one -- the Inprint reading -- occurs at the Alley Theatre on Monday, May 3. Do not miss it or you'll be sorry. I'm not kidding -- I'm going to say the craziest, most intellectual yet hilarious stuff I can think of, and I'll be sharing the stage with the ultra sexy Oscar Casares, too.
June 24, Houston: I'm one of the peeps scheduled to read at Poison Pen, at Houston's famous Poison Girl bar. Besides me, everyone there will be ultra, *super* sexy. Come see me and drink!
June 26, Washington, DC: I'll be reading at the American Library Association conference. Come on down.
My other blog: Go read my the Houston Chronicle parenting blog (or my ChronMomBlog, as I like to call it) and make sure my kids won't resent me more than other kids resent their own parents.
Buy my new novel, Lone Star Legend. Already did? Well, buy a few more for your friends, then. :)
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
holasI keep wanting to write stuff here but haven't had time. Meanwhile, I know all too well how the lack of updating causes readers to slip away. But that's life, right? Hope y'all who've slipped away are doing it temporarily and finding awesome substitutes until you return.
I shouldn't be writing this right now because I have so much "work stuff" to do, instead, but oh, well. Right now I'm going through this phase where I've planned a bunch of publicity events - traveling and all - months in the past, and then these dates come up on me and I've almost forgotten, and it scares the crap out of me. But then I see that the Me of the Past has taken care of everything. I click the starred document on my email and out pops everything - maps, itineraries, tickets, packing lists.... It's still a little scary, though. The Me of the Past is way more organized than the Me in the Present, and I'm starting to worry that the Me of the Future will be a total flake.
I just read a good/sad book and now I'm all enmeshed in that. You know how that goes. I'm gonna be sad for a couple of days, but I don't regret it.
My work (day job) is all insane right now, as anyone who watches the news and knows the name of my workplace could tell you. The news is bad, and yet somehow that doesn't translate into less work for me, personally. I hate to say this, but I'm kinda just counting the days 'til they lay us off, because uncertainty bugs me. Plus, I need more time to write. But I don't want to be poor. But I haven't been poor for years, because I really dislike that. So things should work out okay, if they want to lay us off. Plus, I'll get more writing done.
I recently finished my next novel. Well, in my mind, it's the "last novel," but for you, it looks like the "next novel." That one comes out in 2010. The next novel, in my mind, hasn't been started yet. But I already know what it's about, and I'm excited, which is good. I hope to stay excited until I'm 97% through writing it, at which point I will of course be sick to death of it. That's how it always happens - no way to avoid it.
I'm hyper-conscious, right now, of writing all these sentences with the word I in them. Like that's a big bad thing. But I'm trying to tell y'all what's going on with me, real fast, without time for fancy faux-un-self-centered metaphors, so there you go. What else can I say?
I really want to tell y'all about:
1. this laminating machine that used to be at an old workplace
2. my current unusual living arrangement and why I think more people should try it
3. the cats' misadventures
4. the truths about Twitter
5. annoying entitled people on the carpool
6. people I've met and why they're awesome
7. awesome books I read recently
8. Indian condiments and the bloat-causing, frightfully addictive sodium within them
Also, I updated the other site, gwendolynzepeda.com, by hand, by myself, which was difficult because I'm not a good coder but I know too much coding to justify paying someone else to do it... So, yeah. I've been doing that, in addition to everything else.
And... Salome! I saw this show called Tim and Eric's Awesome Show - Good Job! - just one episode of it, twice - and it semi-traumatized me, but in the good way, when something makes you laugh and creeps you out at the same time. And I've been watching Flight of the Concords, a little, and I'm resisting having a crush on Jemaine because I think that would be a cliche, but the whole thing with them loathing/fearing Australians is killing me. If you know what I'm talking about, hollah. If not -- um, go ahead and holler, anyway, if you feel like it.
And, ble-e-e-e-e-e-e-eh. I hate writing entries like this, but it's better than nothing for the 8 dedicated readers who are still checking back for updates once a month. Right? Not really? Oh, man....
xoxoxox
Gwen
Labels: pop culture, writing
9:54 PM #Comments:
it's me, choicestoday. i must confess, i don't always read your site, but putting it on twitter helped me come back. :)# posted by
: 11:04 PM
I have GW in my RSS reader, so I never worry when you don't update. Then, out of the blue, I see a new post and it makes me happy. Can't wait to read the next book!
# posted by
Kaijsa : 11:59 PM
What good book did you just read?
# posted by
MissCathee : 12:28 AM
Kaijsa: That makes me so happy to hear... For the longest time, a Linux-user was telling me my RSS feed was broken. ?
MissCathee: Junot Diaz's "The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao." It's about a family from the Dominican Republic, who comes to live in New Jersey, and they feel that they're cursed. The language is very modern. I think you would like it.
ChoicesToday: I don't know what to say. A few weeks ago, you cryptically said on Twitter, for all to see, that you "fight" my fiance and my kids for the position of my number one fan. I wanted to tell you then that my fiance and kids aren't my fans because they never read my blog and my kids have never read my adult books...
And then I remembered that you haven't read my latest book, even though you got one of the first copies, since I know you in real life... and now you're saying you don't really read my blog, either.
Do you know what the word "fan" means, ma'am? I think you're getting it mixed up with another word. :)
Not that I care if you are or aren't, if you do or don't... but I kind of wanted to tell you that I could name 10 readers, off the top of my head, who read all my stuff and then send me nice emails about it. And I almost wanted to tell you that on Twitter, not to embarrass you, but so that those readers who follow me there wouldn't think "I can't believe Gwen thinks choicestoday is her number one fan - does Gwen not see that I'm a better fan than that??"
And then I felt so embarrassed to be thinking such things, in the first place. To be tallying and ranking "fans." How conceited, right?
So, instead of any of that, let me just say to everyone reading this: Thank you for reading my work. Especially if you've been following all my work for a while - I do appreciate it, and it makes my eyes mist up to think of it, and I know lots of your names and think good thoughts about y'all when I see your names on this screen and others. And I wouldn't be writing, here or on paper, if it weren't for you guys. So thank you for your support and your kind words, kind thoughts. Y'all create happy moments in my life.
# posted by
Gwen : 8:55 AM
I've been reading your various blogs for 10 or 11 years now (back in the breast feeding, trailer park days), so why should I stop just cause you're too busy to write? :)
# posted by
FreshHell : 9:44 AM
This is why I'm so thankful for Google Reader and Twitter, so I know right away when you've posted something new!
# posted by
Paul Worthington : 12:16 PM
Hey Gwen- I am subscribed to your site through Bloglines, so I always know when there is a new post. Also, Tim and Eric's Awesome Show Great Job is fantastic, even when it's not. I highly recommend a NetFlix rental. The first season is on DVD and the second season is either about to come out or it was just released.
# posted by
: 3:36 PM
Put me down as a cliche because I have a huge crush on Jemaine. My weirdo significant other seems to have a crush on Mel, so whatever.
I bought two copies of "Houston..." at a Borders in Florida to give as gifts. I guess I haven't been keeping the signif oth abreast of your long list of publications because he was so proud of and for you. "Houston" had a cover facing spot on the shelf (not spine out). If we had've had the camera with us, he might have taken a picture. He was all, "Good for Gwen! Good for her!" If the cashier hadn't started trash-talking Obama (who was on the cover of the Vanity Fair I also bought) he probably would have told her that he's met you.
Can't wait to give your book as gifts to some friends.
- maggie
# posted by
: 6:22 PM
Hey Gwen, I loved "Houston." I am not like Pavlov's dog, I check your site even when a new entry does not reinforce it! Tee hee.
# posted by
Sarah : 10:00 AM
I always check back. It makes me happy when you have posted.
# posted by
Justin : 2:28 PM
Love your writing and do check back. I also loved Oscar Wao. I have sons who are a little nerdy (read: also love Dr. Who) and it made my heart hurt some. Still loved it, though the dialect and vernacular was tough at first.
# posted by
: 8:32 PM
Count me as another longtime reader (since 1998ish? who will always check back with you. Haven't read any of your books but I will someday, when I'm not too poor to purchase them at my local big box a million. I'm glad for your sake that you're too busy to update but sad for me :(
# posted by
: 9:39 PM
I check your blog daily, and even love the post like today's, the ones that are sort of train-of-thought. Interesting that your boys don't read your blog - you guys must talk a lot. Do they share your love of reading?
# posted by
: 9:29 PM
I've been reading you forever and will keep on until you stop. So there. :)
Also? Not thrilled with Tim and Eric. Maybe I'm always just so tired when I watch it. I used to like their show about going to the Mayor. It's was funnier to me for some reason.
# posted by
That Chick Over There : 8:03 AM
Y'all are nice. Y'all spoil me.
Maggie: Aw - that makes me happy to imagine y'all seeing the books and M being surprised like that. :)
Maire: Me, too, on the heart-hurting. And did you want to cry/die when he's at the school, setting up the science club that no one attends? :( sniff.
Whitey Ford, you should watch for the contests that other bloggers hold to give my books away. Actually, I need to hold a contest, myself. I'll do that soon... have to think up something diabolical and/or amusing, though.
Trasherati: My kids, like most kids on earth, think their parents are boring. Only the youngest likes to read a lot. The older two are into MySpace. But the like music and cartooning, so the DNA is still there. :)
That chick: So funny -- I can't watch the mayor one because it doesn't hold my attention. But vomiting and screaming and bad special effects do, apparently....
# posted by
Gwen : 8:09 PM
Flight of the Conchords... yes, JEMAINE!! I totally feel like a dirty old woman. I really, really, like your work as well. Keep on, because the world needs you and your unique views.
# posted by
: 9:45 PM
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