Sep 22, 2006

"SPLINTERED IN THE HEAD"

My reading at Quimby's last night was good clean fun. I love Quimby's, so reading there was a real treat for me. And, a few people I hadn't spent time with in far too long were good enough to attend, and early on, a grad student calling herself only "Vellum" threw me for such a loop that I paused and took my bra off from under my shirt just to calm down. I say "threw me for a loop" because, as I pointed out (hopefully kindly) she was a hamster-- wiggling, scratching paper, tapping, crinkling paper, etc. I always supply paper to be tossed at me by audience members, but she whipped out an entire notepad and started ripping sheets and crumpling them. She sat near by friend Michael, so I finally asked him to confiscate her notepad. She tried to pitch her novel to me, which I wish her well on, unaware I'm no publisher and, sadly, can't help her in the least. But, my favorite moment, by far, was when she stood, came to the front and told me that she reads my blog and therefore, knew I have a cat and gave me a copy of a cat massage book. That certainly was a surprise!

After, my new friends from Ninth Letter, who had been videotaping the reading, stayed around and interviewed me. I did put my bra back on for that.

So, Rosh HaShanah-a-go-go starts tonight, so forgive me if my posts are few and far between for the next few days. But, I have a few interested projects in my head I want to try to make some sense of this weekend. Details on them soon. L'Shana tovah!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amy, I am sorry if I disturbed your reading. However, I know how people can be reluctant to participate in interactive performances, so I was only trying to be supportive.
Your reading was great. I know that you are not a publisher, but since you were able to self-publish, I hoped you could give me some tips. I hope you will help me out as much as you are able, but I don't want to ask too much. I don't want to overstep my bounds.
I think it is nice to give gifts, especially to people you see as a kindred spirit. Try the practices on Mr. Meow this weekend and you will see what a treasure that book can be! My cat, Persia, loves it.
Warmest regards,
V

Amy Guth said...

Hi Vellum,

No, no problem. I appreciate you making the reading so memorable for everyone.

I actually DID NOT self-publish, but was able to learn a lot about publishing through the process with my publisher, So New. I really think if I had it all to over again, I would have taken the time to educate myself more about publishing before I began.

Thanks for the cat massage book. I will give it a try.

Anonymous said...

So nobody is mad at Vellum for saying you self-published?

I don't get this crowd.

Nicky said...

Sounds like a good time was had by all.

"Shana Tova Umetukah." I had to Wikipedia that so I hope it is right. If it is not, my intention was to wish you "A Good and Sweet Year."

Katie Schwartz said...

what a great yarn. happy new year, bubbie!

Amy Guth said...

Sarah, give it a day or two-- it's Rosh HaShanah. I think a lot of my readers are preoccupied. :-)

Anonymous said...

L'Shana tova. Sounds like a freakshow. I look forward to meeting you when you come to California.

Anonymous said...

Why are you assumming all of your readers are jewish? I'm not and I was part of that self-publishing debate the other day. I didn't jump all over this one because this new friend sounds like a crack-head, and wuite frankly, we covered it already.

Amy Guth said...

Hi again Marty. No, I'm not saying all of my readers are Jews. I have just gotten a fair amount of readers who are and who stop by regularly. I'm just going by people who speak up/email the most often.

And, I was sort of joking, too.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I knew that. ;-)

chandra said...

Hi Amy'

randomly browsing blogs i came across yours. i have tried to fathom the spiritual depth in your writings.if u have time, come and meet me at my place:

chandrasart.blogspot.com

warm wishes

chandra