"YOU KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING AND YOU KNOW WHERE YOU BELONG"

Hi kids. Happy weekend. I did some work, I got a nice new office chair (Craigslist yet brand new and fabulous), signed the new lease on the new apartment, bought a new shower head, fed/watered/checked-in on/played with my neighbors cats, Staley and Oz, bought some new eco-cleaning products, took a nice time out in a lunch nook with nice music and warm soup and discovered a new coffee joint is going up in the 'hood. Ah-- did I mention the new apartment is a only about three blocks from the current apartment? It's true. I'm excited to stay in the area. I love this 'hood.

On a few work notes-- I got a donation collector up and running for Pilcrow Lit Fest-- you know, we're in great shape, but we're going to need some office supplies, a few things for the NOLA Public Library benefit party, and that sort of thing. We have a goal set, and anything we get over that amount will go straight to the NOLA Public Library. Point being, if you'd like to donate a few dollars to Pilcrow and help us out with such things, please do. Thanks!

Getting Pilcrow together has been a huge mountain of things to do, but it's been wonderful. I've been enjoying every minute of it, I must confess. When I first started, I didn't really have any expectation attached to it all; I just thought If I can get a nice solid group of fifteen to twenty-five people together and pull it all together with style, it'll be great. Well, I'm thrilled to report that I have almost four times as many people involved. I couldn't be happier about it all.

"SECONDS TO SPARE"

I've been nominated for a Million Writers Award by Monkeybicycle for my piece "Feet In Socks".

Panels, readings and speakers will be announced this week for Pilcrow Lit Fest.

Please help this lady meet her fundraising goal for the Komen Race for the Cure in San Antonio.

I found a new apartment, mere blocks from my current one, and it's a serious upgrade and I couldn't be more excited.

That's what I know tonight.

"JET TRAILS IN THE SKY LEAVE ONE WORD BEHIND"

If you have a sec, which I assume you do if you are here, click over to the Time Out Chicago's blog and read the delightful little piece posted yesterday about Pilcrow Lit Fest. The festival, which, by the way, is just about in order and ready to roll May 22-25 here in Chicago. Sweet!

The navy shot the rogue satellite. The Pentagon said that "due to the relatively low altitude of the satellite at the time of the engagement, debris will begin to re-enter the earth's atmosphere immediately. Nearly all of the debris will burn up on reentry within 24-48 hours and the remaining debris should re-enter within 40 days." Hi, great. Oh, if I get clunked on the head with a piece of defunct national reconaissance satellite, I'll be pissed, for as we just read, I have a lit fest to swing around by the tail.

"LAST NIGHT I DREAMT"

New interview up at the Pilcrow Lit Fest's mightly little blog.

I had another nightmare last night that Obama was assassinated. I've been having this same dream for over a year. Oh, that would be bad.

"ASK ME, UH-HO-HO, ASK ME"

Interview with yours truly posted today at What To Wear During An Orange Alert. Read it here.

"THE QUEEN IS (NOT) DEAD"

Hi kids. The weather is weird, I'm working hard and being busy, Pilcrow is coming along nicely, the editing phase is done with Katie Schwartz's's's book and we're just double-checking and such right now, mostly, my parents are moving but staying on the coast, I feel a little tired, I have more to do today before the day is over, my friends in New Orleans are hoeing down today, I finished a few writing projects this morning, I think I will have an early dinner, I don't even want to discuss my shower, my cat is sweet and napping, Clitter is funny (particularly "sparklebabies" at the end), my apartment is warm, on The Yay/Oy Vey Scale, things are firmly yay. No complaints.

"ANYTHING IS HARD TO FIND"

So, here's what I'm asking. If you have a book out, if you have a magazine, something like that, I'd like for you to destroy it a copy of it. Then, I'd like for you to turn those pieces into a piece of art and donate it to me to auction off at Pilcrow Lit Fest on May 24th to benefit New Orleans Public Libraries. Decoupage it onto something. Make a sculpture. Make a mobile. Carefully take it apart and put the pages back randomly. Anything you want as long as it's legal. I'm going to do it with a copy of Three Fallen Women. You don't even have to be a participating author or publisher, you just have to be willing to reconfigure your own book, get it to me, and let a stranger buy it. Want to? Fun, right? Just email me and let me know so I can make a spot for your art that night. I don't have a ton of spots at the venue, so the first people I hear from will be the people I'll hold spots for. It'll be swell. I promise.

"ASK ME, UH-HO-HO, ASK ME"

April 26th, dollfaces, I'll be reading a little something I wrote for RAGAD. Location and time? Eh, I'll let you know. Anyway, bees knees!

Have you looked in at the participant list for Pilcrow Lit Fest lately? It's getting bigger every day. Man, that's going to be a forch fest. Are you coming to it? Have you emailed me and said, "Amy Guth, I want to be on a panel/volunteer to help/give you merch and tzotch for the participant goody bags"...? Well? Please do. How else can I possibly know? Right. So email. Show on road. Chop, chop.

Have you all stopped by lately to gaze lovingly at my new website? It's real purdy. And new!

"I WAS DETAINED"

Let's play Yay/Oy Vey. I play this every day, and it's great. Okay, this is how you play: Make two lists about your day, on your blog, on paper, or just in your mind, how I usually do. One is the "yay" list. The other is the "oy vey" list. Whichever list is longer tells you the kind of day you had: A Yay Day or an Oy Vey Day. Ready? Great. Let's play.

Yay: I finally got some actual sleep last night and slept like the dead. Just out. I woke up feeling like a million dollars.

Oy Vey: I left my apartment this morning and was greeted by two evangelist types in front of my building door. Now, my building has a little sidewalk area between the front door and the actual sidewalk, so I needed these two dude to scoot in order to get past them. But, that wasn't a goal for them. They asked me (well, one of them did all the talking, the other guy just sort of sat there with his mouth hanging open like a big oaf) if my plans for the weekend included Jesus Christ. Pardon? No, but that sounds romantic, though, I said in a har, har, very funny, now let me past kind of way. But again, not on the agenda. So, he keep at it, I keep my lid on but firmly let him know he wasn't helping matters by detaining me and would he please let me pass? He stuck his arms out, as if on the cross himself, almost, to stop me from passing by. So, that's it. I love to discuss religion, especially with people of different religions, but I don't like being told what to do, I don't like being told what I feel or believe is wrong and bad ("It's not your fault you're a Jew, but the good news is that there's still time to turn your life around and come to Christ. It's not too late." he tells me, as if Jewish is an affliction.), and I sure don't like being physically prevented from doing something as simple as leaving my own home. So, what choice did I have but to grab my BlackBerry and announce I was about to call the cops. That gained me my exit.

Yay: I glanced back as I was clearing the building and saw them stuffing a bunch of crap, way beyond just a pamphlet and a free bible mind you, like wads and wads of printed paper into the mailbox of the first floor peeps (the apartment, to be exact, that always smells like someone took a giant shit, so I found this part rather funny).

Oy Vey: Then, I realize these dudes have cohorts at my neighbors buildings, too, both sides. Weird. I don't even know what group they were with, not Mormon, though they did have the trademark short-sleeve-and-tie-combo (with cute "inspirational slogan" long sleeve thermals underneath and scarves with crosses on them), not any group I'd ever heard of, to tell you the truth. I don't know which group they were with other than the first church of "Bouta Getcherself Beatup". Man, when are these dudes going to catch on that I'll sit and talk religion and spirituality with them all freakin' day if they approached wanting to have a conversation? Toolsheds. So, anyway, FYI there Chicagoans. About that.

Yay: I made a nice pot of spicy southwestern corn chowder because it is so cold here in Chicago tonight.

Oy vey: I'm not going to name names, but let me tell you something. I don't have much of a temper, but I do not get played like a bitch. Manipulating people for one's own professional gain makes one a terrible person, makes one's karma bad and when the truth comes out, which it always does, nobody looks like an idiot but the offender and it makes said person horribly untrustworthy. Also, throwing someone, an innocent someone, under the bus because one is too big of a wimp to stand by something one has said or written, well, that just makes one a pussy, doesn't it? Yeah, I think so, too. Don't bullshit me or the people I care about, are we clear? Great!

Yay: Pilcrow Lit Fest is coming together really nicely, you guys. Just today I heard about some wonderful folks who want to make the trip out and that makes me very, very glad.

Oy Vey: My shower is now not draining.

Yay: I get to start hanging out with Baby Neptune again every week.

Yay: The editing mojo is going well for Katie Schwartz's book-to-be and I'm super excited about it.

Yay: The other night, I saw a bullet and a tiny origami crane together in a tiny cup and I hope I see that on a bookcover one day. I also hope I figure out how to fold a origami crane that tiny.

See, three "Yay" in a row. So, it's a Yay Day.

"IF THERE'S SOMETHING YOU'D LIKE TO TRY"

As promised, I have an announcement. (Ahem)

I think that wonderful things happen when you bring people together that have common interests. Or, slightly compatible interests. Since my first novel came out, I've traveled a lot and gone to many places and met a lot of people. I have gone to Atlanta and enjoyed meeting and talking and brainstorming with writers and publishers at Darren Wang's Decatur Book Festival. Then, I went to Omaha and enjoyed meeting and talking and brainstorming with writers and publishers at Timothy Schaffert's (Downtown) Omaha Lit Fest (Something is going on with that usually-beautiful site, but I'm sure it'll be back up shortly). Then, I went to New Orleans, and did the same at Paul J. Willis' Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival. Then, I went back to Omaha and did it all again.

Somewhere, during all of that, I realized that these three festivals were more than something I enjoyed attending. There was something about the execution of these three festivals that I wanted to bring to Chicago. And, as I had this stuff all in my head in New Orleans last spring, I was standing outside watching a "Stellaaaa!"-shouting contest with Paul Willis and he turned to me suddenly and said, "Do you have any interest in curating a festival? You should. You'd be great." Two months later, I was sitting having fancy cocktails with Timothy Schaffert and I started to pick his brain, and, well...

Introducing Pilcrow Lit Fest. Brought to you by me.

There is a whole sea of things to say about it all coming together, filled with really helpful people that I brought in to help like Mommas Boy Design (to make things look beautiful as they come into being), like online/social/media shaker Leah Jones (to do all that stuff I just said), like Adam Deutsch of Ninth Letter (to organize his head off) and A Moveable Bit (to document the crap out of everything and then some). Just for starters.

It's going to be held May 22nd-25th all around the intersection of Belmont and Sheffield here in Chicago. You know, near where The Fixx is, where I host those readings every month. It all starts with the regularly scheduled Fixx reading on May 22nd, with very special guests Jami Attenberg and Katie Schwartz. And possibly another special guest, too. The rest of the weekend is a series of panel discussions, readings, lots of authors (local and from far away), a cocktail party or three, workshops, and ends on Sunday morning with an author brunch.

And, it's going to be really fun.

There is a blog, too.

You can be friends with us on Facebook.

So, that is the first of the big seven announcements of 2008. The Big Seven. Six to go.