Susan Henderson and I trade high school secrets in a super fun (if slightly mortifying) interview on her fantastic literary playground litpark.

This summer, I discovered Alison Bechdel.

I read not only her graphic memoir Fun Home, but caught up on years and years worth of the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For.

That's what I do, when I discover an author whose work I love. I read everything. And then feel sad, because I have to wait for the new work. 

Bechdel posted a video of her process while making Fun Home on her new MySpace page (scroll down). She  takes digital photos of herself for every  frame, and then uses the pictures as models for her drawings. A cat walks across her desk. I seriously want to get a cat.

----

Completely unrelated. I have the opportunity to give away ten FREE copies of TWINS, here in this blog.

I think I am going to hold a little contest. My first inclination is to award copies to myspace friends who have praised me in the past, but I recognize that this is a bad idea. Undemocratic.

Suggestions? 

Too slow. I was going to write up my reading earlier this week, but my new friend Jami (Instant Love) beat me to it. She practically turned the night into a short story, including a late night bar crawl and a genuine Helen Hunt interaction.

And Jürgen, he went one step further. He posted video.
Watch me read.  

THEY'RE HERE

The tremendous significance of October 17, 2006: the paperback release of Twins. Note the new cover--smart blond girls without mouths, big red heart, floating birds, The New York Times seal of approval.



It's the same critically acclaimed, edgy, funny first novel, but more appealing. Available, I hope, in bookstores near you. Or click here to purchase online.



READING

I'm reading this Wednesday--yes, tomorrow, October 18, 2006 at 8:00pm--at the In The Flesh Erotic Readings Series. It's a great event: hip bar, free cupcakes, free books. Authors Jami Attenberg (Instant Love) and Stephen Elliot (My Girlfriend Comes To The City And Beats Me Up) will also be reading. Here are the pertinent details.



Thanks for signing up for this mailing list. Check my website for an upcoming Twins giveaway, a reading group guide, interviews, and more to come. Maybe.



Best,

Marcy

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18 at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com

Please come (no pun intended). I'll be reading from TWINS, along with some great other people that night, including Jami Attenberg and Stephen Elliot.

Free cupcakes, free books.

It's difficult to write clever blog entries in Montauk. It's difficult to sit down at a desk and write fiction. The ocean is constantly calling.

Good news: I have not wiped out on my bike. I have not fallen off a cliff, despite climbing beneath a fence with a warning signing that read  "Do Not Enter, Erosion." Despite wiping out on a wave that came from nowhere, I have not come close to drowning and the swimming has been good.

If you don't know what I am writing about, I have spent the month of September in Montauk, at the Edward Albee barn. Which has been so great - except for that artist who works with power tools. Power tools.

Pretty soon, I will feel morally obligated to blog all the time. Why? Well the paperback is coming out in days. I have the new cover (no book yet, just the cover) sitting on the dresser in my simple barn room and it's beautiful. Makes me happy.

Ok. More soon.

Where have I been?

For the month of August, I spent a lot of time with these two dogs, Dexter and Tracy. The photo was taken on my daily walk on a dirt road in Meshoppen, Pennsylvania.



I loved walking Dexter and Tracy. Like domesticated dogs from the city, they know the word walk and they always want to go. They do not, however, require leashes or collars. Dexter and Tracy wandered off to smell what they wanted, pee where they wanted. They ambled in the middle of the road (despited the occasional car) and sometimes ran out of sight, only to reappear, running fast, tails wagging. Ecstatic to see me. I gave them my left-over food, plenty of dog biscuits. We had conversations.

I feel the absence of these dogs. They weren't mine. They belonged to the next door neighbors, who seemed a little confused about how their pets seemed to prefer my company. (To be fair, they liked Jürgen too.)  I think my domination of the dogs' affection made a twelve-year-old boy sad.



I lived in the church pictured above. It had an excellent wooden front porch that cannot be seen from this image. I wrote a lot. Grilled insane amounts of food. Drank a variety of warm and cold beverages. Played frisbee on the lawn.

This post, by the way, is about writing. I did do some writing.

After a week back in New York, I am off again for residency number two. (Never did I believe that I would be one of those people who residency hop: it's a genuine subculture.)

Next destination: Montauk, a month at the Edward Albee barn. I hope it will still be warm enough to swim in the ocean. A friend just told me about a beach where you can spot sea otters.


****


I will return in time for the October paperback release of TWINS. You can pre-order it now.

If you're in New York, I'll be reading at the In The Flesh Erotic Reading Series on October 18. It should be a great night with a lot of fantastic talent performing, including writers Jami Attenberg, Stephen Elliot and host Rachel Kramer Brussel.

Nichelle interviewed me for her fun blog Cupcakes Takes The Cake. Cupcakes, by the way, are a new national phenomena. In this interview, I say many exciting things about cupcakes.

***

Last weekend, I went to a press junket last weekend. Scarlett Johannson was promoting her new Woody Allen film Scoop. She wore lots of make-up. Her nails were freshly manicured, cherry red. She wore a purple dress. She said nothing particularly revelatory.

Sometimes, press junkets can be fun. I went to a junket for Parker Posey when she was in Personal Velocity and she had dirt under her finger nails. Her mascara was smeared. Posey was great in that film, playing an editor intoxicated by her success, off buying expensive shoes and making out with her famous author.

I wrote up the interview with Scarlett for About.com.

What I did not write for was that after the questions were over, I gave Scarlett a copy of TWINS. A gift, I told her, because she is a twin. (Fraternal. Scarlett is reportedly three minutes older than her brother.)

"You wrote this?" Scarlett asked.
"I did," I said.

Scarlett took the book. She looked at it. She looked at me. She thanked me. Then her handler whisked her out of the room.

My older sister Julie is an artist.*  She has an exciting photo exhibit, co-sponsored by the NEA, opening tomorrow night at the Everhart Museum of Science and Art in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Natural Selections focuses on selected items from the museum's more than 30,000 item natural history collection. It's amazing what Julie can do with a camera and a dead animal. The show runs until September 24.

*We are not twins.