A Change of Plans and a Buried Lead

[dr_pretentious]

It turns out my grandfather's memorial service is now going to be on Saturday, not Sunday, which means I will be spending Friday driving to Forestport, rather than seeing Mother Courage in Central Park. Yes, my grandfather died back in June, which is rather a long time to wait--he'd expressed a preference for cremation followed by burial, but not for where he'd like to be buried, and it took my grandmother a while to figure out whether the grave should be in the city where he lived for 30 years, or in his hometown. The hometown won out.

It's the kind of thing I wouldn't want to bail out on, even if I could.

So there's only one thing to do about Brecht: the minute the Kushner translation is available in book form, I'll get a bunch of copies and host a stage reading in my living room, with booze and sock puppets for everyone.

Oh, and the buried lead?

You may remember how the pitch sessions went well at Writer's Weekend, and a Much-Vaunted Agent requested a 100-page partial ms (the usual sample length people ask for is 30 pages).

Her assistant just emailed me to ask for a short bio and a synopsis of the whole novel. I'm really glad the revisions to the Big Book are done. If she likes the synopsis and bio enough to request the full ms, it's ready to go.

Comments

[red-haired-girl.livejournal.com]

Have I told you how proud I am of you for all the work you've done with your book? :-)

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It would have been a whole lot harder without the encouragement of my friends.

[vgnwtch.livejournal.com]

re: Memorial: *Hug*

re: Mother Courage: Will there be pictures?

re: MS: W00T!!

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Pictures. Hm. Hadn't occurred to me, but where there are sock puppets, there certainly should be pictures.

[rednikki.livejournal.com]

That's great news! Er, about the book, I mean. Less so about the memorial service...

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Hadn't considered cruelty. I was thinking the sock puppets might add a note of Dada levity to the evening. But then, as Punch and Judy have been demonstrating for centuries, cruelty to puppets can be funny.

Yes, there will be pictures. I think my old grad school friends' bids for tenure will be much enhanced by photos of them speaking through sock puppets while tipsy, don't you?

[thecrimsony.livejournal.com]

Yay for encouraging feedback!



And Sock Puppet Theater is the perfect venue for any occasion!

[jasminewind.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the lead!

Does the change in date for your grandfather's service mean you'll be at the ROPs on Sun?

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Depends on how the family's doing. I wish I could give you guys a straight answer, but honestly, I don't think I'll know until Sunday morning. I will call Turtle Hill with an answer when I have one, though.

[kistha.livejournal.com]

On the manuscript - I do the happy dance of joy all over the office for you!

On the memorial service - may it bring many happy memories, tears of joy mingled with sorrow, and closure.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Thank you, and thank you.

By the way, Part 4 of the Big Book should arrive by mail before the end of this week.

[tokeiwakamidesu.livejournal.com]

If you do the reading, I am SO THERE.

But only if Mother Courage is played by Meryl Sheep.