Bonnie Jo and the River

Last night I went to our local bookstore for their autumn book symposium. At these events the staff quickly reviews about 50 books that are coming out and then usually has a speaker.

Last night's speaker was Bonnie Jo Campbell show here. She read from her latest book "Once Upon a River." I've met Bonnie Jo a few times before and always admire her writing. She lives about an hour away in Kalamazoo, but she and I have another connection too.


The river she is writing about in her book is the St. Joseph River, and the reason she knows about it so well is that she spent her summers at her Grandparents' cottage that was located on a small island in the river. That cottage was only about 1/2 mile away from my Grandparents' farm - which is where I spent most of my time in the summer while I was growing up.

I'm about nine years older than Bonnie Jo, so she wasn't someone I played with during that time period, but it's a small town neighborhood. We would know a lot of the same people.

Bonnie Joe teaches at the low-residency MFA program I'm applying to. If I get accepted and if I get the chance, I'll tell her about it.

Disappointment from the Local Rag

Well, after working intensely for countless hours on my Ring Lardner programs and exhibit for the Box Factory for the Arts, our local newspaper - The Herald-Palladium - has decided in their infinite wisdom not to give it one word of coverage - other than a listing in their calendar.

To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. We depend on this little hometown newspaper, as sad as it often is, to get the word out to people and for them to ignore this major gallery effort is not only disappointing it's neglectful on their part.

I've gone back and forth with their entertainment department and they continue to refuse to cover it and can not be persuaded differently. There is, after all, just sooooo much to cover and they've given the Box Factory enough publicity.

It's this kind of thing that just makes me heartsick. It's difficult to work so hard on a project, then have someone tell you that it's not worth even the smallest of articles. It's not worth even acknowledging that it exists.

I know it's the writer's curse to be rejected over and over again - but this one hurts. My husband says I should e-mail them back and say "bite me!"

I'm tempted!

A Delayed Quartet

Last night our writing quartet met at a local coffee shop for dinner and to talk. It was a meeting delayed from last week when two of us were busy hanging the Ring Lardner gallery show on the night we were supposed to meet.

This coffee shop is where we first began getting together a few years ago, and last night's meeting reminded me why we stopped going there. We bought sandwiches that, at least for me, were too expensive and not that good and we sat on chairs that are squeezed in tight with the other tables and aren't at all comfortable to sit on.

And I don't think the quartet itself was feeling too great. I have a head cold from hell that just won't go away, another of us is having problems at work, another is juggling a complicated job and another is balancing her writing with volunteer work.

And on top of all that, we had to wrap it up quickly to go to the night writing group we all belong to.

We'll be together again on Monday to attend a Readers' Symposium at a local book shop and before hand we'll meet for dinner and hopefully have a more relaxing time.

And then, next month, we'll meet at my house for a leisurely dinner (and dessert!) and a settling in among the stuffed chairs and sofas and pillows to talk and read aloud and connect with each other once again while the pumpkins glow on the mantle.

Another Crack at It

After giving it several months thought, I think I may take another crack at graduate school, this time going to a low-residence program for a creative writing degree.

I'm still researching this, and I still have to apply and get accepted, of course, but I think it would be a good fit for me. I wouldn't have to move away from my life to do it, but it would give my writing structure and, even more important, deadlines!

I'll be working on submission materials for the next several months and, if all goes well, be able to start next June. Here's hoping once again!

Water, Water, Water

Here's a photo taken by my husband, Tom, at Glacier National Park in Montana.

I'm a five generation Michigander. My family has spent more than 150 years living next to Lake Michigan and I don't think I could ever move away from the lake. I love water and often the traveling we do takes us to lakes or rivers.

I also have a healthy respect for water. Each year dozens of people drown in the Great Lakes, many of them right here in Lake Michigan. Earlier in the summer several people died in a river at Yosemite.

I love water, I'm drawn to water - but caution is best. We're only human and humans do best when they don't push their luck too much with this particular natural element.

Honoring Ring

At the Box Factory for the Arts, where I have a writing studio and am the director of the writing programs for the artist guild, we are launching a gallery show and programming to honor Ring Lardner.

He was born in a city near here and, even though he was working nearly 100 years ago, he's still probably the most famous writer from our area.

The most famous writer hardly anyone really knows. Including me!

I first ran into his name when I was reading about Hemingway and Fitzgerald, of whom he was a contemporary. Lardner was a sports reporter (he covered the Chicago White Sox during their shameful 1919 throwing of the World Series) but he was also the most widely read humorist of his time.

We will honor him with an exhibit, a writing workshop and writing competition and a showing of a movie that he wrote called "Alibi Ike."

When it's all over, it will have been a lot of work, and I wonder if it will be worth it. Certainly it won't matter one way or the other to Ring Lardner. But will other people get something out of it?

It's one of the difficult things about doing programing of any kind, but especially the writing programing I work on. Writing is important to me and the enjoyment of my life - I guess I just assume that other people would be as eager to participate. But, I learned long ago that it's a matter of putting it out there and see who takes advantage of it.

And in the meantime, it doesn't hurt to recognize the writers who paved the way.

Inside / Outside

I love being outside!

I show a photo here taken by my daughter, not showing my best side, but looking out over the Snake River in Wyoming in the Grand Teton area this past spring.

I love being outside, but my life conspires to keep me inside. I'm a writer and a lot of that means sitting inside at a computer. I try to take my laptop or notebook out onto the deck as often as possible, but I'm a whimp. If it's too hot, too cold or too buggy - inside I go.

I'm also a quilter and a lot of that must be done sitting at a sewing machine, but as often as I can I take my handsewing and sit outside, except if it's too hot, too cold, etc., etc. (see excuses above!)

When we go on trips to the national parks, I'm so limited by my sore knees from doing the kind of hiking I would love to do. But it doesn't keep me from being outside. I like to sit on a porch or balcony, or even on a rock in the field and drink it all in.

So, I'm looking forward to our trip to Utah in October and hope it will tide us over the long winter in Michigan when being outside isn't that much fun.