Kibble in Your Bowl

(NOTE: The following is true unless your definition of “true” includes fact and honest-to-goodness real stuff. Embellishment is part of the writing and publishing tradition. Without these little excursions, life would be a series of dental appointments, legal complaints, and leafy greens. Better to have fun now while no one is looking. Growing up is put off indefinitely.)


Women’s Wear Daily for January 22, 2007

BERKELEY, CA: Sunday night in this quaint college town is usually sedate. Fraternity brothers shine their saddle shoes and sorority sisters rinse dainty underthings in anticipation of the next day’s classes taught by avuncular professors who chuckle at the occasional antic. Learning and pleasure are equally pursued under the redwood trees of Northern California. Many important people have come from this scholarly environment, like Ben Affleck, who is busy directing his first movie several hundred miles south in Hollywood.

Clad in a black Italian wool Claiborne jacket and blue-striped Hathaway shirt, Sal Glynn tossed his carelessly worn off-white US Wings silk scarf over his shoulder and seduced readers at the venerable Black Oak Books with candlelight-and-wine tales of publishing. Many of those attending were also dressed in their finery, ranging from organic cotton in this season’s liveliest colors to the latest in hemp skirts and shirts. Eyewear was also well represented: the eyes had “it” made by Dior, Brooks Brothers, and Gucci.

Bookman extraordinaire Lewis Klausner favored a dove gray Ralph Lauren spread-collar shirt worn dangerously casual sans necktie. His introduction invoked the names of Homer, Virgil, and Dante before handing the podium over to Sal. With nary a squeak to be heard from the twenty-five rapt listeners, Sal teetered in white Reebok running shoes and gave a precise accounting of the thrills awaiting new writers in the world of publishing. The too-short event ended by Sal signing copies of his newest book, THE DOG WALKED IN THE PUDDLE: AN OUT-OF-TOWN GUY WRITES WHAT HE WANTS TO PUBLISH.

We were lucky enough to be invited to the après reading get-together at Beckett’s Irish Pub & Restaurant on Shattuck Avenue. Over a delightful plate of beer batter prawns and across from a stunning portrait of Bono, Sal added a few more bits of salacious gossip about the current state of publishing. Books have much more excitement than we had previously thought and many are written with the express intention of being read. Imagine, words on a page strung together in sentences and divided into chapters! We melt at the thought.

Personal manger Mr. Detroit kept the spotlight on Sal by wearing a subdued Armani leather jacket over a Redwings jersey. When asked how the event compared to others, the Michigan native said, “Negotiations were tense. Sal demanded the evening closed to anyone wearing a tie-dye tee shirt and Black Oak prides itself on being egalitarian. Being at a podium is hard work, and staring out at a mass of colors not occurring in nature throws him off his stride. Thankfully, we came to an agreement at the last moment.”


Don’t forget the workshop in February. Sign up now.

WRITING WORKSHOP AND BOOK SIGNING
Sunday, February 4 at 2:00 pm
BOOK PASSAGE CORTE MADERA
51 Tamal Vista Boulevard
Corte Madera, CA 94925
(415) 927-0960


Okay, you need more than an afternoon. Get yourself down, up, or over to Big Sur for the weekend:

FOURTH ANNUAL BIG SUR FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP
March 9–11, 2007, 2 pm Friday to 2 pm Sunday
BIG SUR LODGE IN PFEIFFER STATE PARK
Henry Miller Library
Highway One
Big Sur, CA 93920
(831) 667-2574
www.henrymiller.org


The San Francisco/Peninsula Writers meets on the third Saturday of each month. On April 21, they will host “Are You Ready Yet? Drafting Toward Perfection,” with me as the guest speaker. Here’s the description: “How do you know when your manuscript is ready, or if you should call in a freelance editor for help? Writer and book midwife Sal Glynn will talk about the need for successive drafts, what to look for in each round of revision, and how to make room for the reader. He will also cover how to make research inform a story instead of buried under detail, and the use and abuse of adjectives.”

This informative and fun-filled event will be held from 10am to noon at:
Hobee’s Restaurant
1101 Shoreway Road
Belmont (near Ralston Avenue and Hwy 101)

Cost (includes a continental breakfast):
$15 for California Writers Club members
$18 for non-members
Reservations in advance are advised. Call the club hotline (650) 615-8331 or send an E-mail to reservations chairman, George Jansen, at reservations@sfpeninsulawriters.com

Mail your check to the chairman, or pay at the door.
CWC Reservations
657 Warwick Place
Hayward, CA 94542


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