What is Friday Fare? As a recap, on Fridays I post link love to the various bits of arcane shiz I discover on the Interwebs. I liken it to a glimpse into my mind, but without the 80s song lyrics or mental cobwebs.
Lots of lit stuff in the webz this week. Let’s dig in (and PS – it’s going to be a love fest of Minnesota writers, because there’s a lot going on in my Minnesota mystery world):
– Jess Lourey is an incredible writer and she’s seriously one of the nicest people you’re going to meet in life. Bonus: She’s also a college instructor and one of the most meaningful “craft” classes I’ve had came from Ms. Lourey. I mentioned that she’s nice, right? She announced on Facebook that she was discounting the cost of her “Rewrite Your Life” course from ~$100 to free. I left a comment on her original post and she mentioned her desire to “share the light.” <– Seriously. This. Author.
– Clay Stafford, the founder of Killer Nashville, has now founded a publishing company. Congrats, Clay!
– Do any of us really balance the reality between social media and creating? Dani Shapiro contributes a great piece to LitHub.
Finally, I have a weird crush on Donald Sutherland. I do not care that he’s 82 years old. (Kinda like my feelings for Christopher Plummer. Let’s not plumb these thoughts, eh?) If Helen Mirren and Mr. Sutherland pulled up in my driveway, I’d pack the snacks and hit the open road with them.
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Listening: So, my work day used to be orchestrated to random finds on YouTube. And while I still lurve me some YouTube, the commercials were driving me batty. So I’ve been listening to “old faithful”: The music I have on my laptop streaming through Windows Media Player. (Why yes, I’m lame. And I’m OK with this.) So here’s my random contribution to y’all finding something new. Check this guy out:
I went to college with this guy’s big sister and even though I think that covering Bruce Springsteen is sacrilege, he can do it. (PS – Hayward Williams is the guy’s name.)
Reading: If you keep up with my “Events” section, you’ll note that I’ve added an upcoming event at the Edina Art Center. I’ll be facilitating a conversation with Rebecca Kanner, the author of “Esther” and “Sinners and the Sea.” Full disclosure: Kanner’s about a million miles cooler than I am; so the few times we’ve talked IRL, I’ve pretty much stammered, so April 14th’s event should be a real treat. But in preparation for Rebecca’s presentation, I took a spin through “Esther.” And by “I took a spin”, I basically spent Easter weekend glued to the screen of my phone/Kindle app because “Esther” was so damn good.
Writing Life: Well … my professional life gave me a trio of panic attacks last week. And this week has nearly reduced me to tears three times, so … yeah. Panic attacks and looming work deadlines do jack sh*t for my creative life, but I’m going to make up for it this weekend. Mindy Mejia (another Minnesota author extraordinaire) is presenting a session on taxes for us creative types at ModernWell up in the Twin Cities. (Very cannily titled “Of Death and Taxes.”) I’m going because I want to learn about taxes. But to be honest, ModernWell is an incredible work co-operative that’s specifically for women (it smells like lavender and the last time I was there, they had Fleetwood Mac playing on a continuous loop. It was a weird version of Shelley heaven.) Mindy Mejia is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. And two other writer friends are attending. So … we’re going to call that a trifecta of winning.
Spring is nearly here, right? Right?
Be well.
– Shelley
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