Hello from Chicago!
It’s cold here. But it feels oh-so warm and lovely to be seeing old friends and family. We spent yesterday afternoon and evening at Greg’s sister’s house and Vera could not have been more thrilled to be reunited with her cousins. I can’t even tell you how happy it makes me to see her with them. All of my cousins were always so much older than me, and also with being an only child I just never had a family experience like the one she is part of.
It also feels better to be out in the world and getting my mind off the Newtown tragedy. I’ve really had a hard time processing it, as all of us have. Yesterday, walking through the airport, I felt so vulnerable and edgy. I haven’t felt this affected by a national tragedy since 9/11. I think it’s going to take all of us a long time to heal, and hopefully good things will come from it, in the form of a safer country.
Here are a few more good things:
I found out last week that The Rules of Inheritance is a finalist for a Books for a Better Life award, and I’m feeling impossibly humbled. Other finalists include Anne Lamott (!!), Kelle Hampton (do your read her blog??), and Andrew Solomon (I think everyone I know is reading his book right now). This also means that I’m going to be in NYC in March for the awards ceremony, which is pretty exciting.
Here’s an essay I have up on the Powell’s Books blog. I wrote about my relationship with author Deni Bechard (otherwise known as the college tutor in the first chapter of my book). I think this is one of the most interesting side-stories from my book.
Lastly, I’m reading tomorrow night in one of Chicago’s newest bookstores, City Lit. I know the weather is supposed to be yucky, but I would be so, so excited if you came out to say hi.
