Writerly accomplishments and rock ‘n’ roll goodness

Yay, it’s Friday! I have to say it was a pretty good week and I thought I would share my top 5 highlights.

5. Technically hasn’t happened yet, but I know it is going to good so I’m counting it as a highlight anyway because it involves tamales and reading and, really, how can you go wrong? It’s the event that I will be attending tomorrow night and you should, too. I might even read brand spankin’ new stuff at the open mic!

Event: Tamale Hut Cafe Monthly Reading Series/Open Mic
When: Saturday Mar 08, 2008 at 7:00 PM
Where: Tamale Hut Cafe
8300 W Cermak Rd
North Riverside, Illinois 60546
Description:
Click Here To View Event

4. Okay, it’s weird that I feel like this is such a huge accomplishment considering that I have a book coming out and maybe you’d have to know my boss to understand why it’s such a huge deal, but my co-worker was considering getting me a plaque, so that should tell you something. Earlier this week I drafted a letter for my boss, the Dean of the College of Nursing at UIC. And she has a very particular voice that I’ve been working to nail for a year and a half now. Basically she’s a nurse scientist, a far cry from the punk rock teenage girls and their dysfunctional mothers that I usually write. And she always always always revises anything you write up for her. Doesn’t matter if your her admin assistant like me or one of her colleagues, she’s always got to put her own spin on it. That’s why I always call it “drafting” something when I write for her. But anyway, I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday, she asked me to draft something and instead of coming back with “This is great, but I tweaked it slightly.” She walked out of her office and said, “That was great, go ahead and send it.” I seriously wanted to get up and do a happy dance. Perhaps it will never happen again, but at least once I was able to nail down the voice of nurse scientist.

3. Today, I received word that I was voted in to join the Girlfriend Cyber Circuit! This means I get to host a bunch of awesome writers on my blog when they are doing a cyber tour of their book and I get to cyber tour on their websites as well!

2. The Gutter Twins album Saturnalia came out this week and I’m going to see them tonight. I’ve been listening to the album all day and it is just soooo good. I knew it would be. I mean how could Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs and Mark Lanegan of the Screaming Trees team up and not totally rock? Mark Lanegan is my favorite male vocalist besides Kurt Cobain, so I was extra excited for new stuff from him. He just never disappoints. You know you’re gonna get the whiskey-and-cigarettes-tinged baritone and those songs that make you think of driving through the desert or the deep woods in the Pacific Northwest at dusk or sitting in a seedy bar trading stories with the regulars. And with the addition of Dulli, it’s even more amazing. I can’t tell you how psyched up I am for this concert tonight. I never had a chance to see Afghan Whigs/Greg live and the last time I saw Screaming Trees/Mark was almost 15 years ago. Which makes me feel old, but put it in perspective that I was 14 at that concert. I still feel a little bit old though because this is an 11:30 show tonight, and I’m a little worried about being able to stay awake that long!

1. My number one highlight of the week will definitely be in the running for highlight of the month because I was officially invited to participate (ie. read and/or be a panelist, it’s not hammered out yet) at the Story Week Festival of Writers 2009! This is a huge deal to me because A. It’s the third biggest literary festival in Chicago and B. It’s put on by my alma mater the Columbia College Chicago Fiction Writing Department. And I spent 5 years going to the festival as a student, drooling over how cool and insightful the authors were, waiting in excitement to say hello to them and get them to sign things (so many authors are like rock stars to me). And now, I get to be on the other end of it. I get to be the author that students want to ask questions and people want to hear and have sign their books. How surreal is that? I don’t even really feel qualified, but *shh* we’ll keep quiet about that. Anyway, the 2008 Story Week is less than ten days away and it is going to be awesome, so if you are anywhere near Chicago, check it out!

Okay, since I’m in such a good, yay it’s the weekend mood, I want to hear other people’s highlights of their week or exciting plans for the weekend. Please share!