Alison Pace

Acknowledgments

I'd like to acknowledge my very good friends Sarah Mlynowski and Robin Epstein who were among the first to alert me earlier today that they were receiving every email they'd ever sent me with my away message attached at a rate of twenty emails per second.  I like to acknowledge that they both at different times stayed on the phone with me while I tried to figure out what was happening.

I'd like to acknowledge that what happened was that in anticipation of my upcoming trip, I went into my mail preferences and wrote an auto-reply away-from-the-desk message to be sent to every message received in my absence.  Only what happened is that my email started sending a reply to EVERY MESSAGE saved in my inbox.

I'd like to acknowledge that my agent and editor got the worst of this because I have never in the past five years deleted any email from either of them. And I email them both A LOT, and they always write back so there's some really easy math right there. I'd like to acknowledge that they were both super understanding about the fact that they each received about 500 emails from me today.

I'd like to acknowledge the very important and busy author I interviewed for a magazine last year who took the time out of her very important and busy schedule to write, "Hello, Alison.  I just got 27 emails from you in the last minute and wanted to let you know."

I'd like to acknowledge that it may now seem rash that when readjusting the preferences and even deleting the rule altogether did nothing to stop the email frenzy, I made the decision to delete every email in my inbox. It didn't seem so rash then.

I'd like to acknowledge that I have a really clean slate now, email-wise.

I'd like to acknowledge that I'm looking on the bright side:  I'm happy that I wrote the message straight and didn't get all cute about it, considering god knows to whom the email went.  I'm happy there weren't any spelling mistakes.  I'm trying not to think about the random people in there who are getting one email from me telling them completely randomly of my travel plans and email access who are all, "uh, thanks, Ali, whatever."

I'd like to acknowledge that I am now petrified of my email preferences and do not dare go back in there to set up an away message for whilst I am away.  But then I would imagine that matters none as everyone now knows I will be elsewheres.

I acknowledge that it's a really bad idea not to go on a vacation for three and a half years and that I am really, really ready to go on mine.

Over and out,

AP

..and an apology to everyone whose email I clogged today.  The more you got, the more I am loathe to ever delete an email from you, so that just means I like you a real lot. 

H and G / Bookmarks

Hi there.

So the last t has been crossed and the last i has been dotted on CITY DOG.  Or at least I have done my very human best to make sure that they have been.  If there are typos in the book, it is not because I didn't read every word in it about 5,000 times. 

I'm super excited about this book.  I think it's my favorite so far, and that's not only because it's the most current - I just feel that everything came together so well with this one. I can't wait until it's out.  And we've recently received a wonderfully nice quote from Lee Harrington, the author of the memoir Rex and City.  She says, "Pace writes with wit, confidence, a delightful and gentle voice, and a keen eye that misses nothing."  Many thanks to Lee!

One more bit of City Dog news:  Berkley (my publisher) has made up these really beautiful bookmarks for City Dog.  If anyone would like a couple (or even more than a couple, to perhaps pass out at an event or stuff into a goody bag!) please let me know and I'd be more than happy (thrilled, really) to send you some.  Just send your name and address and how many you'd like to alison@alisonpace.com

Though there will be about a two-week delay in my sending them as I am leaving on Friday for an extremely cool trip.  I'm heading to the island of Pantelleria (which is between the coasts of Sicily and Africa) where I'll be participating in an archaeological dig.  It's something I've always wanted to do and this is the first time I've had the time and freedom to be able to indulge myself.  The only bad thing is how much I am going to miss my canine friend.  But rest assured, Carlie will be well cared for with her grands on the island that is long.

That is a picture of Pantelleria up above.  Two weeks.  Oh, the material. 

Apparently it is so hot on this island that we are only at the excavation site until noon, and after that is "seaside."  I imagine I am going to get a lot of reading done in the afternoons.  As I've been in a bit of a reading rut lately and have not liked much of what I have selected for myself, I've decided to go mostly on the book recommendations of others.  Daring!  Here's what's going in my bag along with my giant hat, 70SPF sunscreen and a lot of sarong:  David Foster Wallace, Consider the Lobster; Merrill Markoe, Merrill Markoe's Guide to Love; Alison Lurie, Foreign Affairs; Joan Didion, Slouching Toward Bethlehem; Somerset Maugham, The Razor's Edge; Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Shadow of the Wind.  I also want to bring the copy Nicole Krauss' History of Love that is in my apartment somewhere, but can't find it at present.

See you in July,  Ciao!

Cell Phone Photography / Happy Memorial Day

CITY DOG - September 2, 2008

click on it!

Outward Hound (Carlie Goes Hiking)

Dog lovers, outdoorsy types, hikers: I have an article in the March / April 2008 issue of The Bark magazine about hiking with your dog.  It chronicles a few outdoor adventures I tested out with the help of the ever-ready Carlie.  Hope you get a chance to check it out.

And here's one of my favorite pictures of Carlie "in the field," in her hiking safety harness...

 

Everything I Needed to Know about Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume

This Friday, March 7, I'll be joining the authors Jennifer O'Connell and Megan McCafferty as the Friends of the Nutley Public Library host their annual tea.

We'll be reading from and talking about my favorite anthology, Everything I Needed to Know about Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume. We'll also be talking about our different experiences as writers and readers of Judy Blume. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.

It's at 7:00 p.m. For tickets and information please call Gioya at the Nutley Public Library at 973-667-0405 x. 2636.

My Book Is ALMOST Done!

February 08

Ah, February.  The month of Valentine's Day and the romantic comedy.  It's also the month of the Westminster Dog Show at Madison Square Garden which I like to watch on TV. Westies are on Monday and Pugs are on Tuesday.

It was actually three years ago this month that my first novel IF ANDY WARHOL HAD A GIRLFRIEND was published.  I can't believe it's been three years.  It seems as if it was both yesterday and a million years ago. Time warp.  The exciting news for IAWHAG is that my terrific publisher is re-releasing it in May with this new, really spectacular cover.  Do you not have great love for the Warhol-ized schnauzers and their giant ears?  I for one think I might be a little bit in love with the art.

In other news, I turned in the second draft of my newest book on time!  I think there will be one more round of edits and then this puppy (pun completely intended) will be on its way to copy-editing.  I'm really happy with the way this book is turning out.  It's definitely a bit more weird and out there than previous books, but I think out there can be a really good thing.  Hopefully you will, too.  And also, Carlie narrates about a third of the book, so that's tremendously exciting for me.  Since everything seems to be moving along according to schedule,  CITY DOG will be out in September. That seems soon to me even now. I've seen an early version of the cover and it's stunning, too.  Hope to have something to post soon.

Last but not least, my blog friend and Westie friend, Eileen Cook's debut novel Unpredictable is out this month.  In my exact blurby words it's "a funny quirky tale of a woman on the edge and the lengths to which she'll go to bring herself back."  I laughed out loud, and very much enjoyed Eileen's writing style and the witty commentary.  Hope you get a chance to check it out.

VOTE!

Happy New Year!

2008, among other things hopefully, will be the year that I never play that brickbreaker game again because I deleted the program from my blackberry.  It was getting to be a bit of an issue. 

So now that 2007 is a thing of the past, I need to update my “books read this year” link.  The final count for 2007 was 23 books read (plus 1 book published, and 1 first draft written.)

My favorites (and these are not all books published in 2007, rather books I happened to get around to reading in 2007) to recommend are The Namesake, The Secret History, Blind Submission, Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You (great cover) and They Did It With Love. 

For the immediate future, mostly I’ll be hunkered down working on the revisions to the upcoming novel.  It has a new title now: CITY DOG.  Like?  The consensus is that it’s much catchier than the original title.  I generally have quite a hard time getting over my original anything, but I like this title, too.  The revision process is so far good in that I agree with, I’d say, 95% of what my editor is saying, and so far bad because there’s so much fixing and rearranging to be done.  I swim right now in a sea of red pen, index cards and those little sticky flags I have in recent years become so fond of.  One thing that interests me is that one of my narrators (this book has three, one of whom is Carlie) comes across as depressed, and as that was not my intent at all, I’m working at trying to happy her up.  I hope to turn in the second draft at the end of this month and have that 90% nice clean slate / 5% oh no, what am I going to do next / 5% I miss all my imaginary friends feeling for February.

Carlie says hi.