Alison Pace

Now, Monthly!

No, no, I don't actually think it's July 17th, I'm just using the handy iCal image because today's post is of the scheduling variety.

So, the blog.  I've been thinking lately that it's not exactly what it used to be.  It used to be a bit more funny ha ha than it is presently. I think over the course of the past three years and three novels I might have run out of a bit of the zeal needed to post somewhat entertaining, or even just updatey, things on a regular basis.  And since it kind of bugs me when I go to blogs I like and there is never anything remotely new or interesting, I've decided that for the time being at least, the blog is going to switch over to a once-a-month format.  We can switch back once the blog area of my brain has had a nice rest.

I hope you'll check back around the first of every month to see what's new.  I promise to try very hard to have some things more exciting than: "this month, I worked on my novel..."

Merry, merry and happy, happy!

-A

Vermont

Has it been a month?

I can't believe it's really been a month.  Nor can I believe that even with it having been a month and all, I don't really have much to say.  Let's see:

I had about a week and a half there where I didn't even open up the Word program on my computer.  On one or two occasions, I napped.  I had trouble forming complete sentences.

I got a massage.  I saw a terrific play.  I saw a movie I didn't like at all.  I worked on a magazine piece I'm pitching but didn't get as far as I'd hoped.

I had a nice Thanksgiving and tremendously enjoyed the absence of the constant nagging feeling that I should really take the next two, three hours to work on the novel.

I got the first half of my revisions back. I felt overwhelmed.

I got up to 35 minutes of running on the treadmill, which is something for me.  I started my revisions, still felt overwhelmed.

Finally finished The Secret History.  Liked it.

I'm going to Vermont for the weekend.  Looking forward to it.  Carlie is too.

And my good friends Nancy Levine and Wilson the Pug have a new book out.  It's called The Ugly Pugling: Wilson The Pug In Love.  It's very charming and adorable and you can check it out here.

More soon.  Or soonish.  I think soonish is good.

And, Scene

That's a picture of what I imagine it looks like inside my brain right now.  It's also a picture I took with my blackberry of my manuscript-in-progress a few days ago; I'm not sure why.

The good news is that the first draft of my fourth novel is ready to be turned in.  Who knew doing nothing but sitting at your desk and chewing pen caps day in and day out for three weeks straight could be so exhausting, but good golly, I'm tired.

Now I'm going to:  sleep; get myself to a gym; hope the ashen-skinned, hollow-eyed look I'm sporting goes away soon; buy myself something pretty. 

And then I'm going to post something really exciting...

Howl

The eagerly anticipated anthology HOWL: A COLLECTION OF THE BEST CONTEMPORARY DOG WIT is out!

As I am sure has by now become apparent, one of my favorite things about writing is writing about dogs, my own and others.  This collection, compiled by the editors of The Bark magazine (where I'm a contributing editor) is filled with outstanding humor and excellent writing. 

Tonight, in celebration, some of the contributions will be read at Symphony Space in an evening aptly titled, Writers and Their Dogs.  Tickets still available...

This Just In

Extremely cute picture of Carlie from the Through Thick and Thin dog-friendly signing at Zoomies:

I Seek Yoda

Beware of the dark side, so says Yoda.

I imagine it has always been just a matter of time before I was lured over to dark side by the siren song of the Blackberry.  And, well, that time is now.

For a person as enamored with the email as I am, I feel I did resist for a remarkably long amount of time.  And I would have held out longer, really I would have, but yesterday morning I dropped my cell phone as I was walking into the subway / trying to send a text.  In somewhat comical fashion I watched cell phone bouncing from step to step to step, various parts flying off and being stepped on by other subway passerby as it went.  Also comical was when I brought the beleaguered, and also not turning-on, phone to the wireless store and removed it from my bag in several pieces inquiring if they could get my numbers out of it.  Also remarkably, they can.

I'm picking up my Blackberry Pearl (which was quite reasonably priced due to the fact that I have reason to believe I have signed up with my wireless carrier for the rest of my life, and they might have a first look option on my next book proposal, not sure) in about an hour.  I'm excited.  90% excited.  10% nervous that I'll very soon be one of those people who leaves her apartment, and has to reach into her bag one block later to check her email.  I know I will be.

Other than that, I officially live in the very dark place called Deadline City.  Two more weeks.

More Books, More Dogs, What Else?

The event on Saturday at Zoomies, dog boutique extraordinaire, was a lot of fun.  Several of Carlie's friends from Central Park came all the way downtown, which was greatly appreciated, and Carlie got to finally meet her agent-dog and some other literary dogs.

Behold: Izzy, the ridiculously cute Schnoodle of Taylor Antrim.  Taylor's first novel THE HEADMASTER RITUAL came out in July, and if you haven't yet picked it up, by all means you should.  There's elite boarding school setting, prep school torment, angst both teenage and otherwise, and international politics. The  writing is really beautiful, too.  I loved; go get.

Another book I've been meaning to mention all summer (now that it's October and all) is Heather McElhatton's PRETTY LITTLE MISTAKES.  It's a choose-your-own adventure story (yes, like the ones we had as kids) but for adults.  I was completely jealous of the concept the moment I read about the deal on Publisher's Marketplace and was eagerly awaiting the book for a year.  There's a lot of edginess and darkness, wonderfully set-off by the fun of picking which way to go, and there is also some very touching writing, especially when the character winds up in her various versions of heaven.  And also, I just found out that McElhatton has a pug, Walter.  And Walter has his own blog.

Lastly, before I get to work on my own novel writin's (tick tock goes the deadline clock), does it bother anyone that the new TV show Gossip Girl is supposed to be all "Upper! East! Side!, this is how we roll here," but yet the majority of the scenes take place at The Palace Hotel, which is in midtown?  I also don't like the voice over.

Zoomies On Saturday

Dear Dog Friends, Book Lovers (and friends who like dogs and books),

A quick note to remind that Carlie and I will be doing a special dog-friendly signing of THROUGH THICK AND THIN this Saturday, September 29:

Zoomies
434 Hudson Street
12:00 - 2:00
All Dogs Welcome

Zoomies is, hands down, my favorite dog store in the world.  In addition to visiting with Carlie, you can also pick up some excellent things for your four-legged friends.

And while we're on the subject, herewith two pictures of Carlie at her recent Amanda Jones photo shoot.  Look how into it she is:

c. Amanda Jones