Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein, getting a “buzz”

I’ve been intending to write about my adventures for several days now, but, apparently I’ve been too busy having adventures to write about them. I have a bit of a breather today. Last Friday I left Mendocino and traveled south to Salinas to the California Writers Conference that’s called East of Eden. It’s Steinbeck country and it was a great conference. I was befriended by Linda McCabe who is VP of the Sonoma branch of the CA writers club and she introduced me around. I felt like I was part of the “California” writing community…. a very vibrant community, indeed. The workshops were good, especially the one on Point of View. I met a lot of people, and, best of all, my book was in the bookstore and sold quite well. Very nice. I left with some really valuable information on using the Internet and a sense of inspiration. I drove north through the central valley and up into Oregon. Hot weather. In fact it’s been quite hot in Portland. It was a nostalgic drive. I hadn’t made it in a long time and it brought back lots of memories of my life. I used to live up here and have family in Washington still. I’ve made the trip up and down Highway 5 lots of times over the years.

I arrived in Portland on Monday after an overnight along the way, I used to drive the whole route in one binge, but not any more… On Tuesday morning I had an interview on KBOO radio, which is the Portland Community radio station, a lot like KPFA. It was great, a live interview on a program called Between the Covers. Ed Goldberg interviewed me. He was funny, insightful and liked Requiem—hard not to enjoy that! The interview actually brought a few people to my book signing last night. It was at 23rd Avenue Books, an independent store that set up their audience area with a couple of charming old overstuffed chairs tucked in amongst comfortable folding chairs—very welcoming and friendly. In fact, I’ve never had a reading quite like it. People, as they arrived, begin introducing themselves, and by the time we got underway, we had pretty much all said hello and it felt like I was talking and reading to a group of friends.

I get very solemn and tense before I go to an event. It seems to happen every time. I worry about whether I’ll have an audience, whether I’ll get there on time, whether I’ve forgotten something important—odd things, really. I always assume I’ll do fine with the talking, I’m not sure what I’m afraid I’ll blow… but it reminds me of dreams I had as a young woman, where I’d show up to give a presentation, or show up at class and I would have forgotten to put clothes on! Fortunately for all involved, that was not the case last night. The reading was well-received. We talked for a long time after about writing and about Mary Shelley and her world. I had a lot of fun. My friend Kathryn, where I’m staying up here, enjoyed it too. She’s been doing all the groundwork, getting posters out, providing a Portland base for the workshop, driving me around. It’s been great. Kathryn also traveled with me in the fall of 2003 in England and Italy, so we have a history of connection to the story. We’ve been friends since 1974—a long time.

There’s still a lot of upheaval and change going on around Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein. It’s interesting and challenging. It seems like there really is a “buzz” beginning. The young man who introduced me at the reading said as much, which really surprised me. I wasn’t sure what had inspired him to the observation. For the moment, I’m just trying to inch my way forward. Very little is clear. I’m hoping it’ll all make sense in the next week or so, but even if it doesn’t I seem to keep muddling along. I’m expecting to send out another newsletter before long. My interview with New Dimensions is published on the internet and will be out in December on National Radio… more about that shortly.