General

Time is a funny thing. I remember the anticipation I felt as 2015 loomed with my debut novel coming out in April. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like and now here we are eight months later and I’m looking back in hindsight, filled with a lot of gratitude. Thank you to all the readers who wrote to me, to everyone who came to the readings, to all the book clubs who made The Memory Painter one of their picks for this year (I Skyped, Facetimed, e-chatted, drove, lunched, and I loved every minute), thank you to the booksellers, bloggers and reviewers for spreading the word, to the libraries, bookstores, conferences and festivals that invited me to come, and to the fellow writers I met along the way. And a huge thank you to my agent, editor, and publishing team at Picador as well as my family and friends for their support. It’s been a fantastic first year.

Looking ahead to 2016, I’ll be busy working on a new story that I’m very excited about. Also, the paperback for The Memory Painter will be out on 7/5 as well as some other foreign editions. I have some book events scheduled too I’m looking forward to as well. (Note to self: Update calendar)

But right now as the New Year turns, I wanted to end with a poem I have been meaning to share. When I was in Austin for the Texas Book Festival in October I encountered a group of poets writing on vintage typewriters and composing poems on the fly (and for free) for anyone and everyone. They call themselves Typewriter Rodeo and I could not have been more taken. At the festival I stood in line to get a poem, and I chose a poet named David who was wearing a cool Fedora, Clark Kent glasses and had a pencil tucked behind his ear. He asked me what I wanted it to be about and I said: Time.

I watched him write this poem and now it’s my 2015 keepsake:

A Poem On the Subject of Time (For Gwen)

My favorite thing about it may be

That like so many

of my favorite things

It doesn’t really exist

It’s a product of perception

A trick of the light

Physics has proven

that it looks the same

forwards and backwards

And everything that can exist

Does

So take a step back

Consider a human life, viewed

from an extra-temporal

perspective

It’s like a long, fleshy worm

Twining around all the places we’ve ever been

Or will go

With two fixed endpoints

And no decisions to be made

It’s a beautiful thing,

If you look at it right

If you can afford

To take the time.

~~~~~~~~~

Happy New Year everyone!

Peace & Love,

Gwen

The paperback cover for The Memory Painter is here! I am so thrilled with this beautiful design my publishing team dreamed up.

The paperback comes out July 5th. I look forward to holding it in hand next summer!

This month my book club, The Page Turners, met to discuss The Memory Painter. Once a month we meet for lunch and someone officially hosts. This month Michele hosted and wowed us all with delectable baked chicken salad and homemade cheddar dill scones. To top it off, she made baklava, the best I’ve ever had. She made it in honor of Bryan and Linz because it’s a Greek desert and she said “the layers of the pastry are reminiscent of the layers of Bryan and Linz’ lives.”  I was so touched by the gesture and just had to share the recipe with everyone. So here is the official recipe from Michele along with her photo.

Thank you, Michele!

Michele’s “Memory Painter” Baklava

This past weekend I was in Austin, one of my favorite cities, for the Texas Book Festival. It was wonderful to be back. I’m originally from Houston and lived in Austin years ago before heading to college (to Alaska – where I discovered there is a rivalry between the states and I would get teased “What’s a Texan doing up here?”) A nostalgic fun fact: in Austin I worked for the Austin American-Statesman newspaper as a data entry clerk in the Classifieds Department. Now that feels like a lifetime ago!

The first thing I saw when I stepped off the airplane put a big smile on my face…

Friday night I was thrilled to attend the gala at the Four Seasons and hear Margaret Atwood speak. Daniel Handler a.k.a Lemony Snicket was the host and Taye Diggs spoke as well. It was a fabulous night. On the way to the ballroom, this dramatic wall hanging of horns caught my eye, and in the ballroom, every seat had a book on the chair. I chose The Burma Spring because years ago I helped on a theater performance about Aung San Suu Kyi’s life. I love this picture of the book on the table.

Saturday’s top highlights: “Everything But the Kitchen Sink,” a talk with Daniel Handler and Amelia Gray, moderated by Owen Egerton in The Paramount Theatre (which I heard is celebrating its 100th year!)… Stopping by Typewriter Rodeo‘s tent and getting a poem written for me. (I’m going to do a whole blog post just on that next) … and hearing some incredible jazz at the Elephant Bar – a bar that was rated one of the top ten jazz bars in the US. I highly recommend you go if you’re in Austin.

Sunday I headed to the Texas Monthly building to check in for my event which was called “Thrills, Chills, and Genre Defiance” with Vu Tran, author of Dragonfish, and moderated by Geoff Rips. Here we are heading to the Capital Building, which is opened up for the festival. Our talk was in one of the chambers inside – a one-of-kind experience.

The event had a fantastic turnout. Vu and I both read the first few pages of our books and then did a Q&A. Afterwards we headed outside to the book signing tent. (These pictures below were taken by one of my friends, Charlotte Schillaci.)

Right near the tent I found a consignment shop and art gallery, Old Bakery and Emporium, in an historic building. Inside they had some wonderful art, including this stained glass artwork made by Stephen Moy, who I discovered is a 93 year old artist. I took a dragonfly and a flower with me back to LA to remember this fantastic weekend.

Thank you, Austin!

This year was my first time attending Litquake in San Francisco and it was such a wonderful experience. I participated in two events – the first was “New Voices,” an afternoon of readings from debut authors held at Z Space, a theater downtown. On the way there, my cab driver drove like a maniac and blasted jazz the whole time, all the while wanting to know about my book. It got things off to a real kinetic start.

I read with six other authors: Jan Ellison (A Small Indiscretion), Isaac Constantine (Jeremiah’s Ghost), Victoria Shorr (Backlands), Michaela Carter (Further Out Than You Thought), Val Brelinski (The Girl Who Slept With God), and Angela Pneuman (Lay It on My Heart).  I really enjoyed sitting in the audience and listening to everyone’s stories.

For my reading, I had gotten the urge several days before to try something completely new, so I read part of the Alexander Pushkin lifetime and what happens when Bryan comes out of the recall. It’s a good example of the jumps between lifetimes and how Bryan handles remembering. I’ll definitely do it again.

The next event, “First-Time Authors Reveal All,” was a panel discussion geared for writers and was held at the Foundation Center. The event had a great turnout – a big thank you to all the writers who came! Sharing some photos below: heading into the building, the event and our silly selfie afterwards. Also, this talk was recorded. There is a link to it on YouTube if you want to take a look.

While I was in San Francisco, the days could not have been more gorgeous and planes were flying overhead for Fleet Week. There was a real excitement in the air and it was fantastic connecting with so many writers in a city-wide celebration of books. Thank you, Litquake! Happy 16th year and here’s to many more!

Here is a link to an interview I did with Brad Bogner discussing The Memory Painter.

Click here to listen.